The Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest started in 1916 as the “Students Butter Judging Contest”. Three undergraduates on each team judge Butter, Milk, Strawberry Yogurt, Vanilla Ice Cream, Cottage Cheese, and Cheddar Cheese. Their goal is to score the products as closely as possible to how the panel of industry experts judge their quality attributes. The Kraft Heinz Company graciously sponsors a regional contest which allows more students to participate on the team. Students can only judge one time at the national contest which attracts 15 – 18 universities from the United States and Canada. Dr. Schoenfuss started coaching the U of MN team in 2012.
2019 Judging Team
Michelle Lavine, undergrad; Lisa Chou, grad student; William Dao, undergrad and Chenyu Liu, undergrad. Chenyu was 2nd place in milk. Lisa was 4th place grad student overall, and was 2nd in milk, yogurt and Cheddar cheese.
2018 Judging Team
2016/2017 Judging Team
Maddie Brandt (Graduate), Carmen Owen-Block, Emily Petterson, Alexandra Kuechel (Graduate), Billy Kalil
The National Contest was at the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association conference in Madison, WI. The undergraduate team came in 7th place overall and finished 4th in ice cream. Billy Kalil placed 2nd individually in Cheddar cheese. The graduate students also were very successful. Maddie placed 3rd overall and Alex placed 4th overall, with Maddie placing 2nd in ice cream and 3rd in milk and Cheddar cheese and Alex took 1st place in Cheddar cheese.
2015 Judging Team
2014
Bria Abeles-Allison, Lu Yu, Zen Zi Wong, Claire Burrington, Liz Reid (Graduate)
Team was 1st place in Milk. Liz Reid was the 1st place grad student.
2013
The 2013 team and alternates were victorious at the Midwest Regional Contest October 19th at the Kraft Foods R&D center in Glenview, IL. The undergraduate team members were Ashley Adamski, Alyssa Pagel, Claire Burrington, Jill Tomzac and Megan Parker. Graduate students on the team were Kenny Smith, David Potts, Molly Erickson and Liz Reid.
The undergraduate team finished in 4th place overall, and won both Yogurt and Ice Cream. Ashley was 2nd in ice cream, and Claire was 3rd in yogurt.
Among the graduate students, David Potts was 1st in ice cream and Molly was 2nd. Liz was 2nd and David was 3rd in Cheddar. David was second in milk, and Liz was 2nd in Cottage cheese. Kenny was 2nd and Liz was 3rd in butter.
2012
Ann Pataky (grad student), Courtney Lasky, Bronwyn Deen, Tonya Schoenfuss (coach) and Alvin Andrew
The 2012 team from the U of MN was the first after a 14 year hiatus. The team of Courtney Lasky, Bronwyn Deen, Alvin Andrew, and Ann Pataky competed on Nov. 2nd in Springfield, Missouri. Sponsored by Dairiconcepts, 16 teams competed in the judging contest. The team was 3rd in yogurt, 5th in milk, 6th in ice cream, cottage, and Cheddar, and 9th in butter. Overall, they placed 6th. Individually, Bronwyn Deen was ranked 8th overall for all products and placed 2nd in yogurt, 4th in cottage cheese, and 6th in milk. Courtney Lasky was 7th in yogurt and 8th in ice cream, and Alvin Andrews was 10th in milk. Ann Pataky was the 2nd overall best graduate student.
Claire Burrington, Tonya Schoenfuss, Courtney Lasky, Magali Daccord, Bronwyn Deen, Pierre-Martin Sallard, Ann Pataky, Alvin Andrew, Ashley Adamsky, and Tim Sia
On Saturday October 20, 2012 the U of MN Food Science-INRA Rennes France Dairy Product Judging team competed at the Midwest Regionals at Kraft Foods in Glenview, IL. They placed 3rd in Butter and 4th in Yogurt (out of 9 teams). Individually, Ann Pataky placed 1st in Ice Cream and 2nd in Butter, Magali Daccord placed 2nd in yogurt and 3rd in Cheddar, and Pierre-Martin Sallard placed 3rd in Milk and 3rd in Ice Cream in the graduate contest.