Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

UPDATES AT VIRGINIA TECH

C apitol Hill Ice Cream Party

Food Science faculty, staff and students served ice cream and root beer floats to thousands of people, including many senators and Congressional members, at the 27 th annual Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party. The event was held outside the Senate Building in Washington , D.C. and was sponsored by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA). The intent is to celebrate National Dairy Month and to showcase current IDFA activities. The party also serves to bring attention to current issues concerning the dairy industry. Volunteers from VA Tech's Department of Food Science and from Penn State arrived in D.C. on June 18 th to dish up a huge selection of ice cream flavors.

VA FFA Association Dairy Foods Winners

The Department of Food Science and Technology hosted the State Dairy Foods Career Development Event on June 22 nd . This contest was part of the 83 rd VA State FFA Convention held in Blacksburg .

Seven teams entered the competition. The team from the Sherando High School FFA Chapter placed first. Team members were Savannah Dillender, Alyson Howard, Chris Perry and Spencer Shanholtz. Savannah also was awarded top placing individual in the contest. The team was coached by Chrissy Whitacre. The FFA chapter from Rockbridge High School placed second in the contest.

The VA FFA Dairy Foods Career Development Event is a competitive activity that allows students to prove their knowledge about the recognition, selection and management necessary for quality dairy foods. Participants must complete a written exam on milk production and marketing, evaluate milk samples for flavor and quality, identify cheese varieties, evaluate milk sediment pads and milker parts for defects and distinguish between dairy and non-dairy products.

The event is one of many educational activities at the VA FFA State Convention in which FFA members practice the lessons learned in agricultural education classes. The state winning team will represent VA at the 81 st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis , IN on October 21-24, 2009.

FFA is a national youth organization of 476,732 student members preparing for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture with 7,223 local chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands . The VA FFA Association has over 10,800 members in 208 chapters. FFA strives to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Visit www.ffa.org and www.vaffa.org for more information.

HOT TOPICS AND DAIRY ISSUES

YoCream Produces Clinically Proven Probiotic Frozen Yogurt

Danisco and YoCream are claiming a U.S. first with the launch of a frozen yogurt product containing Howaru Dophilus probiotic cultures. These cultures have been clinically researched for digestive health benefits.

YoCream has previously used natural fermentation to produce frozen yogurts with probiotic bacteria, but the arrangement with Danisco is the first time it has used a strain with thorough clinical backing.

The product, called High Culture Frozen Yogurt, is said to be a sweet, creamy yogurt that contains a billion L. acidophilus bacteria per serving, and a high count is maintained throughout the product's shelf-life.

Studies in which L. acidophilus has been investigated have looked at digestive health, improvements to intestinal microbial balance, aiding digestion of dairy products, and inhibiting harmful bacteria.

“Howaru Dophilus is the world's best documented Lactobacillus acidophilus and the only L. acidophilus with its genome fully sequenced,” said Peggy Steele, Danisco's global business director. “Studies began on this strain in the early 1970s, so there are many years of proven safety and efficacy.”

Probiotic products have increased in popularity in the U.S. in recent years. In 2008, Datamonitor valued the U.S. market for probiotics at $1,526,700, up from $952,100 in 2003.

After analyzing part of a geographical break down from a recent report on the global probiotics market, the market researcher said recently that U.S. consumers seem to be becoming increasingly accepting of the concept of ‘friendly' bacteria as awareness increases.

Dairy products have been well accepted as carriers for probiotic bacteria, but technical strides have been made to take them beyond chilled yogurts and milks in which they first gained prominence.

As well as frozen products such as YoCream's yogurt, other companies have investigated the use of probiotics in cheese, chocolate, and chewy confectionery.

Danisco has previously communicated the potential to use its Howaru bacteria in frozen yogurts when it announced a concept containing its Rhamnosus strain, researched for its effect in keeping the immune system healthy.

Inhibition of Ice Crystal Formation in Ice Cream

Researchers in the Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin have found that collagen peptides derived from bovine collagen inhibit ice re-crystallization in super cooled ice cream. Dr. Srinivasan Damodaran stated that uncontrolled growth of ice crystals beyond 40 micrometers in size affects the quality of several frozen foods, including frozen dough products and frozen pizza. Short chain peptides derived from collagen/gelatin are able to inhibit ice re-crystallization in frozen foods. Inclusion of these peptides should improve the keeping quality and consumer acceptability of these food products. When added to ice cream, these peptides maintain smooth ice cream texture during storage in a typical household freezer. Inhibition of ice re-crystallization in frozen foods should help in uniform distribution of water in the food matrix and thus help in uniform heating of these products during cooking in a microwave or regular oven.

The researchers found a link between the molecular size distribution of collagen peptides and the amount of ice-structuring activity. Peptides in the mass range of 600-2700 Dalton were most effective at binding to small ice crystals and inhibiting their growth. The binding mechanism is still unclear, but the researchers are working on it.

The potential for these peptides extends beyond improving frozen food quality, said Dr. Damodaran. In pharmaceutical/medical areas, these peptides, which should be mostly non-antigenic, can be used to preserve organs and tissues. In the future, some of these peptides can be incorporated into crops to make them freeze resistant or freeze tolerant.