Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

UPDATES AT VIRGINIA TECH

VA Tech's Freshman Class

VA Tech's class of 2012 has almost made it through its first semester of college. This year's freshman class consists of 5,601 students. Sixty-six percent of these students are from Virginia . The top 5 states of out-of-state freshmen include Maryland , which is the home state of 561 students. Two hundred forty-nine of the new students hail from Pennsylvania . New Jersey comes in a close third and is the home of 246 freshmen. North Carolina and New York are the home states of 183 and 84 of the freshmen class, respectively.

There are more men than women in this year's freshman class. Men make up 54.8%, while women make up 45.2%. Average SAT score for these freshmen is 1208.

Seventy-seven percent of the Class of 2012 is white, 9.4% are Asian, 3.7% are black, and 3.5% are Hispanic.

D airy Product Evaluation Team

The Virginia Tech Dairy Evaluation team participated in the 87 th Annual Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest in Newark , Ohio on October 22 nd . The contest is designed to help students learn practical information about the relationship of sensory characteristics in dairy products from raw milk to finished products. They learn milk quality, processing, packaging and quality changes that occur due to spoilage. The contest evaluates 6 products: Milk, Cheddar cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter, and cottage cheese. There are 8 samples of each product and the students attempt to match what the industry judges and the college coaches have evaluated and scored.

There were 15 teams competing and 45 individual undergraduate students. Our team did very well considering we are competing against schools that practice for 4 years. The students at VA Tech practice intensely for only 2 months.

Our team consisted of Caitlin Cossaboom, Heather Fisher, Luman Chen, Alex Steer (alternate), and Robert Moore as our graduate student. The team was coached by Walter Hartman.

The VA Tech evaluation team placed 3 rd in butter as a team. Caitlin Cossaboom was our top undergraduate student with a 4th in ice cream and 4 th in butter. Robert Moore, our graduate student, placed 3 rd in milk, 4 th in butter and 5 th in yogurt. The team was sponsored by, Food Processing Suppliers Association, American Dairy Science Association, USDA, Westover Dairy and the Virginia Dairy Industry.

HOT TOPICS AND DAIRY ISSUES

Vitamin D3 Stable for Fortifying Cheese

New results from a Canadian study suggest that fortification of Cheddar cheese with vitamin D3 may be an effective means of raising vitamin D levels in the population

Researchers have reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that levels of the vitamin in cheese were not affected by processing, storage for a year, or thermal treatments. Ninety-one percent of added vitamin D3 was measured in the final cheese.

“Our findings clearly demonstrate that Cheddar and low-fat cheeses are suitable foods for vitamin D3 fortification,” wrote lead author Dennis Wagner from the University of Toronto . “This will ultimately increase vitamin D intakes in the population, which are currently too low, and could help bring about the public health benefits that result from greater consumption of vitamin D.”

The vitamin is produced in the body upon exposure to sunlight, but increasing vitamin D levels via sunlight or supplements has been a source of ongoing debate. In the US , where over 1.5 million people are diagnosed with skin cancer every year, experts are pushing supplements, claiming recommendations for sun exposure are "highly irresponsible". Another push for supplements comes from the fact that intakes are low from dietary sources coupled with a lack of sunshine in northern climates, has led to estimates that as much as 60 per cent of northern populations may be vitamin D deficient.

In adults, vitamin D deficiency may precipitate or exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, common cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.

Another avenue that has been explored is the fortification of certain foods, predominantly dairy. Fortification of fluid milks and margarine products was made mandatory in Finland in 2003-2004, but other European countries do not allow fortification.

“To our knowledge, the fortification of reduced-fat cheese with vitamin D3 has never been reported,” wrote Wagner.

Vitamin D refers to two biologically inactive precursors - D3, also known as cholecalciferol, and D2, also known as ergocalciferol. Both D3 and D2 precursors are hydroxylated in the liver and kidneys to form 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), the non-active 'storage' form, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D), the biologically active form that is tightly controlled by the body. Wagner and co-workers fortified milk to produce an expected final vitamin D3 concentration of about 100 International Units per gram, and then made Cheddar and low-fat cheese from this.

The researchers reported that the vitamin was not degraded during processing, and it was not influenced by the ripening process of one year at between three and eight degrees Celsius. Thermal treatments at 232 degrees Celsius also did not affect vitamin D3 levels.

Recovery of vitamin D3 from the fortified Cheddar and low-fat cheeses were 91 and 55 per cent, respectively. Moreover, the vitamin D3 was found to be distributed uniformly throughout the cheese, said the researchers.

“We conclude that industrially manufactured Cheddar and low-fat cheeses are suitable for vitamin D3 fortification,” wrote Wagner and co-workers.

The researchers were affiliated with the University of Toronto , Mount Sinai Hospital , the Egyptian National Research Centre, the University of Saskatchewan , and Ryerson University .

Recently the same researchers conducted a bioavailability study and reported in the Journal of Nutrition that eating the vitamin D-fortified cheese resulted in the same blood rises in the vitamin as from supplements.

Shamrock Farms Goes National

Shamrock Farms has announced plans to introduce its single-serve “mmmmilk” line at retail in selected national markets beginning this month.

Shamrock Farms, the largest dairy in the Southwest, has its own farm of more than 10,000 cows. It is a division of Shamrock Foods Co., a family owned and operated business founded in 1922 in Tucson , AZ. Its single-serve (12 oz) milk has been gaining notoriety as the official milk of Subway, as well becoming a staple in vending machines across the Southwest.

Kroger and Marsh will offer Shamrock Farms whole white, whole chocolate, 2% white, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla milk in Indianapolis and throughout the Mid-Atlantic: Charleston , W.Va. ; Raleigh-Durham , N.C. ; and Roanoke and Richmond , Va.