Dairy Research Institute Announces Winners of College Innovation Competition

The Dairy Research Institute (DRI; Rosemont, IL) announced the winners of its first-ever New Product Competition on July 16 during the 2012 American Dairy Science Association Meeting in Phoenix. Undergraduate and graduate college students participated in the competition, which challenged students to develop innovative dairy-based products. This year, students were asked to create beverages containing more than 51% fresh milk, dry milk, or other dairy ingredients. Monetary prizes were awarded.

Targeting the sports performance market, the first-place winner was an oat-infused vanilla milk enhanced with protein, probiotics, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and fiber. The students, from Clemson University in South Carolina, combined techniques used in fluid milk and beer production so that only sight modifications needed to be made to traditional dairy processing equipment in order to make the product.

The second-place winner, from Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia, Canada, was an on-the-go mango drinkable Greek yogurt meant for consumption post-exercise.

Third-place went to students from the University of Tennessee for a caffeine-enhanced drinkable yogurt containing antioxidants, vitamin C, calcium, and protein.

On the competition, Bill Siebenborn, a Missouri dairy farmer and chairman of the United Dairy Industry Association, stated, “Spurring product innovation, while at the same time identifying future leaders in the U.S. dairy industry, is a win-win for dairy farmers.”

The next installment of the competition will challenge students to focus on dairy innovations for breakfast.