Event Reports

Michigan State Wins IFTSA Product Development Competition Again!

The Food Product Development Team won first place for the second year in a row! The competition took place in IFT Expo & Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA June 28 - July 1, 2008 . The product entry is called “Ready-to-Dough.” It is a refrigerated cookie dough that is free of the top eight allergens (such as wheat, tree nuts, eggs, soy, and milk). The team made an oral presentation, followed by Q&A from the judges, a poster presentation the next day, and subsequent product evaluation. The other teams in the competition included Cornell, Ohio State, Illinois, Minnesota, and Virginia Tech, all of which were chosen for the final round from 25 initial entries. Awards were announced the night of June 30, 2008 during the IFTSA Student Mixer.

Team members included students from 4 different departments, graduate and undergraduate: Aileen Tanojo (FSC, presenter), Megan Schwannecke (FSC, presenter), Eric Birmingham (FSC), Ashley Walters (FSC), Nicole Goldman (FSC), Raghav Sundar (PKG), Shantanu Kelkar (BAE, presenter)), and Charles Pountney (Ag, Food, and Resource Economics). Dr. Janice Harte serves as team advisor with help from Dr. Larry Zink (AFRE) who advises on the business aspects.

CONGRATULATIONS for the team and the coaches on another outstanding year!

GS edited by AT

Spring Meeting – Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculptor Park – March 22, 2007

Our spring meeting began at Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculptor Park. We had our meeting minutes, door prizes and a wonderful dinner provided by the catering staff at Frederick Meijer Gardens. We had a great turnout with almost all 50 seats being used. We had great representation from Kellogg Company, Michigan State University, Gerber, Alticor, Access Business Group, Elan Nutrition, Higgins and White, and Kalsec Inc. What a turnout!

After dinner and meeting minutes, the group relocated to the campus of Grand Rapids Community College. There, we were able to observe as Chef Gilles Renusson delighted us with his culinary expertise. Using his culinary students, Gilles constructed a beautiful marine landscape sculpture comprised entirely of sugar! Who knew that a simple sugar solution could be so interesting? In all seriousness, Gilles amazed us with his artistic abilities and wonderful presentation skills. This spring meeting will be a hard one to top next year…

Afterwards, his students walked us over to their main kitchen where they let us sample an assortment of truffles and tour their workspace. Thank you so much to Gilles and his wonderful group of students.

Thank you to Shelley Crawford, Maria Ruhlman and Jason Sabolchick for organizing the event. Thank you to the Gerber representatives for attending and providing excellent door prizes.

IFT First Annual Leadership Conference

The first of what will be an annual program, the National Leadership Conference, was held in Rosemont, Ill. March 22, 23 and 24. At this inaugural event, representatives consisted of section and division councilors, members of the national Executive Committee and committee chairs. This event will replace the former leadership training for new section and division officers that was held in past years in Chicago.

At this year’s meeting, a special meeting of the IFT Council was included, to consider possible amendments to the national bylaws that reflect proposed changes in the governance structure and processes, and to approve a draft of the new bylaws to be presented to the general membership via a referendum later this year. If approved, these changes, among other things, will abolish the council and transfer its governing responsibilities to the Executive Committee, which will be renamed the Board of Directors. All members of the board will be elected by the general membership.
One noteworthy feature of the proposed new governance process will be the scheduling of a “town meeting” at the IFT Annual Meeting. All Annual Meeting attendees will be invited, and will be offered the opportunity for input into IFT activities and governance issues. Additional “town meetings” are planned for sections and divisions as well.

The meeting also included sessions on leadership issues and strategies led by several experts in the field of leadership, especially as it relates to volunteer organizations. Similar topics are envisioned for future leadership conferences. Each section and division will be permitted to use its own process for selecting representatives to subsequent conferences. The national office will cover lodging and conference expenses for one representative per section or division, but additional attendees will be allowed subject to available space, and provided their expenses are covered either by themselves or the section or division they represent.

Members of the Great Lakes Section are encouraged to review the proposed changes in the bylaws, which will be available on the IFT website, and to participate in the referendum later this year. www.ift.org/governance.

BH/AB

MSU Food Science Club Update

This semester many of the students have found IFT to be a great connection to the industry as they are looking for internships and applying for scholarships. Deserving students received scholarship awards at the IFT-GLS Student Nights held on February 20th. Along with enjoying a meal at the Kellogg Center on campus, the members and guests had the opportunity to share their personal stories about food science as a profession and the path that they took that allowed them to work in the food industry and related fields. A number of the Food Science Club members have obtained internship positions in various companies across the nation for the duration of the upcoming school semesters.

Fundraising at the local Buffalo Wild Wings, participating in the FFA State Convention and Science Olympiad, and planning a progressive dinner are among the events that Food Science Club has participated in this semester. In order to fund some of the students’ trips to IFT events, we teamed up with Buffalo Wild Wings to raise some money. Members passed out fliers to friends and classmates to support the club. On Monday February 12 thirty percent of our supporter’s spending was given to the club. Over spring break, the Food Science Club had a display booth at the Michigan FFA State Convention in order to spark some interest in future Spartans. The members of the FFA are all about agriculture and since food science is in the College of Agriculture, we are hoping to raise the number of incoming food science freshmen. In the next month the club looks forward to helping out with the Science Olympiad, which is held on campus as well as a progressive dinner as a fun event for club members.

Winter Meeting-Student Awards Night- MSU Kellogg Center-February 20, 2007

The Student Meeting in February was a success. Our section was able to give out $5,000 in 6 scholarships to the MSU and Wayne State students in our Section. This year’s scholarship pay out marks a significant increase compared to previous years, a practice we look forward to continuing.

The evening took a different approach to the traditional format. We focused on supporting the students and giving them a forum to discuss career and opportunities in the industry with professional section members. In lieu of a traditional presentation with questions and answers, we had industry professionals sitting at each table, intermixed with the students. The table discussion was lively and a great opportunity for students to ask questions and professionals to relay their experience.

Thank you to Janice Harte, for organizing the dinner and scholarship awards and Shelley Crawford, Maria Ruhlman and Jason Sabolchick for organizing the student/professional mentoring and door prizes. Also thank you to the Scholarship Committee: Janice Harte, Bill Haines, Shelley Crawford, Daniel Farmer, John Bricknell, and Damian Clark.

Thank you to all the professionals who took time out of their schedules to share their experiences.