Dairy
In addition to getting my Masters at Penn State, I worked on dairy projects at Abbott Nutrition and Nestlé. At Nestlé, I worked on six different research projects that relied on the functionality and flavor of dairy products. As a member of the Science & Technology team and NDC Solon, I worked on research projects that usually involved the development of proprietary processing. In total, I have been working with dairy for over eight years. At Penn State, my research project (funded by the National Dairy Council) was focused on solving a technical problem faced by the dairy industry: low-temperature gelation. I found two different solutions and proposed a detailed mechanism that can be applied to many other food systems. The first of my research chapters has been published in the Journal of Dairy Science.
Research Projects
Four of my projects were related to working with cheese: Mozzarella (all three types), Cheddar, Edam, Fromage Blanc, Goat Cheese, Emmental, and Blue Cheese. The other two projects focused on leveraging a technological building block using different dairy blends (formulation and proprietary and patented processing). Here, the focus was to understand and select the most appropriate dairy blend that could be used in the widest number of Nestlé products.
Alternative Dairy / Plant Based Meat / Alternative Proteins
I have a strong background in exploring the structure and function of various compounds (not only proteins). My first experience in the “alternative” space was at Nestlé, where I developed their plant-based burger. At the time, the available protein sources and binders were quite limited. It demonstrated the need for a more systematic understanding of ingredient functionality and the development of better ingredients. This is sometimes referred to as structure-function. I started working on protein structure functionality with my master’s thesis; I was trying to prevent and understand the phenomena of low-temperature gelation in milk protein concentrates. This turned out to be a protein-specific physiochemical phenomenon. I applied this protein knowledge to the alternative space while working at NotCo. In addition to the many products I worked on, I ran several small studies to help the AI better understand ingredients. In 2 months, I developed a database of 80+ commercially available proteins (plant-based, animal-based, precision fermented) tested for heat-induced gelation. This was used to build an ingredient recommender algorithm, which I used to develop / optimize several products that have since been launched commercially.
Anyone working in dairy will tell you that it’s more than just protein that makes it unique; the fat is also essential for more than just flavor. At NotCo, I also tested and optimized several alternative dairy products for mouthfeel, foaming, and shelf life stability. I also studied the fat crystallization behavior to develop an animal fat analog (similar melting / rheological behavior) using only commercially available ingredients.
Analytical Method Development (Quantitative)
I have used and developed many analytical methods during the last 10 years I have been working. Below is a non-exhaustive list.
Wet Chemistry
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o Oiling Off (Cheese)
o Creaming
o Sedimentation
o Stability
o Overrun
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o Starch
o Protein
o Fat
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o Cheese
o Dough
o Plant Based Burgers
o Dairy Blends
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o Rapid
o Vacuum Oven
o NIR
o Freeze Drier
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o Pressing
o NIR
o NMR
o FTIR
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o Juice
o Dairy
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o Spectrophotometry
o Sodium Testing
o Calcium Testing
o Water Activity
o Combustible Nitrogen / Protein
Rheology
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o Texture Analysis (TA)
o TPA
o Cutting
o Firmness
o Extrudability
o Puncture
o Stretching
o Creep Testing (Rheometer)
o Cheese Melting Point (Rheometer)
o Dough Mixing (Farinograph)
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• Apparent Viscosity (Rheometer)
• Viscometry (Brookfield)
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o Starch Cooking (Rapid Visco Analyzer)
o Starch Viscosity
o Starch Gel Temperature
o Gel Strength (Rheometer)
o Amplitude Sweep
o Frequency Sweep
o Time and / or Temperature Dependency (Rheometer)
Miscellaneous
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o Wet
o Dry
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o Dairy
o Dairy and Starch
o Starch
o Cheese
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o Cheese Shreadability
o Cheese Dispensability
o Cheese Meltability
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o FTIR
o NIR (Dairy, Tortilla Chips, Potato Chips)
o Water
o Fat
o HPLC
o NMR (Fat)
o Color Measurement (Digieye)
o Hyperspectral Camera
Qualitative
All quantitative tests must be validated against the human sensory experience. This has always been the case and will likely always be the case. During my time in Abbott, Nestlé, Penn State, and NotCo, I have participated, led, or otherwise organized formal and informal sensory testing.
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o Trained sensory panelist for cheddar cheese, participated for one year (Penn State).
o Sensory panelist for burger / plant-based burger testing (Nestlé).
o Trained for basic five tastes descriptive analysis (Nestlé).
o Consumer survey (online) and home evaluation (in person) meat / plant-based burger (Nestlé).
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o Shelf-Life
o Descriptive Analysis