Dairy Competition Check
IMPA competition chair Alan Reed (left) awards the first-prize check to Brigham Young University students Aaron Andersen, Jonathan Kershaw, Marshall Dunn, Eric Engstrom and Cameron White with advisors Lynn Ogden and Mike Dunn.

A team of students from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, won the top prize ($10,000) in a food development competition. Their winning food is a heat-and-serve cheese-based appetizer called Cheese Squared. The outer shell of 100% aged cheese encases cream cheese filling with added spices.

The four-year-old Idaho Dairy Product Development competition is jointly sponsored by the United Dairymen of Idaho, Meridian, and the Idaho Milk Processors Association, Twin Falls.

Product development teams made up of students from five dairy schools competed for more than $20,000 in prize money. The foods were introduced at the annual meeting of IMPA, which was held in Sun Valley, Idaho in August.

Other winners were:

  • Utah State University, Logan, received $5,000 for Saucearella, a sauce-filled mozzarella cheese
  • Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., received $3,000 for Udder Bliss, a spreadable flavored butter
  • A combined team from the University of Idaho, Moscow, and Washington State University, Pullman,  received $2,000 for Chatty Cheese Pie, a frozen, microwavable pie-like meal that uses a cheese crust
  • South Dakota State University, Brookings, received $1,000 for Milk Bombs, a milk-based healthy snack coated with chocolate.