Program Description:

The Cal Poly Dairy Products Technology Center is a program within the College of Agriculture' Dairy Science Department which has as its mission to conduct education, research, and outreach activities to provide solutions to help manage risk, facilitate innovation, and defend equity in the dairy foods industry and related business sectors. To achieve this mission, it serves stakeholders (students, university, industry, public) by meeting their immediate, short term and long term needs in education, training and research activities in the field of dairy science and technology. The Center staff, faculty and students conduct work applicable to cheese, frozen desserts, cultured milk products, dairy beverages, and dairy ingredients. As a Center it encourages and draws upon expertise in other fields (engineering, chemistry, microbiology, business, etc.) to form multidisciplinary teams to conduct its work. Its activities support the nation's domestic and international dairy foods marketing efforts. The program is housed in a 21,000 ft2 facility equipped with state of the art teaching, research and development laboratories and a fully equipped pilot plant. As a Center it also serves as a focal point to attract expertise from Cal Poly and other universities to allow multidisciplinary approaches to address applied dairy foods questions. Annual operations total approximately $1.5 million/year. An Industry Associates Advisory Council provides advice to the Center on its programs direction, content, and outputs.

The Mission:

The overall mission of the Dairy Products Technology Center is to support the maintenance, growth and continued economic health of the dairy foods industry. To accomplish this mission, the DPTC will:

1. Conduct timely research that will provide the scientific and technological basis for new and improved dairy food products and processes which utilize dairy-based ingredients.

2. Increase the number of well-trained students available to enter careers in the dairy industry and allied fields.

3. Enhance technology transfer by offering short courses, symposia, and publications to the dairy/foods industry.

4. Ensure that dairy products are safe, wholesome and nutritious.

Academic Programs

• Instruction- Fundamental principles and practices used in dairy product technology (undergraduate and graduate courses, student research projects).

• Research and Development- Dairy foods product/process research and development (senior thesis projects, graduate student thesis projects, industry sponsored projects, collaborative projects with U.C. Davis and industry, proprietary research and development projects.

• Technology Transfer- Dairy short courses and symposia for industry personnel, demonstration and testing of new technological advances, dairy certification and licensing, information retrieval and acqusition for dairy science and technology.

Current Areas of Reseach Focus:

• Cheese Technology- (e.g. flavor, texture, yield, functional properties)

• Process Development- (e.g. membrane processes, heat treatments)

• Product Development- (e.g. frozen desserts, new uses of dairy products)

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