ROCHELLE — Donny Harmon, Andrew Myers, Eliza Petry and Claire Plapp walked out of the national FFA Food Science and Technology competition with their heads held high on Thursday, Oct. 26 not knowing the outcome of the competition but proud of how they did.

Later that evening, they learned their confidence was on point when they were awarded eighth place at the banquet following a two-day competition.

Donna Page, Rochelle Township High School FFA advisor explained, advisors and teachers were not allowed around the students during the competition and she had no clue what or how they were doing. The competition compromised of four parts based on food science and technology used within the food science industry.

The team parts included a food safety and sanitation report and a marketing scenario. During the food safety and sanitation report the team was given a series of photos and had to locate evidence of eight areas of concern. For the marketing scenario, the team was given 60 minutes to create a product for retail sale. During the hour, they had to design marketing, manage cost and markup, make sure the product was safe for production, and calculate the nutritional value.

After their hour of work was up, the team then had 10 minutes to present their product and all information to the judges. The judges then had another 10 minutes to ask the team questions and dive into their product and research.

The team was evaluated on the product, calculations, and information as well as how well they worked together and how well they presented to the panel of judges.

Individual test included a triangle test where the covered a sensory portion, math portion and a portion on customer inquires. For the sensory test the students were presented several items on a table to find which item is different or which matches the control item.

Page explained companies use this method when creating a new product or redoing a current product to compare to what is already in the market. The students also had to determine four scents based on a list of 33 items they were given prior to the competition.

Students were asked to convert measurements during the math portion and figure out how much of an item was needed to complete a recipe. During the customer inquiry portion, they were given examples of customer concerns with food safety or food quality and had to determine which category the concern was. Page gave them example of hair found in a product would be a food quality and physical concern, but mold on an item that caused illness would be food safely and biological.

The last individual test was a food preservation methods. The students had to determine how an item was preserved or what would be the best method of preservation.

“It was a two-day completion and they were incredibly nervous the first day,” explained Page. “I was not allowed in the completion and when they left the lobby I felt like I sent my students off to their first day of kindergarten.”

The second day of the national completion the four RTHS students had more confidence going into the competition and left feeling amazing.

“They walked out with smiles on their faces, their heads held high and proud of themselves,” stated Page. “I was so incredibly proud of them in that moment. I told them it did not matter how they did as long as they gave it their best and were proud of themselves. I have never been more proud of them as I was in that moment.”

That night during the banquet the team learned they took eight place as a team and brought home individual honors as well. Plapp and Meyers, a 2017 graduate, earned gold emblems, Petry earned a silver individual emblem and Harmon earned a bronze individual emblem. Emblems were based on points students earned individually and their rank in the contest.

Preparation

The students all have a variety of interests and none are planning on pursuing a career in food science.

“This is an interest for the students,” explained Page. “The experience opened their eyes to positions in food science.”

She added, “Everything in the competition was something that comes directly from the food industry.”

To prepare for the national completion the group toured three facilities to observe practices and shadow employees.

They toured Crest Foods in Ashton, visited the Tyson Research and Development center and Newlywed Foods. During their visit to Newlywed Foods in Chicago, a producer of breading and batter, they had the opportunity to job shadow a food scientist for the afternoon.

“It was humbling for me to have them do so well,” stated Page. “It is phenomenal what they can do when given an opportunity. I have some phenomenal kids, not just these four, it is a pretty amazing for a teacher.”

All top ten teams in the national competition were invited by a sponsor to attend the International Producers and Processing Expo in Atlanta, Ga. in January. The sponsor is paying for each team to attend as their guest.

Page is hoping to make the trip with her team, and in the meantime, they are enjoying their accomplishments as they soak up their eighth-place finish.