The Food Dawgs Go to Sunbelt

by Lillian Dickens

Oct. 26, 2022

UGA Food Science and Technology staff members (Left-Right) Lillian Dickens, Morgan Bouwsma, Isabel Gutierrez and Emma Moore at the arch doorway of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences building at Spence Field in Moultrie, Georgia for the Sunbelt Ag Expo on October 18, 2022. All of the staff members were attending the exposition for the first time. (Photo/UGA Department of Food Science and Technology)

MOULTRIE – GA

After eight years, the Department of Food Science and Technology (#FoodDawgs) returned to the Sunbelt Ag Expo as the spotlighted department for the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The Sunbelt Ag Expo is “an agricultural-based trade show held at Spence Field in Moultrie, Ga. Known as ‘North America’s Premier Farm Show’® the annual event has more than 1200 exhibitors showcasing the latest in farming technology. Whether you are a large acreage production farmer or a weekend lifestyle farmer the Expo is an event you don’t want to miss,” according to the website.

Each year, CAES attends the showcase and brings one of its nine departments along, and this year, the food science and technology department was center stage.

As the spotlighted department, we exhibited all the exciting work going on in the three missions areas of Research, Teaching, and Extension in the UGA-themed building that CAES uses during the expo. Along with the space, we had the opportunity to design banners to highlight Food Science and Technology (FST) Extension and the Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center (FoodPIC), and we also put together a slideshow with illustrations of the three FST buildings.

(Left to Right) Daniel “Danny” Morris, Dr. James Gratzek, Emma Moore and Morgan Bouwsma stand behind the Department of Food Science and Technology booth in University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences building at Spence Field in Moultrie, Georgia for the Sunbelt Ag Expo on October 18, 2022. At the booth, FST faculty and staff gave away stress balls shaped like peaches, candy and other prizes. (Photo/Lilli Dickens)

Though a majority of attendees at the expo were there to sell equipment, new technology or other agricultural wares, our department focused more on exhibition to engage with passersby. As visitors to the expo came by our booth, we gave out pieces of candy and other items like pens, rulers and peach-shaped stress balls while explaining a little about what we do as a department.

Emma Moore, the Project Manager for FoodPIC on the University of Georgia Griffin campus, brought some examples of products that the center was conducting shelf-life testing on, one of which being Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar Shots. The apple cider vinegar shots drew quite the crowd, with some visitors interested in purchasing the apple cider vinegar product.

What attracted the biggest crowd, however, was our Snow Cone Flavor Taste Test, where three stations of small cups along our booth were set up and filled with a colorless strawberry, lemon-lime or grape flavored snow cone syrup. Participants would taste each of the flavors and guess the flavors to win a prize.

After one round of using the colorless syrup, we decided to make the activity a little more challenging by adding red, yellow and blue food coloring to prove that the way something looks can impact the way your brain perceives its taste.

Cups of (Left to Right) lemon-lime, strawberry and grape flavored snow cone syrups sit on the Department of Food Science and Technology booth in University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences building at Spence Field in Moultrie, Georgia for the Sunbelt Ag Expo on October 20, 2022 for the department’s Snow Cone Flavor Taste Test. Each of the flavors was dyed a different color to test the participants’ ability to identify the flavor of the syrup. (Photo/Morgan Bouwsma)

The lemon-lime flavor was dyed blue, the strawberry flavor yellow and the grape flavor red. Most of the participants fell for the trick, guessing a combination of cherry, pineapple/piña colada and blue raspberry.

Over the three days of the showcase, we met a lot of people who were interested in UGA FST and made some promising new connections. The Department of Food Science and Technology can’t wait to come back to the Sunbelt Ag Expo in the future.