Recipient Organization
FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
1005 STATE UNIVERSITY DRIVE
FORT VALLEY,GA 31030
Performing Department
College Administration
Non Technical Summary
The primary goal of Fort Valley State University (FVSU) is the enhancement of opportunities for the intellectual, personal and professional development of the underserved segment of the population in the state. The Animal Science Program supports this goal through an expanded science-based undergraduate curriculum and an Animal Science Master's Degree Program. There are more and more voices expressing the level of unpreparedness of university graduates for the job market in general. Employers are voicing concerns about college graduates not being ready to perform tasks at specific job sites without initial training. Countries like Germany are able to sustain economic growth relying on job training of their students rather than relying on a general education curriculum. This administrative project proposes to bridge the gap between general science classroom based-education and practical job training using the Georgia Small Ruminant Research and Extension Center (GSRREC). The Small Ruminant Center at FVSU is a complex carrying out basic and applied research, teaching and extension activities emphasizing small ruminants in the state of Georgia. The Center has a Grade A goat dairy and a TA licensed- red meat processing, HACCP-certified facility and equipped to process small and large ruminants and hogs. Goat meat (chevon), one of the major products of the GSRREC, is 30% lower in fat than pork or beef, and has become a very desirable product for today's health-conscious consumers. In addition, due to differences in protein fractions and fat globule sizes between goat and cow milk, goat milk consumption is increasing in individuals with cow milk allergy. Despite growing demand, there has been very limited development of new goat meat and milk value-added products in addition to plant-based products from the organic farm in accordance with the proposed FVSU Center for Agricultural Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Because of this, FVSU has initiated research for the development of both chevon and goat milk value-added products. This program will offer high school, undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to participate in engineering of unique new food and non-food products that could be marketed by entrepreneurs in Georgia. This administrative project will recruit high school students involved in summer programs and admitted to FVSU, as well as undergraduate and graduate students in Animal Science, Food Science and Food and Nutrition programs, to participate in product and value-added product development under the guidance and mentoring of the Center's research scientists. These students will be under the direct supervision of the dairy and meat research assistant and the participation of the managers at the Dairy and Meat processing plants. The quality of these products will be assessed in the laboratories of the scientists associated with the Center. Market acceptability surveys will be conducted by agricultural economics students under the guidance of their mentors. A research professional specialized in food engineering will be hired to oversee the program. A clerical assistant will be hired, sharing time between this program and the Office of International Agriculture. Patents will be obtained for the most original and promising products or processing methods.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
90%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
The major goals are to increase the number of graduates with practical hands-on training on product development technics, to manufacture market-ready products and to develop entrepreneurship skills into our graduates.The main purpose of this administrative project is to provide opportunity to students to develop marketable meat,dairy and plant based-products using products, facilities, equipment and human resources associated with the Center.
Project Methods
All the students will submit, as part of their application, a paragraph on the meat or dairy product that they intend to manufacture if selected for the program. This will not be required for high school students.Field trips (at least 2 per year) will be organized with all the students to visit local food processing companies (Frito-Lay, Purdue Chicken, Tyson food, dairy processing) for the students to get real time exposure to the industry. This will reinforce possible classroom/laboratory instruction on food safety, general manufacturing procedures (GMP) and food quality assessment.Meat (lamb, chevon and beef) will be provided by the Center from FVSU research and extension animals. Since FVSU does not have hogs, local hog producers and the University of Georgia (UGA) department of Animal Science will be approached to donate or purchase animals (5 hogs a year) toward this project. The hogs will be processed at the GSRREC and the resulting meat used for projects dealing with pork sausage, ham curing and any other type of combinations (chevon/pork, lamb/pork, beef/pork, etc.).Pasteurized fresh goat milk will be obtained from the creamery of the Center for the manufacturing of any dairy products. The creamery can provide whole (regular) or skim milk and cream. Whey can be obtained from the cheese manufacturing process. Equipment are available to produce flavored ice cream, ice cream mixed with fruit, yoghurt, cheese and butter using goat milk. Fresh fruits when needed will be provided by the organic farm of FVSU depending on seasonal availability.The products manufactured will be analyzed in our laboratories for physical and chemical properties and undergo sensory/taste evaluation by an untrained panel. Promising products will be used on a taste and marketing survey conducted by the students in business and agricultural economics majors. A business plan may be developed by the students (producer, marketing students) under the supervision of their mentors. The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) will be contacted to help foster the business incubation aspect, possible patents and the promotion of the idea to recruit entrepreneurs to market the products.