Dairy Products Judging

This publication is written to help you become a skilled judge of the quality of dairy products in a reasonable period of time. This unit includes lessons on the four major dairy products—milk, cheddar cheese, ice cream, and Swiss style strawberry yogurt.

Through the evaluation of dairy products, you will develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for high-quality dairy products. You will become a wise and economical shopper for dairy products, and, after you graduate from high school, you may be able to continue your judging activities in college.

The quality of milk produced on the farm largely determines the quality of dairy products found in the dairy case. Flavors of milk and dairy products may be caused by one or more factors: the health of the cow, feed consumed by the cow, bacterial action, chemical changes, and absorption of foreign flavors after the milk is drawn. Because the consumption of dairy products depends primarily on flavor, dairy producers are cautious about feeding and milking practices.

For example, cows eating silage or grazing on pasture containing onions immediately before milking will have off-flavors in the freshly drawn milk. Milk from cows confined in close quarters without adequate ventilation will contain foul odors. Improper cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and improper cooling of milk contribute to off-flavors in milk and milk products.

Judging Dairy Products

The hauler evaluates milk in farm bulk tanks before pumping the milk into the tank truck. Critical evaluation begins at the dairy plant. Judging and scoring milk and milk products are important parts of quality control, which starts in the receiving department and continues throughout the processing operation. Milk processing plants have various points during the process where they check for irregularities that will affect product quality.

Normally, the quality control staff evaluates products as they come off the production line and after 7 to 10 days of storage. They use the same procedures and scorecards you will use to measure the quality of the dairy products they produce. This evaluation is necessary if the company wishes to maintain a quality product.

Dairy products can be analyzed for chemical composition, microorganisms, color, and physical properties; but these do not measure the “eating quality” of the products. The eating quality includes the feel, taste, and smell a person experiences when the product is put into their mouth.

There are various standards for measuring product quality. A scorecard is used for evaluating and recording quality, and it is used in all dairy product judging contests. It is important that you become familiar with the scorecard for each product.

Before moving to a different product, work with one product until you can recognize its defects. Learn the proper identification of defects first and then the score rating. You will not become an expert judge overnight. This requires training that comes from actual work with prepared samples. You will use sight, smell, taste, and touch in judging dairy products. The extent to which you use each sense depends on the product being judged. In general, beginners should place most emphasis on smell and taste.

The sense of smell is important in determining flavor. You are influenced greatly by your sense of smell in making decisions about the flavor quality of a product. Odor and taste, combined with the feel of the product in your mouth, make up the concept called “flavor.” Since flavor has the greatest numerical value of any of the items on the scorecard, and since odor contributes largely to the flavor, your sense of smell has an especially important role in judging dairy products.

There are four primary taste sensations: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. The taste receptors are located primarily on the sides and the base of the tongue. The product, in a liquid form, must make contact with the taste buds before a taste sensation occurs.

The different taste sensations occur on different areas of the tongue. You will note the sour taste chiefly along the sides of your tongue; salty, along the sides and tip; sweet, generally at the tip; and bitter at the base of your tongue. For this reason, you should manipulate the sample in your mouth and roll it over your tongue in order to give your taste buds the opportunity to come into contact with the product being evaluated.

To progress in learning to judge dairy products, you must learn to have confidence in your ability to taste and smell. The following rules should help you to make the best use of your time, develop concentration, work effectively, and gain confidence in judging dairy products.

1. Be in physical and mental condition for scoring. Just before judging, never eat a heavy meal or foods with strong flavors. Avoid hot drinks that might scald your tongue. Rinse out your mouth with plain water. Scrub your hands, using an unscented soap.
2. Know the scorecard. Learn all criticisms and the score value of each item. Learn the range of scores for each class of flavor quality for milk and other dairy products.
3. Have the samples at the proper temperature. You can determine the flavor and the body and texture best when the product is neither too cold nor too warm. Each product should be at its optimum temperature. Cheese should be 50°F to 60°F for best judging. The best range for ice cream is 5°F to 10°F.
4. Take a representative portion of the sample to be judged. Mix milk samples before sampling. Before pouring the sample, raise the top of the container slightly and smell to detect any off-odors that may be present. If a trier for cheddar cheese is used, don’t take the sample from near the edge. Never take a surface sample.
5. Observe the aroma immediately. Some aromas become less intense and disappear, in part at least, when exposed to air. So it is important that you smell the aroma of the sample immediately after you remove it.
6. Take a sufficient volume into your mouth for tasting. Do not pass judgment on a product without adequately tasting it. Hold each sample approximately the same length of time in your mouth, regardless of the quality of the product. Avoid holding the sample in your mouth past a count of five. Do not swallow the sample.
7. Fix the proper quality ideal in mind. You can do this best by working closely with a sample having superior quality. Learn in what respect a sample fails to compare favorably with the ideal. The sooner you learn the ideal quality of a product, the sooner you will become proficient in judging that dairy product.
8. Recondition the mouth occasionally. You should clean your mouth at intervals or when an aftertaste persists, especially after having examined a poor sample. This can be done by rinsing your mouth with clean, warm water.
9. Concentrate on the sample you are examining. Close your eyes and mind to the world around you and practice self-examination as far as tasting is concerned. Make a mental record of your taste and smell reactions. Relax briefly after scoring each sample before proceeding to the next.
10. Do not be too critical. Carefully observe the taste and aroma of the sample, but do not form the questionable habit of trying to find objectionable flavors that may not be present. When in doubt, do not criticize.
11. Check your own scoring occasionally. You can do this by comparing the flavor of two or more identically scored samples and observing whether you scored the flavors consistently. Try rescoring some samples without knowing their identities.
12. Be honest with yourself. Use independent judgment. Judge the sample itself. Do not be influenced by the name, the trademark on the package, or the score you gave a similar product from a particular processor. Make your own decisions, and, after arriving at a conclusion, believe in your own judgment until shown otherwise.
13. Recognize the fact that you need practice and experience to develop judging ability. You must practice judging if you are to develop the ability to taste, smell, and determine flavors of dairy products. Do not become discouraged. You will improve with practice.

Download the PDF for the complete publication.

Publication 1423 (POD-03-26)

Distributed by Dean Jousan, PhD, Extension Professor, Animal and Dairy Sciences.