Winner of the 2022 Pieter Walstra Award

Background

The Pieter Walstra Award is awarded biennially, and encourages scientific research directed to practical applications in the field of dairy science and technology. The event is organized by the Dutch Dairy Organization (NZO) in tribute to Prof. dr. Pieter Walstra (†May 2012) for his contributions and advances to the dairy industry.

Winner 2022 Pieter Walstra Award

The 2022 Pieter Walstra Award was bestowed upon Ghent University researchers for their manuscript describing the seasonal variations in the functional performance of industrial low-moisture part-skim mozzarella over a 1.5-year period.

“We feel utmost fortunate to have our work acknowledged by the Jury of the 2022 Pieter Walstra Award.” says To Chak Ming, researcher within the Milcobel Chair on Dairy Research, which is located within the Ghent University Faculty of Bioscience Engineering. “This opportunity will undoubtedly help convey our research to researchers and scientists in the academia, as well as to those active in the dairy industry”, thus realizing one of the main goals of the Chair.

Results

Chak continues: “Low-moisture part-skim mozzarella is typically used as a pizza topping. Its functional properties, however, were found to vary throughout the year. Our research revealed that these variations could be related to the seasonal variability in milk composition, as well as to variations in processing conditions. Hence, this study offers commercial cheese manufacturers further insights in the year-round consistency of their product, and in the manufacturing of cheese with different points of variation.”

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted within the framework of the Milcobel endowed Chair of Dairy Research. In addition, the authors further express their gratitude to

• John Tobin (Teagasc Food Research Centre Moorepark) for the provision of materials, equipment, and scientific support.
• Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (grant number HBC.2017.0297, VLAIO, Belgium).
• The Fund for Scientific Research–Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen, Belgium) for its financial support for obtaining time-domain NMR equipment.
• The Dutch Dairy Organization for providing the opportunity to participate in the 2022 Pieter Walstra Award.