A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 28, 2002 Ice Cream Fun, Profit Featured At Penn State Short Course UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Ice cream usually is con sidered “fun food," but industry and medical de\elopments make it serious business at the 111th annual Penn State Ice Cream Short Course, Jan. 6-16 at the Nittan> Lion Inn on the Univer sity Park campus. The course is the nation's old est. best-known and largest edu cational program dedicated to the science and technology of ice cream. Seminar director Bob Roberts, associate professor of food science in Penn State’s Col lege of Agricultural Sciences, points out that several factors make ice cream attractive to peo ple looking to start their own business. r.^ , 3? 'A>> Cedar Crest FFA Members Recently members of the Cedar Crest FFA went to Louis ville. Ky. to attend the National FFA Convention. Amber Frank, Sarah Krall, Kyle Seyfert, Tara Miller, Travils Krall. Samantha Shepler, Kevin Kreider. Jessica Rose, Rebecca Eisenhauer. Jan elle Zimmerman, Heather Bal sbaugh, and Mark Balmer at tended and were supervised b> Harold Berkheiser and Gerald Strickler. Kvle Seyfert, Samantha Shep ler, Mark Balmer, Janelle Zim merman, Kevin Kreider, and Heather Balsbaugh competed in the Par liamentary Procedure contest at the National FFA Convention. The team placed in the sil ver bracket and re ceived individual med als and a team plaque. All participants worked hard and are to be commended for their efforts Students from Cedar Crest also par ticipated in other events and received other rewards. Sarah Krall and Amber Frank won second place in science fair in the environmental cat egory. Jason Bal sbaugh received the coveted American De gree at the convention. The American Degree is the highest degree a member can earn. The Cedar Crest Chapter also won a Two-Star National Rating for its activities throughout the year. This award places Cedar Crest in the top 10 percent of all FFA chapters in the nation. They made several stops on the way to Kentucky and were able to visit the Day ton Mr Force Base Museum, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Lou isville Zoo and they also had the chance to tour the Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat Factors. “Everybody loves ice cream," Roberts said. “It’s just a fun product. A former Penn State professor once told me that, no matter where he went in the world, whenever he saw ice cream, he knew he was in civili zation. 1 think, based on some of the events of the last 18 months, that people are looking for things that give them comfort and plea sure and that say, ‘we’re civ ilized.' 1 think ice cream is one of them. But first and foremost, ice cream is fun." The short course provides in struction in every phase of com mercial ice cream manufacture, including ingredients and flavors, manufacturing better quality fro- FFA7S One Mission: Student Success Hans Herr FFA Members Attend Leadership Conference Five members of the Lancaster Mennonite High School Hans Herr FFA Chapter attended the 2002 Fall Conference for Leader ship and Professional Develop ment at the Altoona Convention Center in Blair County. The Hans Herr freshmen are Apryl Becker, daughter of Merle and Janet Becker, Kinzers; Debra Groff, daughter of Dean and Darlene Groff, Kinzers; Lin ford Hershty, son of Les and Lois Hershe>, Kirkwood; Ra- N IMPRO WODt PRODUCTS Give Your Cows a Helping Hand ... Use IMPRO, the all natural product designed to boost your cows immune system ! No milk with-holding required Daily Farmers ! You are invited to attend one of the following IMPRO meettings . * Tuesday Jan 14, 2003 9:30 AM Yoders Restaurant 14 S. Tower Rd. New Holland, PA * Wednesday Jan 15, 2003 9:30 AM Country Garden Farm Supply RR. 3 Box 348 Mifflinburg, PA 570-966-3944 * Thursday Jan 16, 2003 9:30 AM The Family Cupboard Restaurant 3370 Harvest Drive Intercourse, PA Speaker: Dr. Richard Holliday DVM Impro Products Inc. Buffet Lunch will be served at 12:00 Noon Reservations required ! Call Before Jan. 11, 2003 AARON GROFF & SON LLC Ray K. Espenshade 103 Clearview Drive Lewisburg, PA Ephrata, PA. 17522 (570) 524-7566 (800) 468-4909 zen desserts, and nutrition and additives. The 2003 course will feature more opportunities for participants to gain hands-on ex perience. Roberts sees two factors draw ing entrepreneurs interested in entering into the ice cream busi ness: organic ice cream products and nutriceuticals foods with active medicinal properties. "We mentioned nutriceuticals last year, and there's still a lot of interest in that," he said. “It's a way of producing a food that's good for you and good to eat. At Penn State, we’re looking to de velop various dairy products that incorporate omega-3 fatty acids, which are involved in the preven tion of coronary heart and artery chad Ranck. daughter of James and Joan Ranck, Christiana: and Monica Keeney, daughtei of John and Gail Keeney, Lincoln University. Teacher Lem Metzler served as their adviser. Amanda Shaffer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Shaffer of Bea vertown, was named SUN Area FFA Star Farmer at the meeting, Nov. 12 at Middleburg High School. This award is presented annually to the member top member during the year they earn their SUN Area FFA De gree. The recipient must exhibit premier leadership and conduct an outstanding su pervised occupational ex perience program. Amanda currently serves as the reporter in the West Snyder FFA West Snyder Member Named SUN Area Star Farmer disease. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish oils, and we’re look ing for ways to stabilize the oils so that the ice cream doesn't taste fishv.” Consolidation trends have con tinued in the ice cream industry. Roberts says, with large compa nies getting larger. But there's a newer trend of small companies stepping in to fill niche ice cream markets. “So other avenues for the en trepreneur include the potential to provide small-volume specialty flavors and organic products that the big companies aren’t interest ed in,” he said. “The other thing that 1 see in the industry is the in troduction of new ingredients fruit-and-ice-cream combina- Chapter. She has earned gold medals in the area, regional, and state chapter procedure career development event; and blue rib bons in the SUN Area FFA Dairy Judging event as well as a gold medal in the State FFA Record Keeping contest. She also won the North Central Regional Out standing Project Book Award. Her SAE projects include dairy herd, sheep finishing, and on farm employment. She also rep resented West Snyder FFA at the Washington Leadership Confer ence this summer. Amanda is a varsity cheerlead er at West Snyder and an active member of the Pennsylvania Jr. Holstein Association. Her future plans are to become a dietitian. tions, for instance.” Other developments include good-tasting low-fat products, fat substitutes and dairy-soy blends that combine the benefits of each. New speakers for the 2003 short course include Douglas Goff of the University of Guelph, who will talk about ice cream mi crostructure. and Carrie Fry, vice president with the International Dairy Foods Association, who will talk about the control of al lergens in ice cream. For more information on the short course, call (814) 865-8301 or visit the Web at http:// conferences.cas.psu.edu or http:/ /www.foodscience. psu.edu/. Amanda Shaffer, Beaver town, SUN Area FFA Star Farmer.