The Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center is well-equipped with dairy processing and research facilities at the University of Minnesota, South Dakota State University, and Iowa State University. These facilities are available for use by non-university organizations.
South Dakota State University
Institute for Dairy Ingredient Processing
The Institute for Dairy Ingredient Processing (IDIP) is a 13,000-square foot dairy processing facility that is connected to the new Davis Dairy Plant at South Dakota State University. Both plants are inspected on a quarterly basis by the South Dakota State of Agriculture. Together, these facilities focus on many aspects of dairy processing including milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream and butter. These plants are used for training and education and are available to industry personnel for experiments, training seminars, and product evaluation.
The IDIP facility conducts dairy ingredient commercialization studies to help expand the product range of dairy-based ingredients in domestic and international markets. It is equipped with a multi-stage low- and high-pressure membrane system; a multi-stage evaporation system; a multi-stage dryer; and sifting, dry blending and packaging capacity. The range of products include:
- Whey powder
- Delactosed whey
- Whey protein concentrate-35
- Whey protein isolates
- Non-fat dry milk
- Milk protein isolates
- Casein concentrates
- Native whey
- Custom products
University of Minnesota
Joseph J. Warthesen Food Processing Center
This facility is located in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. It is a food production facility that is inspected by the State of Minnesota. Products can be sold and used in market research.
This facility is used for product research and teaching. It is available to industry to provide process and product development support, and evaluation of new processes and product lines.
Iowa State University
Center for Crops Utilization Research
The CCUR is located in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University.
Although CCUR is not a certified food production facility, the 35,000-square-foot pilot plant is available for wet and dry processing, fermentation and product recovery, food preparation, and consumer and sensory testing. CCUR focuses on new processes, products, and markets for corn, soybeans and other Midwest crops for research.