Efraim Shachter
Commercial Analyst
We all enter a pre-formed world and want to both understand it and find a place in it that makes sense. For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in understanding how the everyday items with which I interact came to be. When I became old enough to surf the web, much of my free time became dedicated to researching the scientific processes and historical development of common foods, in particular. I became increasingly fascinated by cheese, due to the milestone in food preservation technology that its development represented, the many chemical processes involved in its production, and the iconic cultural significance that many types of cheese have throughout the world. In 8th grade I taught a Food Science elective class to my peers during which we made mozzarella, butter, and ice cream, among other foods, and I would explain the scientific processes taking place. It was around that time that I visited a family friend’s dairy farm in Okeechobee, Florida and became intrigued by the dairy industry. I then began working at a summer camp; taking care of the barn animals, milking the goats, and making chevre cheese with the campers.
In undergrad at Cornell, I majored in Food Science, and then decided to minor in Business, after multiple advisory council members emphasized the need to integrate business objectives within product development. I had two internships: one was an R&D internship for Mondelez International and the other was R&D for a startup company in Israel called Amai Proteins. Amai is a designer protein company, and while I was there we were working on a sweet protein similar to Monellin for food industry applications. On campus, a few CALS friends and I decided to revive ChocTech, the chocolate and confections technology club, where we made chocolate from scratch, explored the historical relevance of chocolate, and learned to appreciate the unique flavor notes of chocolates made from cocoa sourced from different parts of the world. My ongoing interest in dairy manifested through working for a semester at the FPDL making cheese twice a week before my first class, volunteering in the teaching barn, muck raking and milking for the late, warmly remembered Dr. Michael Thonney, in exchange for 2 gallons of sheep milk to use to make cheese and yogurt in my apartment, and more formally by taking AEM 3040 Dairy Markets and Policy. At the time of my graduation, I was in the process of trying to facilitate the cheese club’s use of the FPDL to make a batch of a traditional sheep’s milk cheese, sourced from the teaching barn. Perhaps someone will continue this pleasantly unifying effort.
I am currently in a management training program at Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). My title is Rotational Commercial Analyst. I have completed a 7 month rotation in International Sales and now split my time between Springfield, Missouri and Kansas City, working as an R&D Scientist. My work consists of developing specialty dairy powders, dairy concentrates/pastes, and dairy flavors for companies throughout the world. I have also had the privilege to work with some innovative dairy beverages and snacks. These dairy products all add value to the milk provided by DFA’s farmers, which helps them to continue to produce their life-giving product.
Overall, at Cornell, I did not feel that my studies were particularly dairy focused. I felt that the Cornell food science program covered the gamut of food science topics fairly equally. As a sophomore transfer to Cornell, I was exempt from Professor Chris Loss’s FDSC 1101, a very popular class that fills up with seniors from throughout Cornell, after the reserved seats are given to Food Science freshman. Professor Loss kindly allowed me to audit the class and join a team for the ice cream development competition. During my team’s (“Currant Events”) pilot plant trial in the FPDL, I learned that some students get to actually work in the plant making Big Red Cheddar! I was determined to be one of those students and signed up for FDSC 4970 with Mr. Rob Ralyea. I learned a lot from working in the pilot plant and from my discussions about cheese and the dairy industry with Mr. Ralyea. Over the course of the rest of my time at Cornell, Mr. Ralyea encouraged me to apply for various Dairy awards and scholarships, three of which I was awarded, allowing me to begin to get to know the many faces of the dairy industry.
