East Knox FFA takes 12th in state milk quality & products

Event teaches students to develop hands-on skills

Four students sitting on a stone bench outside a school.

East Knox FFA Milk Quality & Products team members McKenzie Schwartz, left, Ariel Atkinson, Joey Lively and Nealie Oliver at The Ohio Exposition Center.

Submitted

Published April 22, 2026 - 8:35 a.m.

Four members of the East Knox FFA recently competed in the State FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event at The Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus.

The team consists of seniors Ariel Atkinson and Joey Lively, sophomore Nealie Oliver and freshmen McKenzie Schwartz. In the event competitors had to identify off-flavors and intensity of the flavor in 10 milk samples; recognize dairy and nondairy products and determine milk fat percentage or vegetable fat in the samples; identify cheeses from a list of 20 and complete a cheese matrix including moisture and fat content, origin, pasta filata, how it was ripened, and brine or surface salted; complete a California Mastitis Test on milk samples: and complete an online test including problem solving questions.

The Milk Quality & Products event is an educational activity designed as a practical method of teaching students to perform hands-on skills and to identify various dairy products and quality problems associated with milk.