- This event has passed.
All current WASCA members are invited to join us for this Cheesemaker Chat.
A lifelong Oregonian who grew up enjoying many of the Pacific Northwest’s wonderful dairy products, Sara Murayama found her love of dairy while taking Dr. Lisbeth Goddik’s dairy processing course during her undergrad studies. She earned her BS and MS in Food Science and Technology at Oregon State University and currently works at Tillamook Creamery as the company’s R&D Product and Sensory scientist. In her current role, Sara leads the non-biased sensory evaluation of Tillamook’s cheese, ice cream and many other products.
During her graduate studies at Oregon State University, Sara co-authored a research study titled, “How information leads consumers to select specialty foods when tasting is not an option.”
Sara and her co-authors found that online consumers rely on cues like sensory descriptions, award stickers, photos. While studying how cheese buyers interact with these, cues, they found that cheese variety familiarity increases demand, as do sensory notes and awards. They also found that a significant minority of consumers prefers novelty cheese and relies on award stickers.
Sara will talk about her research and field questions about the study, which you can read online.
Members will receive the registration link through a listserv message. Please ensure that you are a current member and that you have added our email address (WashingtonCheese[at]gmail.com) to your contacts so that you receive the link.