Anand receives 2020 International Dairy Foods Association Research Award in Dairy Foods Processing

Story written by: Matt Schmidt

Despite recently receiving the 2020 International Dairy Foods Association Research Award in Dairy Foods Processing at the American Dairy Science Association® Virtual Annual Meeting, South Dakota State University professor Sanjeev Anand is not resting on his laurels and has many more research ideas underway.

The IDFA is the sponsor of this ADSA award, which Anand said is the highest research award given in the discipline. Anand was also recognized for his excellence in the classroom with the 2018 IDFA Teaching Award.

“The ASDA awards committee reviews your body of work and whether your research has led to innovations or influenced processes, which have long-term implications for the U.S. dairy industry,” said Anand, who acknowledged he was humbled by the honor.

“This award is excellent national recognition of the outstanding and impactful work of Dr. Sanjeev Anand,” said Vikram Mistry, professor and the David A. Thompson Endowed Department Head and Chair of Dairy and Food Science.

Anand, who has been at SDSU since 2006, has conducted work in diverse areas involving microbial quality and safety of dairy products and processes. Some of his lab’s major research areas include bacterial biofilm and their control, heat-resistant sporeformers and understanding high-risk food pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes and their control using the novel whole-genome sequencing approach. That work has him looking at developing biosanitizers to improve the efficacy of industrial cleaning and sanitization processes, based on natural antimicrobials produced by environmental bacteria.

His current work also looks at improving the nutritional value of dairy products by adding bioactive constituents such as whey protein derivatives and probiotic organisms.

“Everyone knows the nutritional value of milk and dairy products,” he said. “Now, we want to improve the consumers’ shopping experience by providing a novel range of dairy products with enhanced health benefits. For example, we’re developing novel dairy products enriched with encapsulated probiotics, instead of looking for probiotic supplements in powder or tablet forms.”

Anand’s research lab is working toward developing these and many more innovative quality dairy products with enhanced health benefits in the coming years.