Overview
The Ice Cream Technology Conference is the premier event for ice cream and frozen dessert professionals and is the only meeting that focuses specifically on innovations in frozen dessert research, technology and new market trends. It provides unique opportunities to learn from experts on food safety, labeling and regulations that affect the industry. Ice Cream Tech is the place to learn and share, and to engage in an open exchange among participants and experts on technical and practical processing issues in the ice cream and frozen dessert industry.
In light of on-going developments with COVID-19 and after thoughtful consideration, IDFA has decided to move the 2021 Ice Cream Technology and Yogurt & Cultured Innovation conferences to a fully online, virtual experience. We believe this is the safest approach for the well-being of our audience and we are excited that a virtual event makes it possible to broaden the learning opportunities and engagement with the industry at this time.
Who Should Attend?
All professionals in ice cream and frozen dessert technology — including plant managers, regulatory compliance personnel, research and development professionals, and quality assurance staff — will gain new insights, ideas and solutions by attending the conference. Suppliers to the ice cream industry are also encouraged to attend.
Premier Sponsors
Title Sponsors
Supporting Sponsors
Agenda
April 6, 2021 | Event | Speaker | Location |
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1:00pm - 1:45pm |
Staying Relevant Without Succumbing to a Fad: The Past 20 Years in Review
So much has changed in the food world in the past 20 years, and the ice cream, yogurt and cultured dairy industries have evolved to stay relevant to consumers. There have been some great success stories, as well as some short-lived concepts. This presentation will explore the trends, the fads, the approaches and the achievements of the past two decades to provide insight as you plan your future innovations. We’ll look at 20 product concepts and identify what gave the trends their fuel and how you can continue to evolve to stay relevant to disruptive and demanding consumers, including the emerging generation Z. <br><i>Speaker</i>: <b>Donna Berry</b>, Food Scientist, Editor and Consultant, Daily Dose of Dairy
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1:45pm - 2:30pm |
Back to Basics: Formulations for Optimal Quality Ice Cream with Novel Ingredients
There is a growing body of research focused on understanding the main structural elements in ice cream—fat, air and ice—and the unfrozen phase where they are formed and interact. This session will review the structural elements and how they can be controlled through ingredients and processes to optimize for product performance attributes such as dryness, shaping and shape retention, meltdown, texture and shelf life. The session will also discuss the impact of reduced sugar formulation modifications on structure and anticipated product performance.<br><i>Speaker</i>: <b>Doug Goff, Ph.D.</b>, Professor, University of Guelph, Canada
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2:30pm - 3:00pm | Networking Break | ||
3:00pm - 3:45pm | Consumer Trends | ||
3:45pm - 4:30pm |
Spotlight Sustainable & Ethical Sourcing
The sustainable and ethical sourcing of ingredients is becoming mainstream in the food industry in response to consumer demand making it a critical consideration for product development. This session will share insights from two companies leading efforts in sustainability and ethical sourcing for cocoa and sugar that are widely used in ice cream. Hear about Barry Callebaut’s external research and solutions they bring for cocoa farmers including information on its Forever Chocolate initiative to make sustainable chocolate the norm. Sugaright will share work with growers, millers, refiners and end-users including certification schemes such as Bonsucro and Fairtrade that provide sustainability frameworks and a platform for industry collaboration and traceability and work at the local level with higher color liquid sugar options which reduced energy and water use. This talk will help your company to identify sustainability and ethical sourcing goals and steps to meet them.<br><i>Speakers</i>: <b>Brooke Smith</b>, Business Development Manager, Sustainability, Barry Callebaut <i>(invited)</i><br><b>Diane Stevenson</b>, Director of Sustainability and Marketing, CSC Sugar
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April 7, 2021 | Event | Speaker | Location |
1:00pm - 1:45pm | New Considerations for Shrinkage Defect | ||
1:45pm - 2:30pm | Flavor Trends | ||
2:30pm - 3:00pm | Networking Break | ||
3:00pm - 3:45pm | Novel Applications for High-Pressure Tech | ||
3:45pm - 4:15pm | Inclusions in Frozen Desserts | ||
4:15pm - 4:30pm | Tech Talk | ||
April 8, 2021 | Event | Speaker | Location |
1:00pm - 1:45pm | FDA Update | ||
1:45pm - 2:30pm | Industry 4.0 | ||
2:30pm - 3:00pm | Networking Break | ||
3:00pm - 3:45pm | Food Microbiology Testing | ||
3:45pm - 4:30pm | Fermentation-Derived Dairy Ingredients |
Staying Relevant Without Succumbing to a Fad: The Past 20 Years in Review
Speaker: Donna Berry, Food Scientist, Editor and Consultant, Daily Dose of Dairy

Donna Berry
Donna Berry is the owner of Dairy & Food Communications, a company that specializes in business-to-business writing, speaking and consulting projects in the dairy, beverage and food industries. She has a Bachelors Degree in Food Science from the University of Illinois and product development industry experience with Kraft Foods. She has been writing for the dairy trade since 1993; she opened her own business in 2001.
Donna has been tracking consumer behaviors and food trends, with an emphasis on dairy, for nearly 25 years. She currently writes for numerous trade publications, including Dairy Business News, Food Business News, Meat & Poultry, Baking & Snack and Culinology. Until February 2012, she had been the ingredient technology editor and new products trend tracker for Dairy Foods magazine.
After 18 years on Dairy Foods, she decided it was time to share her knowledge via other publications and media channels. Almost immediately she started her own website, aptly named BerryOnDairy.com, which includes an email newsletter called Daily Dose of Dairy that focuses on innovations in dairy products and related beverages.
Donna is a native of Chicago, where she currently resides with her husband, two sons and dog. Donna enjoys traveling, both domestically and abroad, and makes grocery store visits a priority in every city she visits, which enables her to be an authority on ingredient technology and new product trends.
Back to Basics: Formulations for Optimal Quality Ice Cream with Novel Ingredients
Speaker: Doug Goff, Ph.D., Professor, University of Guelph, Canada

Doug Goff
Dr. Douglas Goff is a Professor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph, Canada. He is well known internationally for his ice cream expertise. He has done extensive research over a 35-year span on ice cream structure, ingredients, manufacturing and quality, which has been published and presented widely around the world. He has written over 200 research and technical papers. He is the co-author of the textbook “Ice Cream, 7th Edition”, 2013, with Prof. Richard Hartel of the University of Wisconsin. At the University of Guelph, Prof. Goff has taught an annual 1-week ice cream science and technology course for industry personnel for 30 years. He also teaches biennial ice cream science and technology courses for the Dairy Industry Association of Australia in Melbourne and at University College Cork in Ireland.
Spotlight Sustainable & Ethical Sourcing
Speakers: Brooke Smith, Business Development Manager, Sustainability, Barry Callebaut (invited)
Diane Stevenson, Director of Sustainability and Marketing, CSC Sugar

Diane Stevenson
Diane is a key player in changing the way the industry thinks about sustainable options for cane sugar up and down the supply chain. In her prior role at CSC as Director of Quality and Research and Development, she helped many large brands revise their specifications for color resulting in the uptake of more sustainable options for purchasers of liquid sugar in the US market. In her current role in Sustainability, as the Vice-Chair of Bonsucro and a member of Fairtrade International’s Product Advisory Council for cane sugar, Diane works to increase the supply of sustainability sourced sugar for the global market. CSC is a leading importer of raw sugar into the US from Mexico and Central and South America supplying US refiners and food processors. Diane holds a BS in Food Science from the University of Illinois, an MS in Food Science from Cornell, an MBA from the University of Connecticut and an MDiv from Yale University.
All Times Eastern
Speakers

Donna Berry
Food Scientist, Editor and Consultant | Daily Dose of Dairy

Donna Berry
Donna Berry is the owner of Dairy & Food Communications, a company that specializes in business-to-business writing, speaking and consulting projects in the dairy, beverage and food industries. She has a Bachelors Degree in Food Science from the University of Illinois and product development industry experience with Kraft Foods. She has been writing for the dairy trade since 1993; she opened her own business in 2001.
Donna has been tracking consumer behaviors and food trends, with an emphasis on dairy, for nearly 25 years. She currently writes for numerous trade publications, including Dairy Business News, Food Business News, Meat & Poultry, Baking & Snack and Culinology. Until February 2012, she had been the ingredient technology editor and new products trend tracker for Dairy Foods magazine.
After 18 years on Dairy Foods, she decided it was time to share her knowledge via other publications and media channels. Almost immediately she started her own website, aptly named BerryOnDairy.com, which includes an email newsletter called Daily Dose of Dairy that focuses on innovations in dairy products and related beverages.
Donna is a native of Chicago, where she currently resides with her husband, two sons and dog. Donna enjoys traveling, both domestically and abroad, and makes grocery store visits a priority in every city she visits, which enables her to be an authority on ingredient technology and new product trends.

Doug Goff
Professor | University of Guelph, Canada

Doug Goff
Dr. Douglas Goff is a Professor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph, Canada. He is well known internationally for his ice cream expertise. He has done extensive research over a 35-year span on ice cream structure, ingredients, manufacturing and quality, which has been published and presented widely around the world. He has written over 200 research and technical papers. He is the co-author of the textbook “Ice Cream, 7th Edition”, 2013, with Prof. Richard Hartel of the University of Wisconsin. At the University of Guelph, Prof. Goff has taught an annual 1-week ice cream science and technology course for industry personnel for 30 years. He also teaches biennial ice cream science and technology courses for the Dairy Industry Association of Australia in Melbourne and at University College Cork in Ireland.

Diane Stevenson
Director of Sustainability and Marketing | CSC Sugar

Diane Stevenson
Diane is a key player in changing the way the industry thinks about sustainable options for cane sugar up and down the supply chain. In her prior role at CSC as Director of Quality and Research and Development, she helped many large brands revise their specifications for color resulting in the uptake of more sustainable options for purchasers of liquid sugar in the US market. In her current role in Sustainability, as the Vice-Chair of Bonsucro and a member of Fairtrade International’s Product Advisory Council for cane sugar, Diane works to increase the supply of sustainability sourced sugar for the global market. CSC is a leading importer of raw sugar into the US from Mexico and Central and South America supplying US refiners and food processors. Diane holds a BS in Food Science from the University of Illinois, an MS in Food Science from Cornell, an MBA from the University of Connecticut and an MDiv from Yale University.
Registration fees are based on your company's IDFA membership status. For more information about membership, please email membership.idfa.org.
Member: $599
Non-Member: $799
Government: $395
Cancellation Policy: Registration cancellations received in writing will be accepted prior to March 23, 2021 for a full refund. Your registration fee is non-refundable after March 23, 2021. Substitutions may be made without penalty. All cancellations and substitutions must be received in writing at registrar@idfa.org.
Questions: If you have questions or need assistance with the registration process, please contact IDFA at (202) 737-4332 or registrar@idfa.org.
For those interested in sponsorships, the Ice Cream Technology Conference offers several options to be seen and heard. Sponsorship is one of the best ways to brand your organization as a thought-leader and to highlight your commitment to advancing the dairy industry. Please contact Melissa Lembke for more information: (202) 220-3512, mlembke@idfa.org.