During this externship, students will spend time with Dr. Walker and learn what being the director of milk quality at one of the top 15 food and beverage companies in the United States entails. This will include spending time at beverage and yogurt processing plants, watching the receiving of milk at the processing plant when it is tested for food safety and quality, visiting a milk quality testing laboratory, visiting at least one farm where a food safety and/or animal welfare audit is taking place, and generally developing a framework for how food animal veterinary practice relates to food quality throughout the supply chain.

As the Director of Milk Quality role is multifaceted, the experience can be tailored to the student’s interest. For example, this position involves discussing how animal welfare policy is developed at an organizational level, ensuring that Danone products are safe, good quality, and come from farms that align with the corporation’s standards, developing standards for quality and safety of food products, and managing the quality and food safety of milk and liquid dairy supply from farm to factory. Any one of those can be highlighted or focused upon during this externship.