Four students from Texas Tech's Department of Animal and Food Sciences cooked up a winner today (Feb. 13), taking the University Cook-off People's Choice Award with their "Pork Wellington Bites" at the North American Meat Association Convention in Las Vegas.

Undergraduate students from nine universities vied for the title preparing dishes for attendees of the conference. The People's Choice Award was determined by a ballot system after everyone had tasted each product.

The Texas Tech team included:

• Tanner Adams, a junior from Sanger
• Bo Hutto, a junior from Hondo
• Trevor King, a junior from Hillsboro
• Heather Rode, a junior from Doss

"It was a great opportunity for us to represent Texas Tech's meat science program from a product development aspect," Adams said. "It was very exciting to win. We put a lot of time and effort into planning and making this new, innovative product that hopefully many consumers enjoyed and will continue to talk about."

Hutto, Rode and Dakotah Williams, a senior from Glenrose, also received scholarships at the convention recognizing their outstanding academic performances and involvement in the meat science industry.

Tasting judges were Shelly McKee, Auburn Department of Poultry Science; Kerri Harris, Texas A&M; and Michael Satzow, North Country Smokehouse President & Owner. Cook-off contestants included:

• Ground Pork Burger "" Brigham Young University
• Pulled Pork Pockets "" Cal Poly Pomona
• Cal Poly Pepper Poppers "" Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo
• Italian Garlic Beef Sausage "" Colorado State University
• Sunshine Citrus Sausage "" University of Florida
• Chicken Enchilada "" Fresno State University
• The Sottomarino "" University of Idaho-Moscow
• Pork Wellington Bites "" Texas Tech University
• Aggie Style Baby Back Ribs "" University of California-Davis

Written by Norman Martin

CONTACT: Leslie Thompson, chairman and professor, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University at 806-742-2805, ext 224 or leslie.thompson@ttu.edu

0304NM13 / PHOTO: (left to right) Tanner Adams, Heather Rode, Bo Hutto and TrevorKing