After 20 years of work in cheese making, Gina Dal Santo has been recognised for her efforts, being named the 2023 winner of the Brenton Higgins Memorial Award at the recent South Australian Dairy Awards.
The trophy was created in honour of former Golden North owner Brenton Higgins, who was a long serving member of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Show Society dairy products committee and a much respected servant of the Australian Dairy Industry.
Ms Dal Santo has worked at TAFE SA since 2000, starting as a laboratory manager before moving on to working in teaching food science and safety.
"I basically taught myself how to make cheese as there was no way to learn," she said.
"We had a gap in dairy products, so I started working with dairy products.
"Now we run a cheesemaking course here at TAFE.
"At times I have worked for Say Cheese in retail.
"It's important to see how a product is made, and made safely following regulations but it is also very important to see what people are buying and what they are focusing on."
She said she found it interesting to see both sides of the coin in the dairy industry.
"Then there is getting to know the farmers and where the milk comes from," she said.
"To me, that's probably the most important thing because at the end of the day, the fundamental is in what you start with, and that's the milk product."
Ms Dal Santo has been on the Dairy Industry Association of Australia since 2008, which included stints as secretary, president, vice president, president again and now committee member.
She has had many judging appointments and is now the chief judge for dairy at the Royal Adelaide Show.
"I thought judging would be interesting," she said.
"Through my teaching in food science we learn about sensory and the fundamentals of sensory.
"I had all of those skills but I never really did judging so I ended up putting my name down for one of the competitions in Melbourne and eventually got called up.
"The more you do, the better you get at it so I started as a steward at the RAHS and then went judging and when the chief judge left, Steve Rice, he put my name forward."
Ms Dal Santo has had judging appointments at the Royal Brisbane Show, otherwise known as the Ekka, Royal Sydney Show, Royal Victorian Show - including chief judge duties, Royal Adelaide Show, DIAA National Competition, Australian Grand Dairy Awards, and two international gigs.
"I did the World Cheese Awards and the International Cheese and Dairy Awards and they were pre COVID," she said.
"Things have changed a little bit in the industry, but I'll probably go back and do another international one next year."
She said the felt honoured to be recognised for all her energy she brings to the dairy industry through the Brenton Higgins award.
Dairy winner reflects on world scholarship
Chief Dairy Judge Gina Dal Santo won the Winston Churchill Scholarship in 2015, which sent her on a trip of a life time to investigate teaching methodologies and growth of cheese education at several international teaching institutes.
"I started off in the United States where I went to a couple of different places," she said.
"But what I was focusing on wasn't about what they were making, it was how they ran the schools, where the students come from and how big their courses were.
"What I found in the States was that they really treat it like a career opportunity and it's a big degree to do it, which they teach as a science degree.
"Then I went to France and went to several universities there chasing the same sort of thing."
She said she found all around the world - including England and Italy - where she finished her trip, cheesemaking was a career path.
"In England they do this big science degree and they do something a bit like an apprenticeship," she said.
"In Italy it was the same thing but they've also got to do so many months working in a factory, before they can be a cheesemaker.
"It's quite different to what we have here in Australia - there's nothing for cheesemakers and that was my whole fundamental."
Ms Dal Santo is now working with DairySafe about the skills gap for dairy in SA to make cheesemaking a career path.
Kiara Stacey
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
