{"id":13288,"date":"2026-01-09T08:04:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=13288"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:04:42","slug":"cool-solution-uw-stout-faculty-student-research-will-help-madison-company-ship-charcuterie-cheese-boards-coast-to-coast","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/cool-solution-uw-stout-faculty-student-research-will-help-madison-company-ship-charcuterie-cheese-boards-coast-to-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Cool solution: UW-Stout faculty-student research will help Madison company ship charcuterie, cheese boards coast to coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>
UW-Stout Assistant Professor Kate Liu, left, and her lab assistant, sophomore Claire Le, pose with materials in the packaging lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Packaging professor and student identify sustainable insulation option<\/h2>\n

Faculty-student research conducted this fall in University of Wisconsin-Stout packaging labs is poised to help a Wisconsin business deliver its tasty but temperature-sensitive goods coast to coast.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Associate Professor Xiaojing \u201cKate\u201d Liu<\/strong>\u00a0of UW-Stout\u2019s\u00a0packaging program<\/a>\u00a0worked with Madison-based Tricky Foods to test the insulating abilities of two eco-friendly packaging options \u2013 one made of cornstarch, the other of recycled paper. The goal: To determine the best way to keep the cheese, meat and other perishables on the company\u2019s charcuterie boards fresh while in transit.<\/p>\n

Therese Merkel, owner of\u00a0Tricky Foods<\/a>, worked closely with Liu for months and is confident that the research-backed expertise that she\u2019s received \u2013 and the custom-made packing materials she ordered based on that expertise \u2013 will help her small business break into the long-distance delivery market.<\/p>\n

\u201cKate is the only reason I\u2019m able to launch this thing so quickly,\u201d Merkel said in an interview from her Madison office. \u201cShe has been the backbone of the entire project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research will aid business expansion<\/h3>\n

Merkel started Tricky Foods in her home kitchen during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Thanks to her charcuterie boards filled with sliced meats, Wisconsin cheeses, fresh and dried fruits, honey, jams, nuts, and more, the business grew rapidly, and now Merkel has a storefront and 12 employees. But her ability to continue to scale up the business collided with her inability to figure out how to safely ship her goods long distances, despite customers\u2019 requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had people asking us to ship since 2020. I thought, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ll work on it when it slows down,\u2019 and I never got around to it,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

The route around her business roadblock began when she joined a business accelerator program operated by\u00a0StartingBlock<\/a>, a nonprofit regional startup hub and coworking space in Madison.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Therese\u2019s products are perishable and have a very clear aesthetic, it was clear that she needed to work with packaging experts,\u201d said Scott Mosley, CEO of StartingBlock. \u201cAs the state\u2019s only polytechnic and the only school to have a dedicated packaging program, it was natural to recommend that Therese contact UW-Stout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merkel reached out to UW-Stout\u2019s\u00a0Office of Corporate Relations & Economic Engagement<\/a>, which works to connect university resources to business, industry and community stakeholders.\u00a0Seth Hudson, UW-Stout\u2019s executive director for corporate relations and economic engagement<\/strong>, put her in touch with Liu.<\/p>\n

Before partnering with Liu at UW-Stout, Merkel explained, \u201cNobody wanted to work with me because I\u2019m too small at this point. I didn\u2019t have a huge budget to pay someone to help me design something.\u201d However, Liu was willing to collaborate, connecting frequently through video calls to ask questions and show packaging samples. Ultimately, she invited Merkel to visit UW-Stout to examine prototypes firsthand, which she did in September.<\/p>\n

Once they settled on the optimal packaging \u2013 1.5-inch-thick biodegradable foam insulation, which dissolves in water, wrapped in recyclable plastic and accompanied by 64- to 80-ounce cold gels \u2013 Liu helped Merkel identify vendors who could custom-make what she needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed it a lot,\u201d Liu said of the collaboration. \u201c(It was) especially satisfying to see the solution carried out and help Tricky Foods\u2019 business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liu said she is confident that the packaging solution will meet Merkel\u2019s needs, and she added that part of the research results will be published in a peer-reviewed article and presented at an international packaging conference in 2026.<\/p>\n

Merkel expects to begin test-shipping products using the new packaging this Christmas season, and she\u2019s optimistic about the results and the impact on her business. \u201cNext year will definitely be our biggest year ever,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Impactful undergraduate research<\/h3>\n

UW-Stout is one of only a few schools in the United States, and the only school in the Universities of Wisconsin, that offers a\u00a0B.S. in packaging program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Liu\u2019s lab assistant for the research is\u00a0Claire Le<\/strong>, a sophomore packaging major from Phu Quoc City, Vietnam. Le said she didn\u2019t expect to be doing such impactful research so early in her college career. \u201cIt\u2019s been challenging, but in the best way,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot about experimental design, budgeting, troubleshooting and presenting results professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Le said the most interesting part of the project was learning how different kinds of insulating materials behaved in cold-chain conditions. \u201cTesting cornstarch versus fiber liners and tracking how long they keep food under 40\u00b0F feels meaningful because we\u2019re working on something that can genuinely impact food safety,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

These packaging options are also more environmentally friendly, replacing products made of polystyrene foam. Repeated lab tests found that cornstarch liners, when combined with cold packs, could keep 5-pound charcuterie boards properly cooled for 48 hours. When sealed correctly, the packages maintain the necessary temperature despite vibrations during transit, which were simulated in the lab with a vibration table that jostled the packages for hours at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this research gives (Tricky Foods) clear, data-driven recommendations on which insulation material is more reliable for keeping food safe during transport,\u201d Le said. \u201cMy goal is for the results to help them make stronger packaging decisions, reduce spoilage and improve their cold-chain performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merkel called UW-Stout a \u201chidden treasure\u201d because of the expert assistance it can give to businesses like hers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor an entrepreneur who\u2019s new in the e-commerce game, (UW-Stout) is the difference between me being able to launch this and not,\u201d she said. \u201cWithout Kate, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to. I\u2019m just beyond grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Tom Giffey<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwstout.edu\/about-us\/news-center\/cool-solution-faculty-student-research-will-help-madison-company-ship-charcuterie-cheese-boards<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Packaging professor and student identify sustainable insulation option Faculty-student research conducted this fall in University of Wisconsin-Stout packaging labs is poised to help a Wisconsin business deliver its tasty but temperature-sensitive goods coast to coast. \u00a0Associate Professor Xiaojing \u201cKate\u201d Liu\u00a0of UW-Stout\u2019s\u00a0packaging program\u00a0worked with Madison-based Tricky Foods to test the insulating abilities of two eco-friendly packaging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[90],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-13288","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-stout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/13288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=13288"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=13288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}