Think about that the next time you pour yourself a nice, cold glass of cow juice. The event called the Milk Quality and Products Career Development. was concocted by the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and are a crucial component in milk safety evaluations.

The event involves teams from different high schools around the country doing the milk tasting and then evaluate the quality, flavor and overall freshness of the milk. To prepare for the event, students practice in class and after school. And the competition is fierce.

As Modern Farmer reports, some schools are so competitive that they require participating students to practice on weekends. The goal is to turn them into pros at tasting for things like notes of garlic or onion, a salty flavor, anything bitter or acrid, or a malty flavor (YUM!).  These weird flavors are attributed to a cow's diet, and can signal problems with a given batch of milk.

So what do these students get for being guinea pigs? Turns out they can win anywhere from $400 to $1,000 for themselves or their teams. Not a bad gig for sipping on spoiled milk.

[Modern Farmer]