Heluva Good, Sodus, N.Y. has partnered with the Cleveland Browns, for the Heluva Good $100,000 Kickoff for the 2005 football season. This is the third consecutive year that Heluva Good has sponsored the promotion, which includes point-of-sale displays at Ohio supermarkets and in-stadium coverage at Browns’ home games.

Russian dairy Wimm-Bill-Dann said last month that profit dropped 36% in the first half of the year, despite higher sales of baby food and dairy items. The company attributed the decline to rising raw material costs, lower benefits from currency translation, and a higher tax rate.

Dairy Council of California recently reached a milestone of having reached 5 million adults and children with messages about dairy nutrition. The five million figure was established five years ago, in an effort to double the organization’s reach by 2005.

The Milk Industry Foundation recently honored Zeynep Ustunol, director of graduate studies in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at Michigan State University, with the 2005 MIF Teaching Award in Dairy Manufacturing. Known for her technical savvy and enthusiasm in the classroom, Ustunol has been teaching food science for more than 20 years, with an emphasis on the chemistry, nutritional quality and processing of dairy foods.

China produced 1.07 tons of dairy products in July 2005. The output in January-July reached 7,070, 800 tons, up 26.9% year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Bravo! Foods International, was featured in the September issue of Progressive Grocer magazine, as an “Editor’s Pick” for one of the best new dairy products of the year. Editors of the grocery industry trade magazine selected Bravo!’s Milky Way® Slammers® as one of its “Winner’s Circle,” products.

Brazilian ice-cream and frozen dessert maker Kibon, owned by Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever, will deactivate its ice cream producing plant located in Sao Paulo. Kibon will transfer production to other plants. According to Unilever, the deactivation of the plant will cause the lay-off of 343 employees.

CoolBrands International, will receive a $500,000 federal grant to install a renewable energy system at a yogurt plant in North Lawrence, N.Y. which it purchased recently from Kraft Foods. The system will generate biogas from waste products created as yogurt and cottage cheese are produced. The $3.3 million project will produce enough biogas to replace nearly 250,000 gallons of fuel oil annually, which is nearly 25% of the plant’s usage.