July is the month when the regular monthly issue of Dairy Foods is pre-empted by our Buyer's Guide & SourceBook. It's a special product, and one that we at the magazine are very proud of. It's a great guide to your suppliers and our advertisers. In fact it's one of the best reference sources for everything the dairy processor needs for running his or her business. So keep it handy.

July is the month when the regular monthly issue of Dairy Foods is pre-empted by our Buyer's Guide & SourceBook. It's a special product, and one that we at the magazine are very proud of. It's a great guide to your suppliers and our advertisers. In fact it's one of the best reference sources for everything the dairy processor needs for running his or her business. So keep it handy.

Looking for a company to supply you with chocolate powder or pure vanilla for a new dairy product line? You'll find a complete list here. Need resin for blow molding, ditto. Maybe it's time to replace your blending tanks, or you're contemplating an upgrade to enclosed cottage cheese vats. Check out our listings and do some comparison shopping.

We've made some changes to the Buyer's Guide in recent years, and now we are pretty happy with the formula. We do have more participation from more vendors than ever in this installment, but otherwise, we have changed little.

Last year we dispensed with the year designation as part of the name, since this issue really has a 12-month shelf life that spans two halves of two different calendar years. We now simply call it an annual.

We like the look, so we stuck with our plan to merely pick a new, bright color each year. This year it's cobalt blue, the color of a clear summer sky. Again, we hope the eye-catching cover makes it easy to find on your bookshelf or desktop.

In addition to the all-important listings of suppliers and organizations, we now include two special features in this issue. Dairy Market Trends offer pages of market data and analyses on milk, ice cream, cheese and cultured dairy products. And the Buyer's Guide and SourceBook once again features brief profiles of the purchasing groups which serve the dairy industry.

And last but not least, there are the listings. The set-up hasn't changed much. Go the Index of Products on p. 28 to find out how to use the Supplier Guide to find a manufacturer of ice cream equipment or a supplier of cultures. The Supplier Index, which starts on p. 78 is our industry "yellow pages" featuring an alphabetical listing of suppliers of goods and services.