Dairy Foods made the official presentation of its 2011 Processor of the Year award to Kraft Foods Inc. today at the Dairy Forum of the International Dairy Foods Association. James R. Durkin, Kraft's operations vice president of the cheese division of Kraft North America, accepted the award.

Kraft was the subject of the cover story of the December 2011 issue. In remarks prior to introducing Durkin, Dairy Foods editor Jim Carper said the leadership in the cheese and dairy division has taken bold steps and placed big bets in recent years, including:

• Developing new products around existing 100-year-old brands
• Creating new dairy-based food products Adapting new packaging technologies
• Reducing the amount of energy and water used in processing
• Leading the dairy industry in research into sodium reduction
• Reinvigorating marketing around its iconic brands

For these reasons, Dairy Foods named Kraft Foods North America the 2011 Processor of the Year. Read the full article online, "Kraft Foods is the 2011 Dairy Processor of the Year."

View a brief video about Kraft's accomplishments on www.dairyfoods.com. The video was produced by the International Dairy Foods Association from a script written by Dairy Foods.

The Dairy Forum, Jan. 15-18, is being held at the La Quinta Resort, La Quinta, Calif.