BRENHAM, Texas-Among the suppliers of packaging and ingredients at Blue Bell Creameries Inc.'s anchor plant here in central Texas is a lumber supplier. Yes, lumber. The famous ice cream maker from Texas also builds its own pallets at its 500,000 foot headquarters plant. But it also operates six robotic palletizers that feed a highly automated warehouse and distribution system. And while Blue Bell uses the latest packaging materials for those containers and novelty wrappers that accompany its product to the end user consumers, those packaged products are put into waxed, corrugated cardboard shipping boxes that come back to the ice cream plant for re-use.
Safeway's Denver milk plant produces milk and cheese for the company's private label program. From its 80,000 square-foot facility, the company manufactures more than 450,000 gallons of milk and 275,000 lbs of cheese per week. The cheese products are sent to more than 1,800 locations in approximately 10 states and three Canadian provinces; the milk products are distributed to nearly 150 stores in the company's Colorado region.
To complement Anderson Erickson Dairy's new 17,000 square foot state-of-the-art cultured products distribution center in Des Moines, Iowa, the company was looking for the best way to automate the palletizing of its cultured products packaging lines. According to Norm Dostal, director of plant operations, the real challenge on this project was finding an automatic palletizing solution that could handle our wide range of cultured products package sizes and have the equipment fit into a fairly tight space.
Garelick Farms, a Dean Foods division, Franklin, Mass. routinely processes more than a half-million gallons of milk each day making it the largest dairy operation east of the Mississippi.
NORTHFIELD, Ill.-Kraft Foods has expanded its self-imposed restrictions on exposing children to junk food marketing by promising to remove some sugary, salty and fatty foods messages from websites aimed at children.
Jan. 15-18 Dairy Forum 2006 La Quinta Resort, La Quinta, Calif. IDFA's premier annual meeting gathers players from all sectors of the dairy industry to discuss and debate the hottest
Obesity has risen significantly in the United States and is predicted to become the most prevalent public health problem in the United States. Thirty percent of American adults aged 20 - 74-more than 60 million people-are obese. The number of children and teens who are overweight has tripled since 1980. Sixteen percent of children 6 - 19 years-more than 9 million-are considered overweight. If weight gain continues at its present rate, 39% of Americans are estimated to be obese in 2008.
When I was asked to write on "Aspects of Shelf-life," I was uncertain how to proceed. The factors that limit shelf-life and means to extend shelf-life are at once complex and simple. So, I will begin and end this piece with the same advice: "To maximize shelf-life, pay close attention to the quality of the incoming milk and other ingredients, product formulation, the selection of starter culture, the sanitation program in your plant and maintain the appropriate low-storage temperature."
Dairy foods have historically served as ideal vehicles for fruits and nuts. The motive for adding fruits and nuts to dairy was to enhance flavor and color. Today, this has expanded to include boosting nutritional profiles.
Research suggests that consumers are seeking foods and beverages with
added value in terms of increased nutrition, so fruity and nutty dairy foods can
have "real" appeal.
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