HOUSTON—In 2005, H.E. Butt Grocery Co. (H-E-B), based here on the Texas Gulf Coast introduced MooTopia, milk that features 60% less sugar, 35% more calcium, 75% more protein and 4g carbohydrates, per serving.
One of Tillamook Cheese's most popular marketing campaigns, vaguely reminiscent of a Monty Python skit, featured a band of Swiss knights out to steal the cheese from Tillamook. "Cheese well worth stealing" went the tagline. Well, if you ask anyone in the organization why Tillamook cheese is worth stealing they'll tell you about the great fresh milk, a cheesemaking process that takes no shortcuts and a workforce that pays close attention to detail.
A few years back I had the opportunity to shed some sweat on an Illinois farm. It was for a series of newspaper articles about farming. About once each week from April to November I spent a day with the McLachlan family who worked about 800 acres in the central part of the state. Flat as a pool table, their land was blessed with black soil eight feet deep. They grew corn and beans from their porches to the speed limit signs. The family had been working the same land for more than 100 years.
When dairy processors look back on 2005 in the years to come what will they remember most? Was it the year of the yogurt smoothie? How about the year of the great school milk package debate? It was certainly a year when the U.S. industry and that of the rest of the world came together in many ways. Two traveling international events came to our shores this year, and Worldwide Food Expo helped showcase our industry for the world.
For a "mature" industry, dairy has lots of new things to talk about: New ingredient, equipment, and packaging technologies from suppliers offer new opportunities.
RIIHIMÄKI, Finland-Among Finland's most intrinsic national treasures are its vast, pristine forests, harboring berries, reindeer, mushrooms and moose, and linking the country's peoples to a key part of their heritage. Subsequently, this eastern Scandinavian nation's modern paper and pulp industry is one of its most important, and one of the most progressive of its kind in the world. So it is at once ironic and completely natural that Finland's dominant dairy company's most recent capital investment will allow it to reduce its use of paperboard boxes as shipping containers.
Atkins Nutritional Inc. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy this summer-another indication that the low-carb trend is fading. The movement never gained the kind of following overseas as it did here in the United States where it was born.
When the Healthy Weight with Dairy campaign was introduced a couple of years ago to those of us who cover the industry, the response went something like this:
"Wow, this sounds great, but can you prove it? Will the research bear the scrutiny of dairy's usual critics? Telling consumers they can lose weight while consuming three daily servings of healthful dairy foods could make milk the next red wine, but only if consumers believe it.
The industry passes a milestone this year, as Dean Foods has realized its promise as the first $10 billion North American dairy processor. And it's not just the top cat that's getting bigger. There are a record number (22) billion-dollar companies in this year's Dairy 100,™ and the majority of them experienced considerable sales growth in 2004, thanks in part to higher prices. The top 10 companies now represent just under $38.5 billion, compared with just less than $30 billion last year.