In The News

In a letter sent this week to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the National Milk Producers Federation and the International Dairy Foods Association said that the food safety risks inherent in raw milk will increase the incidence of foodborne illness and reverse public heath improvements in New Jersey. "The link between raw milk and foodborne illness has been well-documented in the scientific literature, with evidence spanning nearly 100 years. Raw milk is a key vehicle in the transmission of human pathogens, including E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella," the letter said. A copy of the letter can be found at www.nmpf.org, and www.idfa.org.

 

Consumers can search for food and other product recalls easier and quicker on a new Food and Drug Administration website. The Food Safety Modernization Act signed into law in January called for a more consumer-friendly recall search engine. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm

 

Sassy Cow Creamery, Columbus, Wis., recalled two ice creams because they might contain undeclared peanuts, egg or soy. Ice cream was distributed in Wisconsin and Illinois through retail stores. Products affected are Blueberry Cheesecake and Butter Pecan ice cream in quart and half-gallon cartons, with a best-by date of Sept. 17, 2011 or earlier. No illnesses have been reported to date.

 

Emmi Roth USA launches in May a vanilla flavor single-serve dairy/coffee refrigerated beverage. A 7.7-ounce Caffè Latte Vanilla serving has 140 calories and 4 grams of fat. It will sell for $1.99 (suggested retail). The beverage is infused with Madagascar-bourbon vanilla and made with rbST-free milk and Fair Trade Certified coffee beans. Emmi Roth makes the beverage at the C.A.S.P. facility in Penn Yan, N.Y.

 

Homemade in the Shade ice cream is a new flavor from Blue Bell Creameries, Brenham, Texas. The product combines vanilla ice cream with a swirl of chocolate fudge sauce.

Firehouse #31 is a new Baskin-Robbins flavor, combining vanilla-based ice cream with hot cinnamon, red-hot candy pieces and a crunchy atomic fireball ribbon. The flavor is in conjunction with a "Scooping Up Thanks" to firefighters promotion on April 27, coinciding with 31 Cent Scoop Night, offering a 2.5-ounce scoop for 31 cents.

 

Smith Dairy Products Co., Orrville, Ohio, introduced two new ready-to-drink teas, 50/50 Tea Lemonade (half tea and half lemonade, in some regions it’s known as an Arnold Palmer) and Diet Tea with Lemon in half-gallons. Its popular peach tea is also sold now in half-gallons.

 

Companies

The quarterly Milk Shippers update is now available on the FDA website. http://tinyurl.com/y8femfz

In response to health concerns and anti-obesity movements, restaurant chains are providing more menu items with 550 or fewer calories, reports restaurant-trends research firm Technomic, Chicago. As an example, it cites Carvel Ice Cream’s low-fat sundae, which has fewer than 300 calories.

Carvel Ice Cream, a unit of Focus Brands, developed a Cookie Trio promotion with three Kraft cookie brands. Oreo cookies are blended with vanilla ice cream and fudge; Nutter Butter peanut butter ice cream is infused with chunks of Nutter Butter cookies and peanut butter topping; and Nilla Wafers are combined with banana ice cream and blended with marshmallow. The promotion runs for a limited time in its stores.

Whole Foods Market cheesemongers will crack open two-year-aged 85-pound wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano at stores on April 16 at 2 p.m. CDT. Now in its third year, the supermarket chain puts on a 30-minute demonstration of carving and portioning.

Supervalu supermarket banners Acme, Shaw’s, Shoppers and Farm Fresh say they support First Lady Michelle Obama’s "Let's Move" campaign to battle childhood obesity. The grocers are promoting low-fat dairy foods, such as string cheese and yogurt. They offer menu suggestions, including mini pizzas made with whole-grain English muffins, tomato sauce and part-skim mozzarella, and whole-wheat wraps made with reduced-fat cheddar cheese and salsa.

Nestle’s signed a licensing agreement with Evriholder Products to develop housewares products in the United States and its territories. Evriholder told Dairy Foods that specific products and number of SKUs have not yet been determined. The licensing group’s strength is in the food-storage category, especially sandwich containers and thermoses. Expect products to roll out in the third or fourth quarters of this year in supermarkets.

The Laughing Cow, a unit of Bel Brands USA, will donate at least $250,000 and as much as to $500,000 to support health and wellness initiatives at YMCAs throughout the United States. The Life Well Laughed Project, launched April 1, runs through July 15. Laughing Cow will donate $1 for each UPC code from Laughing Cow cheese wedges or Mini Babybel cheese entered at www.LifeWellLaughed.com. The company positions the individually wrapped cheeses as portion-controlled snacks.
 

Fans of minor league baseball and Kraft Singles American cheese can double their fun this summer. The Tuesday Night Tickets promotion delivers one free ticket with the purchase of a ticket and the redemption of any Kraft Singles package wrapper at the box office. The plastic wrappers are collected by TerraCycle and made into consumer products. This is the third season of the promotion.

Hershey’s Milk & Milkshakes, a line of single-serve milk and milkshakes, is the official sponsor of Hoop It Up, the 3-on-3 basketball tournament program. The championship is in Miami in August. HP Hood is a license partner to The Hershey Co.

Ben & Jerry's annual free ice cream scoop promotion is April 12 from noon to 8 p.m.

People

Tim Overlie, formerly CEO of Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, is store director for Alfalfa’s, Boulder, Colo.

 

Celso David Viviani is the first recipient of the 2011 California Cheese & Butter Association Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Award. He was president and co-owner of Sonoma Cheese Factory for more than 40 years and been involved with the association for more than 30 years, serving on the board of directors for the past 15 years, and as association president from 2007 - 2010.

 

3-A Sanitary Standards Inc. (3-A SSI) announced the first recipients of a new 3-A SSI Student Travel Scholarship Award, intended to help career-oriented students to participate in the annual education program of the association. The recipients of the 2011 awards are: Claudia Bravo (Texas Tech University), Angela Evans (Michigan State University), Amanda Hofstaedter (Pennsylvania State University), Amy Parks (Texas Tech University) and Katlin Sautner (University of Minnesota). The 3-A SSI 2011 education program will be held May 17-20 at the Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel & Convention Center in Wisconsin.