Leafing through an airline business magazine recently, I came across a brief article about a probiotic yogurt developed by Nestlé some 11 years ago. The article's intent was to provide business travelers with a lesson about thinking outside the box, as they say

Leafing through an airline business magazine recently, I came across a brief article about a probiotic yogurt developed by Nestlé some 11 years ago. The article's intent was to provide business travelers with a lesson about thinking outside the box, as they say.

Of course I was more interested in the product. LC1 is targeted at European consumers, but not marketed in the U.S. Not so surprisingly, the airline included a pot of LC1 with one of its meals that day. Good lesson there about product placement and cross marketing. The yogurt was a nice bit of nutrition in an airline meal-a comforting surprise.

It was a comforting reminder too, that there is much happening in dairy industries, outside of North America, where Dairy Foods is focused month in and month out. Comforting, because I had just spent the better part of a week in Europe preparing for this October issue. It's an issue that's a bit of an experiment for the magazine-for the first time in many years we are broadening our focus to the wider global dairy industry. Putting together our International Issue has required some thinking outside of the box on our part. The reassurance comes from knowing that this is an important story to tell.

That story includes a report on product trends from around the world, a look at the opportunities afforded in the export markets, and a tour of a newly-expanded French dairy facility. The issue also includes international business news, a Q & A on developing dairy desserts, two special sections and a new advertising feature.

What did we find out? Here's a sampling:

• Europe continues to lead the rest of the world in the sheer number of product introductions.

• The U.S. exported more then $1 billion worth of dairy products last year for the fourth year in a row.

• Top global trends in product development are convenience, indulgence, and health, which doesn't sound all that foreign, but in other parts of the world the emphasis might be placed somewhat differently.

• China is so big and so populous that it offers as much growth potential as the rest of the world put together- and the biggest western food companies are already there, building.

In short, we are very happy with the results of this experiment but we remain open to suggestions and criticisms. Next year we will produce an International Issue in September, and we want it to be even better than the first.

Until then, bon apétit.