2% Milk Ice Cream

Company: Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream
Location: Green Bay, Wis.
Introduced: March 2003
Details: In fluid milk, 2% milk is the leading segment and represents 37% of category volume, according to data from ACNielsen. Consumers understand that 2% milk is lower in fat than whole milk and a wiser choice when trying to reduce fat in the diet, hence the proliferation, and success of 2% milk cheese. Breyers 2% Milk Light Ice Cream joins Breyers’ line-up of good-for-you ice cream products. A half-cup serving contains 120 calories and 4.5g fat. Vanilla with real vanilla bean specks is the first variety to be introduced. It comes in half-gallon cartons and sells at a suggested retail price of $5.09.
Distribution: National

International: Imported Bulgarian Yogurt and Cheese

Company: Tangra Group LLC
Location: Bulgaria and New York
Introduced: March 2003
Details: Tangra was established in 1993 to preserve tradition and introduce others to Bulgarian foods. Based in the Rhodope Mountains and the Valley of Thrace, in the southern part of Bulgaria, after the fall of communism, the Stratev family organized several villages in a cooperative focusing on the preparation of natural milk products. The company is currently bringing to the United States four flavors of premium yogurt and 100% sheep’s milk feta cheese.
Distribution: Available for national distribution

Flavored Cheese Chunks

Company: Kraft Foods
Location: Northfield, Ill.
Introduced: February 2003
Details: Heeding example from the success of its Hoffman brand line of flavored deli cheeses, Kraft Foods rolls out flavored 8-oz chunks under its signature Kraft brand. Three varieties--Cheddar Bacon, Roasted Garlic Cheddar and Smoky Swiss and Cheddar--are pasteurized process cheese. The fourth, Pepper Jack, is natural cheese.
Distribution: National

Lusciously Indulgent Ice Cream

Company: Perry’s Ice Cream Co.
Location: Akron, N.Y.
Introduced: February 2003
Details: Indiscretion™ Luscious Ice Cream™, superpremium ice cream designed to satisfy America’s favorite food indulgence, debuted on Valentine’s Day 2003. Packaged in rich purple pint containers, varieties are: Spellbound (blood orange sorbet swirled with exotic prickly pear and marula fruit ice cream), Hidden Riches (a sensuous touch of creamy mascarpone cheese ice cream layered with tart marion blackberries, rich cheesecake spirals and flaky phyllo dough), Sweet Revenge (scrumptious caramelized banana- and rum-flavored ice cream spun with banana slices and ribbons of brown sugar), Pure Surrender (sinfully rich, pure vanilla ice cream), After Dark (dark chocolate mousse entwined with succulent raspberries and soft dark cocoa flakes) and Midnight Rendezvous (mocha ice cream fused with ribbons of espresso and morsels of fudge coated almond biscotti).
Distribution: New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Fruit-on-the-bottom Cultured Soy

Company: Stonyfield Farm
Location: Londonderry, N.H.
Introduced: January 2003
Details: The newest addition to the Stonyfield Farm family of yogurts is 6-oz cups of fruit-on-the-bottom cultured soy. Following the successful launch of O’Soy in multi-packs of 4-oz cups last year, the new single-serve cups of O’Soy offer consumers the only fruit-on-the-bottom cultured soy in the marketplace. Flavors are blueberry, lemon, peach, raspberry, strawberry and vanilla. Suggested retail price is 89 cents.
Distribution: National

Noteworthy Introductions

The Pecan Praline™ Parfait combines creamy, smooth vanilla soft-serve with rich New Orleans-style brown sugar praline sauce and lightly roasted pecan pieces. It became available March 1 at Dairy Queen (DQ) stores nationwide. International Dairy Queen, Minneapolis, develops, licenses and services a system of more than 5,700 DQs in the United States, Canada and other countries, offering dairy desserts, hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages.

In efforts to appeal to the growing Hispanic population, Kraft Foods, Northfield, Ill., rolls out Manchego Slices. This pasteurized process cheese spread is much like the company’s American singles, just without the orange coloring, so the slices more closely resemble authentic Hispanic white cheese. Sold in packs of 14 3/4-oz slices, labels are bi-lingual, with certain verbiage, such as “Nuevo” and “Perfecto para quesadillas” only in Spanish.

Hillsdale, Mich.-Mackinac Island Creamery, rolls out Gitchigoomie Frog Spit Springs water in 20-oz sport cap-topped PET bottles. The spring water comes from the Canadian Blue Mountains and is bottled in Canada. The name Gitchigoomie is the Ojibway Indian name for Lake Superior, which ties the water into the Mackinac Island/Great Lakes theme. The name Frog Spit is meant to appeal to kids, particularly teenagers, in efforts to get them to choose good-for-you water over sugar-laden soft drinks.

Omaha, Neb.-based Roberts Dairy Co., adds Vanilla Shake and Chocolate Shake to its 16-oz HDPE single-serve bottle line. Both are made using reduced-fat milk. An 8-oz serving of the vanilla variety contains 190 calories and 4g fat, while chocolate comes in at 200 calories and 4.5g fat, still much lower than some of the nationally branded “shake” products in the marketplace.