Dean Foods loses its No. 1 spot because it sold Morningstar to Saputo and spun off WhiteWave. Nestlé is the largest publicly held firm, Schreiber Foods is the largest privately owned business and Land O'Lakes is the top dairy co-op.
.Nestlé USA is North America's largest dairy processor, bumping off Dean Foods Co. which held the spot for at least half of the 20 years that Dairy Foods has been compiling the Dairy 100.
Nestlé makes packaged ice cream (including the brands Dreyer's, Edy's, Häagen-Dazs and Eskimo Pie), flavored Nesquik milk, Coffee-Mate and Natural Bliss coffee creamers and powdered beverages. Parent company Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland, reported that sales in its Americas division in 2012 were approximately $11.1 billion, coming from powdered and liquid beverages, milk products and ice cream.