Dairy Foods & Beverages

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For the second year in a row, Dairy Foods has good news to share about the retail juice category, a segment that had been experiencing a multi-year decline. According to data from Chicago-based market research firm IRI, two of the four juice categories actually posted impressive dollar and unit sales increases during the 52 weeks ending March 21, 2021.

Central Point, Ore.-based Rogue Creamery, which is known for its award-winning organic blue cheese, says it is debuting a new line of pre-packaged blue cheese wedges.

Milk Cult, a Washington, D.C.-based ice cream company, says it is launching four handcrafted, made-from-scratch frozen novelties.

Kinderhook, N.Y.-based Maple Hill Creamery says it released the nation’s first zero-sugar organic ultrafiltered milk.

Blue Bunny, a brand of Le Mars, Iowa-based Wells Enterprises Inc., added Load’d bars to its Load’d line of frozen novelties, which also includes sundaes and cones.

Bacteria have never had a greater role in cultured dairy products than today. It used to be that companies purchased cultures only for the types of flavors and rate of acid production needed, but now they can add texture development and health benefits to the list.

With no brands of its own gracing retail shelves or foodservice counters, KanPak US might not be a household name among U.S. consumers. But make no mistake: The company is a dairy processing powerhouse, coming in at No. 88 in Dairy Foods' 2021 listing of the top 100 North American dairy processors (Dairy 100).

The past year has been a rollercoaster ride for the cheese category. While the COVID-19 pandemic drastically reduced demand for cheese in foodservice, the category's growth at retail was extensive, notes Kelly Slentz, associate brand manager, cheese for La Farge, Wis.-based Organic Valley.

Chicago-based Fairlife LLC says it combined ultrafiltered milk with natural flavors to create Fairlife Nutrition Plan nutrition shakes.