Jim Carper, Editor-in-Chief

Nutritious dessert

NuScoop from Straus is like 'an energy bar for the ice cream category'

The frozen dairy dessert is made with vitamins, minerals, fiber and organic milk.

October 16, 2012

Straus Family Creamery, the organic dairy processor in Petaluma, Calif., has developed a dairy-based frozen dessert likened to "an energy bar for the ice cream category." NuScoop is a nutrient-laden food marketed as a healthy snack.

The heart (and heat) of dairy processing

Unless you make raw-milk products, you need a pasteurizer and a heat exchanger. A panel of experts answers your questions about pasteurizing milk and nondairy beverages.

James Carper

October 13, 2012

Heat exchangers are key components in a dairy processing plant that can directly affect food product quality, a supplier tells Dairy Foods. Other suppliers tell us that pasteurizers are not all alike. To learn more about processing milk and the equipment that is used, we convened a “virtual roundtable” of equipment manufacturers. What follows are edited remarks received via e-mail.

Free-standing inserts

Kozy Shack seeks a million-dollar pudding recipe; Yoplait expands its pink ribbon campaign

Dairy brands use contests and health claims in this week's free-standing inserts.

James Carper

October 12, 2012

Kozy Shack seeks recipes using its pudding or flan in a contest and Yoplait kicks off its 'save lids to save lives' campaign in this week's free-standing inserts.

Making ice cream the safe way

Safety first, then efficiency. That’s how Safeway makes packaged ice cream and frozen novelties at its plant in Bellevue, Wash. Lean manufacturing principles guide the business.

James Carper

October 10, 2012

Safeway Inc. takes the mystery out of making ice cream. At its Bellevue, Wash., ice cream plant, silos, pasteurizers, stainless steel tubing, flavor vats, fillers and other equipment are all labeled as to their contents or function. There is even a label above a hand-crank pencil sharpener. That was put there either for the benefit of a younger generation raised on hand-held devices (instead of pencil and paper) or else it was an expression of an engineer’s sense of humor.

Free-standing inserts

Frigo says 'cheese wisely' in this weeks FSIs

Frigo, Carnation, Knorr and other brands show recipe ideas using dairy foods and beverages.

James Carper

October 3, 2012

Saputo's Frigo CheeseHeads string cheese brand builds a promotion around the election season. Other dairy marketers offer their foods as recipe ingredients.

Free-standing inserts

ConAgra promotes new yogurt, new cream pies in this week's FSIs

ConAgra, Sargento and others feature cream pies, Greek frozen yogurt, string cheese and more in free-standing inserts.

James Carper

September 28, 2012

Consumer packaged goods giant ConAgra continues to innovate with dairy foods and beverages. In the free-standing inserts for the week beginning Sept. 23, the CPG's Marie Callender's and Healthy Choice brands promoted new products.

Tillamook: a look inside the plant

There are no secrets to making award-winning cheeses. Just buy the freshest milk and hire the best cheesemakers. Tillamook invites tourists to see the process from an observation deck inside the processing plant.

James Carper

September 12, 2012

It is bad enough to have one co-worker looking over your shoulder while you are trying to do your job. Imagine total strangers watching you work. That’s the situation in Tillamook, Ore., where, over the course of a year, 1 million tourists stop at the Tillamook County Creamery Association factory, climb the steps to a second-story observation deck, and watch the cheesemaking process unfold below them.

Free-standing inserts

Dean, Yoplait, Baskin-Robbins introduce new dairy foods in this week's FSIs

Dean's sour cream, Yoplait's 100-calorie Greek yogurt and Baskin-Robbins' ice cream nachos make their debut.

James Carper

September 11, 2012

Sour cream, Greek yogurt and soft-serve ice cream are the new dairy foods starring in this week's free-standing inserts.

The health benefits of milk and dairy products are out of this world

As the Mars rover Curiosity explores the terrain and seeks signs of water on the Red Planet, another explorer on another planet finds a wonderful, life-sustaining fluid.

James Carper

September 10, 2012

To much fanfare and well-deserved media attention, NASA landed its Curiosity rover on Gale Crater on Mars on the evening of Aug. 5. The engineers at mission control celebrated their expertise at deploying, landing and operating the explorer remotely from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Tillamook: The little co-op that can

The little co-op that can Tillamook County Creamery Association is growing beyond its roots in the Pacific Northwest. Meet the dairy cooperative making award-winning premium cheeses that are among the top-selling brands.

James Carper

September 10, 2012

Cheesemaking is all about balance and achieving consistency in the finished product. When the cheesemaker is also a dairy cooperative, there are additional and often competing concerns to balance. The farmer members of the co-op want a fair price for their milk, but the processing side doesn’t want to overpay, lest the finished product is too expensive for the market.