Dairy Foods Blog

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A survey of dairy food professionals reflects some of the contradictions that come up when choosing stabilizers and thickeners for dairy products.

It’s easy to find creativity in dairy processing. Look at the people involved in formulating, processing, packaging and marketing of dairy foods and beverages. Their innovations meet consumers’ calls for convenience and new flavors.

One size fits all never works. Dairies understand that consumers want options. That’s why milk processors offer the four fats (whole, 2%, 1% and nonfat), ice cream makers churn no-sugar-added varieties and cheesemakers cut their products into slices, chunks and shreds.

The world was turned upside last month for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s winter south of the Equator where Brazil hosted the summer Olympics. That gave me a different perspective on current events.

It’s a muggy mid-July afternoon in Chicago and all is quiet on the dairy front for today. A quick glance at dairy product spot prices reveals that cheese powder and butter prices are all at — or within pennies — of their 2016 high price print.

The 100 largest dairy processors in North America clearly are planning ahead. They are building new plants and adding to existing ones, even though at least 30% of the companies reported lower sales in 2015 than in 2014. They are not going to let a one-year blip derail their plans for the future.

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