New ingredients from A&B Ingredients, Agropur, and Balchem

Like a balloon ascending to the sky, most segments of the cultured dairy category — refrigerated yogurt and yogurt drinks, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, dairy dips, and whipped toppings — are going “up, up and away.”

Yogurt, cream cheese are loved to the moon and back as per cultured dairy sales. IRI reports that yogurt, No. 3 on IRI’s Dairy15 Top Categories list, generated $8.4 billion in dollar sales and an 8.6% YoY growth. No. 9 on the list, cream cheese sales totaled $2.3 billion with 8% YoY growth.

Danone North America, White Plains, N.Y. and Boulder, Colo., announced its latest innovation hitting grocery coolers: Activia+ Multi-Benefit Probiotic Yogurt Drinks.

The drinks are packed with billions of live and active probiotics to help support gut health, plus are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc to support the immune system, the company says.

Chobani, LLC, Norwich, N.Y., announced the launch of the company's first-ever plant-based recipe, Non-Dairy Chobani.