More than 5,000 cups of Chobani Greek yogurt that were intended for Team USA athletes competing in Sochi, Russia, ended up instead in food banks in New York and New Jersey.
Russia, which does not allow the import of U.S.-made dairy products, refused to budge for the Olympics.
The U.S. Dairy Export Council and the National Milk Producers Federation urged Russian authorities to end its country’s three-year embargo of U.S. dairy products. New York senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand also intervened on behalf of Chobani but were not able to succeed.
As the official yogurt of the 2014 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, chefs and nutritionists have served Chobani to athletes in the U.S. Olympic Training Centers during the past several months. Chobani intended to deliver 5,000 fresh single-serve cups of blueberry, strawberry and peach yogurt and multiserve containers of plain yogurt for smoothies. The company donated the yogurt to Saint John’s Soup Kitchen in New Jersey and Food Bank For New York City.