Articles Tagged with ''cultured dairy''

PepsiCo Inc., and Theo Muller Group in Germany, announced their United States joint venture, Muller Quaker Dairy, will enter the growing U.S. dairy market with premium yogurt this summer.

Karoun Dairies continues the industry trend with a new Greek style yogurt with honey.

Dairy Foods: Tell us about your newest culture systems. What are their properties and benefits?Curic-Bawden: Our latest yogurt cultures are focused on improving the quality of nonfat and low-fat yogurts. They provide extra-high viscosity, a good “thickness” of mouthfeel, a high level of smoothness, high gel firmness and an improved creaminess.

Give the shopper what she wants. A survey showed that high-quality ingredients were important to consumers, so Brown Cow, Antioch, Calif., re-did its lids.

When European food makers speak about the potential for their products in the United States, their pupils dilate, they salivate and their hearts race. Take yogurt, for example. Here, we eat 12.8 pounds per person per year. In parts of Europe, annual consumption is as high as 60 pounds per person. Canadians also eat more yogurt than Americans. Per capita consumption was about 22.2 pounds in 2011. If the U.S. just reached Canadian proportions, it would mean nearly doubling the category, which today is valued at approximately $5.5 billion, according to Dannon.

While unit sales decreased 3% in the yogurt category, dollar sales were up almost 9% to $4.7 billion and the average price per unit increased 13 cents, for the 52 weeks ended March 18. According to Chicago-based SymphonyIRI Group, No. 3 Agro Farma Inc., New Berlin, N.Y., the maker of Chobani Greek yogurt, posted the largest gains. Dollar sales were up 128% to $704 million and unit sales rose 132%.

“Simple” is the name of the game for Smith’s All Natural Sour Cream. “Today’s consumers are looking for foods with less processing and more natural ingredients,” says Penny Baker, director of marketing, Smith Dairy Products Co., Orrville, Ohio. “Our new All Natural Sour Cream is a simple recipe made with cultured milk and cream. That’s it!”

It’s difficult enough for any business to stay relevant, especially when it has brands established 100 or more years ago. Then throw in the challenge of adapting to ever-changing consumer tastes and habits, not to mention manufacturing in an era when a small carbon footprint is a measure of a corporation’s citizenship. That’s part of the landscape in the 21st century, and every business operates in it, some better than others.