Articles Tagged with ''cultured dairy''

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.

Ethnic dairy foods are emerging into the mainstream. Processors exhibiting at the German tradeshow Anuga Oct. 8-12 sampled their new products, including those with appeal to consumers from southwest Asia and central Europe.

Welcome to the dairy case, a round-up of what's new in products, companies and marketing. In this issue: Karoun, Foremost Farms, Lifeway Foods, Challenge Dairy, HP Hood, Chobani, California Dairies Inc. and more.

GEA Procomac launched Fluens 2000, a low in-feed, non-robotized palletizer that is capable of continuous operation at a rate of more than eight layers a minute. Using newly patented technology,