With marketplace pressures stronger than ever, 2018 was a challenging year for milk across the value chain, from farmers to processors, brands, retailers and more. Milk is amidst a competitive environment unlike any we've seen before.

Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., Edwardsville, Ill., expanded its product lineup to include an 8-ounce package of its original cream cheese.

Plant-based diets are gaining traction among consumers, institutions and even government recommended dietary guidelines. Although the health benefits of consuming more vegetables, fruits and plant-based proteins are well-founded, "plant-based" is sometimes misconstrued to mean the elimination of animal-derived foods such as dairy milk.

The Kraft Heinz Co. said its Kraft natural cheese is now made from milk that's free from the artificial hormone recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST).

International Delight, a brand of Danone North America, partnered with the PEEPS brand to launch a PEEPS flavored creamer.

When you read the word lactose, what do you think? Does the processor in you wonder what you'll do with so much of it? Does the marketer in you wish of ways to be free of it? Does the consumer in you feel a little bloated?

Large signs touting "Toft's 'One Quality'" and "Ohio's Oldest Dairy" greet visitors to Toft Dairy's 74,500-square-foot dairy plant/headquarters facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Those two messages amply describe the family-owned company's heritage.

Each innovative modification of ice cream mix processing must consider what is to be modified and the influence (+/-) on multiple-unit operations (i.e., assembly of amount/type of ingredients, creation of a uniform mix, pasteurization, homogenization, mix aging). Each operation has its own set of influences (+/-) on the chemistry and physics of any given mix going forward into other downstream processes.

Horizon Organic, Broomfield, Colo., introduced the first multi-serve organic protein milk, Horizon Organic High Protein.

It's no secret that the fluid milk category has been struggling at retail for quite some time. However, sales of flavored milk and whole milk actually made some impressive gains in the not-too-distant past.