Here’s a modern-day checklist for developing and selling a new food or beverage:

• Have an intriguing origin story
• Use only recognizable ingredients (nothing too chemical-sounding)
• Make it portable
• Be interactive with consumers
• Tie the product to a cause

The University of Tennessee was the big winner in the 95th Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest. University of Tennessee students Michael Luethker and Katie Magee claimed honors in the undergraduate and Graduate Student All Products categories.

We spoke with Jean-Pierre Berlan, sales director for Tetra Pak Processing U.S. and Canada, to learn more about extended-shelf life (ESL) technology. He talked about that as well as the market opportunity available by investing in ESL processing.

Agropur USA, Eden Prairie, Minn., is the first recipient of the Breakthrough Award for Dairy Ingredient Innovation, a new competition from the American Dairy Products Institute and Dairy Foods. The magazine will present the award to Agropur at ADPI’s annual meeting in Chicago in April.

Byrne Dairy is a family-owned, 84-year-old dairy processor that has kept up with the times. The Syracuse, N.Y.-based company started in 1933 with fresh milk in glass bottles. Today at its Ultra facility, Byrne manufactures various extended shelf life milk products with code dates ranging from 70 to 180 days.

Clover Sonoma’s four brand-new 50,000-gallon stainless steel milk silos hover over the landscape in Petaluma, Calif. Before entering the dairy plant, one can get a window – literally – into the operation.

Tradition and innovation co-exist comfortably at Clover Sonoma dairy, located in the verdant rolling hills of Sonoma County, California, an area better known for wine than milk.