Hurricane Katrina made an already tight U.S. sugar market even tighter as the storm battered the Gulf coast. In response, USDA is increasing the current fiscal year's domestic marketing allotments and has allowed early entry of some imports scheduled for the new fiscal year. USDA is increasing the current fiscal year (FY05) overall allotment quantity by 105,000 short tons raw value (STRV), 55% of which is assigned to the domestic sugar beet sector. The remaining 45% will be reassigned to additional imports, since there are no U.S. cane sugar stocks available. USDA is also increasing the fiscal year 2006 tariff-rate quota for refined sugar imports by 75,000 STRV for a total of 129,013 STRV, which will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last month passed into law two bills restricting certain foods and beverages sold in all public schools.

Australian scientists have altered the makeup of milk with high-frequency sound waves in a breakthrough that could potentially slash manufacturing costs and create new products.

California's dairy landscape continues to shift with the continuing evolution of Southern California from a significant milk-producing region to a highly urbanized area, reports the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Got Recognized A recent survey of advertising, marketing and branding professionals found that the got milk? phrase is the most influential tagline in advertising since 1948. Conducted by TaglineGuru.com., the

DALLAS- A succession plan for the president of Dean Dairy Group, announced last month by Dean Foods Co., has Dean veteran Alan Bernon assuming the role of president of the company's largest division, effective January 1, 2006.

Heluva Good, Sodus, N.Y. has partnered with the Cleveland Browns, for the Heluva Good $100,000 Kickoff for the 2005 football season. This is the third consecutive year that Heluva Good

More self-regulation is needed to protect the term probiotic, says Kaarle Leporanta, of Finland's Valio, Ltd.

BARABOO, Wis.-Foremost Farms USA is sponsoring "Autumn on the Farms," a weekend-long event that gives visitors a taste of how Wisconsin's early families prepared for winter. On Oct. 15 and 16, the event takes place at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor living history museum located south of Eagle, Wis., in Waukesha County.

A series of Dairy Tech sessions at the Worldwide Food Expo '05 will be co-sponsored by Dairy Foods magazine. The morning sessions which take place Wednesday through Friday, will be led by scientific and technical experts.