Welcome to the dairy case,a round-up of what’s new in products, companies and marketing. In this edition: Heluva Good!, Turkey Hill, Kemps, Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk and more.

Welcome to Jim Carper's Dairy Case, a look at the new dairy products, companies and marketing efforts making the news.



Welcome to the dairy case, a round-up of what’s new in products, companies and marketing.


Products
 
Heluva Good!, the HP Hood brand, added Buffalo Wing, a new limited-edition dip flavor this week. Buffalo Wing features fiery hot buffalo wing sauce blended with creamy blue cheese. It’s positioned as a flavorful dip for chips and vegetables and as a condiment.
Nutrition bar company Forward Foods (the maker of the Detour bar) is entering the beverage market with its Detour Lean Muscle high protein shake in milk chocolate and vanilla bean flavors. Each shake contains 260 calories and is lactose free. The shakes will be sold in health and fitness retailers. Shakes contain 32 grams of high-quality protein, are fortified with 26 vitamins and minerals and provide 1000 mg of healthy Omega 3s per serving.

 
Smith Dairy Products Co. introduced two new ready-to-drink teas: 50/50 Tea Lemonade (half tea and half lemonade, often called an Arnold Palmer) and Diet Tea with Lemon. Smith’s is also offering its Peach Tea in a new size. All three teas are now sold in half-gallon bottles throughout Ohio.

 
Challenge Dairy, producers of Challenge Butter, has broadened the spreadable butter category with its launch of Tuscan Style Butter infused with slow-roasted garlic, olive oil, and Italian herbs, including rosemary, basil, oregano and thyme. The butter is packaged in 7-ounce containers.

 

Salted Caramel Chocolate Pretzel ice cream, developed by SensoryEffects, was selected as the most innovative prototype flavor, and Perry's Ice Cream's Sour Buddie Bars were named the most innovative novelty, at the annual Ice Cream Technology Conference of the International Dairy Foods Association held earlier this month. Perry's Red Velvet also was selected as the most innovative ice cream flavor. The contest is sponsored by Dairy Foods.



Companies

Turkey Hill Dairy, Conestoga, Pa., is receiving a quarter of its annual electricity needs from a wind turbine power project at neighboring Frey Farm on Turkey Hill along the banks of the Susquehanna River. In February, the first full month the wind turbines were online, more than 769,677 kilowatt hours of electricity were generated, providing 32% of the dairy’s electricity needs that month. In partnership with PPL Renewable Energy and Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, the Frey Farm Wind Turbine project includes two wind turbines that will generate about 25% of Turkey Hill Dairy’s annual electricity needs.

 
Commonwealth Dairy and Ehrmann AG opened a state-of-the art yogurt manufacturing plant in Brattleboro, Vt., this week. The plant contains approximately 9 miles of stainless steel piping and 5 miles of utility piping. The plant required the construction of a new potable water pump house and a 3,000-foot extension to the municipal water line.

 

Dunkin' Brands Inc., the parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins reported this week that 2010 sales of ice cream products rose 12.8% to $84.9 million from $75.2 million in 2009. The cost of ice cream products rose 24.7% to $59.1 million. Same-store sales for BR fell 5.2%.

　



Marketing

Unilever introduces its Magnum super-premium ice cream to the United States next month at the Tribeca Film Festival. Karl Lagerfeld directed actress Rachel Bilson in a series of short films about the product. The first trailer of the films will post on the Magnum ice cream Facebook page on April 19.

Kemps partners again with Minnesota Twin baseball all star Joe Mauer and his wife Teresa to find the ultimate Mauer "fan'ily." The winning family will meet and chat with Joe and Teresa over a bowl of ice cream at their Kemps commercial shoot on April 11. Families enter on Kemps' Facebook page and submit a photo with a caption to explain why their family is the biggest fan'ily. Entries are accepted until April 3.

　

The J.M. Smucker Co.’s Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk along with Ingrid Hoffmann, the host of the Cooking Channel's Simply Delicioso and Delicioso on Telefutura/Univision, announced that White Chocolate Apricot Swirl Cheesecake is the grand prize winner in the company’s recipe contest.

 

Stonyfield Farm has partnered with the United States Tennis Association to bring tennis to school children, the general public and folks with widely differing abilities. The USTA is allocating $100,000 in USTA funds to these efforts. Lids on Stonyfield 6-ounce cups direct shoppers online where they can vote for one of three programs. Winner receives $60,000; the other two programs $20,000 each. No purchase is necessary to participate. Voting ends April 30. See http://tinyurl.com/4rdqlu3

　

The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) is placing emphasis on healthy lifestyles and family mealtime for June Dairy Month 2011 with the theme "Building Healthy Families." A two-page free-standing insert and the National Park Family Adventure Sweepstakes highlight this year’s promotion. The FSI drops on June 5.



The Dairy Calendar

April 25-27. The 2011 annual conference of The American Dairy Products Institute, Elmhurst, Ill., and The American Butter Institute, Arlington, Va. at the Chicago Marriott Downtown in Chicago. www.adpi.org.

April 26-27. Safe Pasteurization: Concepts & Theory. Guelph Food Technology Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. www.gftc.ca/courses-and-training/course-details.aspx?course=RDP05

May 11-13. SIAL Canada 2011 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. http://tinyurl.com/4ro5djo

May 18-20. SIAL China 2011 at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center. http://tinyurl.com/4ro5djo

Sept. 19-21. 2011 International Dairy Show, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta. www.dairyshow.com
 

Oct. 18-21. Cibus Tec, the International Exhibition on the Food Processing and Packaging in Parma, Italy. www.cibustec.it.

Return to the Dairy Foods Blog home page.