February fluid milk sales benefited from an extra day. Global dairy company Danone expects milk prices to rise later this year. Researchers find another use for water from whey. This and other U.S. dairy industry news found here.
February fluid milk sales aided by extra day
Aided by an extra day due to Leap Year, February 2016 national fluid milk sales were up, based on a monthly summary from USDA’s Dairy Market News.
February 2016 packaged fluid milk sales totaled 4.04 billion pounds, up 2.2 percent from February 2015. Sales of conventional products totaled 3.83 billion pounds, up 1.9 percent, while sales of organic products at 213 million pounds were up 7.3 percent. Organic represented about 5.3 percent of total sales for the month.
The strength in whole milk sales continues. February sales of conventional whole milk were up 6.6 percent compared to the previous year, with flavored whole milk sales up 11.0 percent. Sales of organic whole milk were up 18.8 percent compared to a year earlier.
Both conventional and organic skim milk varieties saw the largest year-to-year sales declines.
Year-to-date conventional packaged fluid milk sales total 7.91 billion pounds, down 0.9 percent from a year earlier. January to February organic milk sales total 431 million pounds, up 5.6 percent. Organic represents 5.2 percent of total fluid sales for the period.
These figures represent consumption of fluid milk products in federal milk order marketing areas and California, which account for approximately 92 percent of total fluid milk sales in the U.S.
Stammer to receive ADPI Award of Merit
The American Dairy Products Institute (ADPI) will honor Richard Stammer, past president and CEO of Agri-Mark and CEO of Cabot Creamery, with its 2016 ADPI Award of Merit. The award will be presented during the ADPI/American Butter Institute annual conference, April 25 in Chicago, Illinois.
Stammer, a New Jersey native, spent his summers working on a dairy farm in New York. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Rutgers University, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut.
He was tenured professor of agricultural economics at Rutgers University for more than a decade before leaving academia for the farmers of Agri-Mark in 1982.
He first served as Agri-Mark’s senior vice president of economics, communications and government relations before being promoted to become the company's chief operating officer in 1990.
With the merger of Agri-Mark and Cabot Creamery in the early 1990s, Stammer added the role of CEO of Cabot Creamery Cooperative. He was named President and CEO of Agri-Mark in 2011, and currently serves as executive senior vice president.
CWT assists with 756,186 pounds of cheese, WMP exports
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) accepted eight requests for export assistance to sell 668,001 pounds of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese and 88,185 pounds of whole milk powder (WMP) to customers in Asia, the Middle East and Central America.
Bids were accepted from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) and Tillamook County Creamery Association. The products have been contracted for delivery from April through October 2016.
So far this year, CWT has assisted member cooperatives to sell 14.643 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 7.716 million pounds of butter (82 percent milkfat) and 14.897 million pounds of WMP to 14 countries. The sales are the equivalent of 417.516 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
Danone sees milk price rise later this year
Stronger U.S. dairy sales and some improvement in Europe supported higher first-quarter 2016 sales and profits for the world’s largest yogurt producer, Danone. Overall dairy product sales value grew 2.3 percent from the same quarter the previous year, with higher prices offsetting weaker sales in Russia and Brazil.
In its quarterly investor statement, Danone officials forecast continued volatile economic conditions, with fragile or even deflationary consumer trends in Europe, and emerging markets undermined by volatile currencies.
European Union and U.S. milk prices are expected to edge up in the second half of the year, with steady price increases in emerging countries.
Water recovered from whey could be used for clean-in-place procedures
Dairy can play a greater role in water conservation, according to a new study published in the Journal of Dairy Science®.
Researchers from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln sought to find a method to recycle and reuse water from whey for clean-in-place (CIP) systems. Their findings provide scientific evidence of the safety of reuse of reconditioned water in food processing plants, contributing to building a culture of water conservation and sustainable production throughout the food supply chain.
In their study, University of Nebraska researchers Yulie Meneses and Rolando Flores tested wastewater from whey of cheddar cheese by subjecting it to reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration, as well as an additional step of spray drying. The resulting reconditioned water was used to clean stainless steel surfaces that had a biofilm, with promising results from both bacterial counts and scanning electron microscopy analysis.
Current regulations indicate only potable water may be used to clean food contact surfaces and equipment surfaces, but reconditioning and reuse of water is a promising alternative currently acceptable for initial cleaning of fruits and vegetables as well as for scalding meat and poultry.
More research is required, but conserving natural resources through wastewater reclamation techniques shows potential.
Study: Food industry must lose bridge consumer ‘trust’ gap
Farmers remain a trusted source of information, but only one third of consumers think the agriculture community and food companies are transparent, according to new research from Sullivan Higdon & Sink (SHS) FoodThink. The research appears in "Evolving Trust in the Food Industry," a white paper intended to arm food marketers with insights into Americans’ knowledge and trust of the food industry and how those perceptions have changed from 2012 to present.
“Food marketers should know that consumer perceptions of transparency in the food industry are consistently improving but there is plenty of room to grow,” said Erika Chance, senior FoodThink researcher. “The good news is that consumers are turning to food companies and grocers for more information because they do have an interest in learning more about the food they eat.”
Insights reveal a consumer's desire for more information from specific trustworthy sources. Sixty-five percent think it’s important to know how their food is produced. Sixty percent think farmers and ranchers are trustworthy, making them one of the most trusted sources for information on food production. In addition, since 2012 there has been a steady trend of consumers turning to food companies, grocers and food retailers, and bloggers and social media for this information.
Download a free copy of the white paper.
New products: Minerva Dairy
Ohio-based Minerva Dairy is launching a new line of craft butters in May. The line will feature Minerva Dairy’s Amish Roll Butter in Maplewood Smoked, Garlic Herb, Pumpkin Spice and Maple Syrup Amish Roll Butter varieties. The butter is produced with 84 percent milk fat from pastured cows.
Schools are winners in Dannon-FUTP collaboration
Six schools were named winners in a Dannon® Danimals®-Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP) collaboration designed to create healthy eating and physical activity patterns among youth.
The retail promotion featured searches for six specially designated containers of Dannon products. Students finding the containers earned a field day event for their school, featuring National Football League players, physical fitness activities and drills. Each winning school also will receive $5,000 to support health and wellness programs.
Winning schools are as follows:
• Alfred E. Burr Elementary School (Hartford, Conn.)
• J.C. Sawyer Elementary School (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
• John C. Myers Elementary School (Broadway, Va.)
• Martin G. Atkins Elementary School (Saginaw, Mich.)
• Roseway Heights School (Portland, Ore.)
• Weymouth Township Elementary School (Dorothy, N.J.). PD
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Dave Natzke
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