A Daily Dose of Dairy subscriber called me on Thursday asking how in the world I find enough new products to feature one daily. I explained that I actually have a back log of innovations, and how I will need to be even more discerning with the items I feature as I provide more international coverage. (This will happen very soon, as I will be attending Anuga in two weeks and will bring back details on all the WOW items to share with you.)
Frankly, I love having this problem…too many WOWs, not enough space to write about them. This was not the case 20 years ago when I began reporting on how to develop innovative dairy foods.
A lot has happened in the past 20 years to better position products made from milk as WOW foods. Think protein, probiotics, and more.
For more information on protein in dairy, read THIS.
About World School Milk Day
World School Milk Day is organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Celebrating its 14th year, the event has grown to become an annual celebration in more than 40 countries around the world with continued growth each year. The FAO’s goal is to provide a particular day when attention is focused on school milk and to have all countries celebrating on the same day. The end of the month was selected to allow countries sufficient time to prepare for this day, as in most of the countries surveyed the school year starts in early September. Wednesday was chosen as it was a school day in all countries. This year the celebration takes place on September 25.
For more information, visit HERE.
The celebration is designed to promote the importance of drinking school milk to children in a fun, memorable and educational way. Dairies that provide milk to schools, as well as dairy councils/associations around the world provide schools with materials to celebrate this special day…to celebrate milk’s WOW.
“World School Milk Day provides students with an engaging way to learn about the importance of drinking milk as part of a healthy, balanced diet,” says Cindy Sorensen, vice president-business development, Midwest Dairy Association, St. Paul, MN. “Milk is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals that kids need to stay alert and ready to learn.”
The Midwest Dairy Association distributed this flier to area schools. The association has also been working with its processor partners, encouraging them to be a part of this outreach to support World School Milk Day.
Additional resources are available HERE.
The Southeast Dairy Association offers a number of downloadable resources to assist schools with their celebration. New for 2013 are grade-specific lesson plans that help educators detail the nutritional benefits of milk.
For more information, visit HERE.
Check out this news broadcast on World School Milk Day HERE.
In two weeks, suppliers and top-decision makers of the global retail trade and foodservice and catering markets will be in Cologne, Germany, attending Anuga, the leading trade fair for the global food industry. A central business and communications platform, this biennial event will take place October 5 to 9, 2013.
Anuga features 10 specialized trade show segments in one location. The segments are: 1) Bread & Bakery, Hot Beverages, 2) Chilled & Fresh Foods, 3) Dairy, 4) Drinks, 5) Fine Food, 6) Foodservice, 7) Frozen Food, 8) Meat, 9) Organic and 10) RetailTec. For 2013, Anuga organizers have identified 10 trend topics that will be highlighted throughout the 10 segments. They are: 1) Finger Food 2) Gourmet Products & Regional Specialties, 3) Halal Food, 4) Health & Functional Food, 5) Ingredients, 6) Kosher Products, 7) Organic Products, 8) Private Label, 9) Vegetarian Products and – new for 2013 – 10) Products Based on Fair Trade.
Anuga Dairy will host around 380 companies, including Alpro, Bauer, Bayernland, Bongrain, Conaprole, DMK Deutsches Milchkontor, Dodoni, Ehrmann, Emmi, Eru, Fage Dairy, FrieslandCampina, Grupo Leche Pascual, Gloria, Heiderbeck, Hochwald, Hoogwegt, Kerry, Luxlait, Nordex, Salzburgmilch, Saputo, Solo Italia, Uhrenholt, Unilac, Valio, Vivartia, Westland and Zanetti. There will also be group participations from Belgium, France, Greece, UK, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Spain and Cyprus. Group participations from the German states of Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia will also present their consolidated expertise. In other words, Anuga Dairy will provide the world’s most comprehensive overview of the international dairy market.
I will be there collecting the latest and greatest on dairy foods that go WOW and will report back to you through the Daily Dose of Dairy.
For more information on Anuga, visit HERE.
Scientists From Around the World Convene for 10th Year to Study Milk
There is no “I” in team, but there is one in “milk.” Thanks to efforts by the California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF) and the University of California, Davis (UCD), the “I” in milk refers to “international,” and is indicative of the collaborative efforts of researchers and research end-users from around the world to accelerate the understanding of the biological processes underlying mammalian milk genomics…to increase milk’s WOW factor.
These experts will convene October 1 to 3, 2013, in Davis, CA, for the 10th International Symposium on Milk Genomics and Human Health. An event of the International Milk Genomics Consortium (IMGC), which was initiated in 2004 by CDRF and UCD, this annual event provides a collaborative and interactive pre-competitive resource platform for those involved in the study and application of science in the fields of milk and lactation.
Topics for this year’s Symposium include:
- The milk-intestine relationship, from absorption to protection
- Milk genomics breakthroughs over the past 10 years
- Milk composition and human health
- Human milk diversity
“The strategy of IMGC is to bring together scientists from around the world and across all disciplines to understand not just how milk is made, but why it’s made,” he adds. “At the start of IMGC, less than 5% of the scientists had ever co-authored publications together; at the present, 45% of scientists have jointly authored publications.”
The tactics are collaborative. “During the past 10 years, scientists from physical, chemical and biological sciences have collaborated in multiple projects, yet all with milk at the core,” adds Dr. German. “By bringing together scientists from many disciplines, we have learned astonishing new facts about milk.”
Discoveries include:
- From evolutionary anthropologists: All mammals share astonishingly similar strategies for lactation
- From nutritional anthropologists: Higher quality of early diets in primates makes them more curious and less anxious throughout the life cycle
- From geneticists: Milk contains genetic material passing from mother to infant
- From cell scientists: Milk contains living maternal stem cells
- From immunologists: Milk guides the development of infant immunity and partially protects infants from allergy throughout the life cycle
- From microbiologists: Milk contains beneficial bacteria
- From chemists: Milk contains non-digestible carbohydrates
- From microbiologists: These non-digestible carbohydrates feed only beneficial bacteria
IMGC is managed by CDRF, a non-profit corporation deeply embedded in the California dairy industry and its communities to lead and deliver pre-competitive research and science-based educational programs for an innovative and sustainable California and U.S. dairy industry.
“CDRF invests in both short-term and long-term projects,” says Dr. Gonca Pasin, Executive Director of CDRF. “CDRF programs should predominantly benefit the California and U.S. dairy industry, but some have benefits beyond national borders. This is exemplified by CDRF’s ongoing support and management of IMGC.”
IMGC organizes the annual Symposium to promote the advancement of milk genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics knowledge tools. “The annual Symposium is our flagship event. It features scientific research related to milk genomics and human health conducted around the world,” says Dr. Pasin.
“Our goal is to bring the international milk genomics community together, facilitate sharing information and viewpoints, and provide direction for the IMGC on a regular basis,” says Dr. German. “This allows us to build a community with a shared vision on milk genomics.”
Dr. Pasin adds, “This October marks the 10th year of the Symposium. We have learned so much in the past decade, but there is so much more to learn about this living, dynamic, personal and structured mammalian secretion known as mother’s milk.” MOM = WOW!
IMGC communicates about breakthroughs in milk science and human health through the “SPLASH! milk science update” monthly newsletter. “Collectively IMGC aims to facilitate the transition of experimental discoveries into usable benefits,” says Dr. Pasin. “The newsletter does this in an eloquent and comprehensible manner so all stakeholders remain current with progress in this field.”
For more information on the Consortium and the Symposium, as well as to sign up for the “SPLASH! milk science update” newsletter, visit HERE
Probiotics in Milk Have the Potential to be a WOW
In case you missed my article entitled “The uncertain future of probiotics in the United States” published in a September 2013 issue of Food Business News, you can read it HERE.
Here’s your chance to help make probiotics a greater WOW with Americans.
The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) posted comments to the 2015 United States Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (U.S. DGAC), requesting that the committee consider the value of a diet containing probiotics and prebiotics for reducing disease risk in Americans.
Read the prebiotic comment HERE.
A significant show of support for these comments from the scientific community would increase the legitimacy of the comment. To the extent you agree (or disagree) with the ideas present in these comments, posting your concise thoughts with a reference to these postings would be very helpful for getting these comments seriously considered by the U.S. DGAC.
Post your comment HERE. (There is a 5,000 character limit to a posting.)
The next meeting of the DGAC will be October 3 to 4, so comments should be posted prior to this for greatest impact.
WOW! This was an exhausting blog to write. Have a great weekend.
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