Dairy Foods: White’s Boring! Add Color!

It’s that time of year where people who live in “real” four-season regions are finally seeing color. Since the holiday lights were taken down after the first of the year, many of us—and God bless my friends in Boston who have had it especially challenging—have been only seeing shades of black and white…the sleeping trees, the newly fallen snow, and then that dirty, messy, previously white stuff that covers cars, sidewalks and our walk-loving pets.

Today, the trees are budding greens and bulbs are blooming a rainbow of colors. It’s amazing how color uplifts the day.

And then there’s milk….the perfect white canvas. In fact, artists have been known to say that whole milk is the ideal shade of white. But it’s a white begging for color.


With dairy products, color is sometimes added for attention. Other times, it’s for correction, or simply to deliver to consumers the color they expect in strawberry yogurt and cheddar cheese spread.

Here are seven recent innovations that rely on added color to provide an eye-appealing product.

Just in time for the warmer weather, Onken (in the U.K.) is marketing Onken Biopot Wholegrain Summer Berries. This is a blend of creamy yogurt with summer berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and elderberries). It also contains five different types of wholegrain cereals (rye, wheat, oats, wheat bran and barley) for a chewy texture that bursts with berry flavor. This variety, as well as the Strawberry variant, relies on beetroot juice concentrate and carrot juice to round out color. There’s also a Peach variant that includes peach juice concentrate for a color boost.

In the U.S., the latter product could be described as being naturally colored, as peach juice is being used in a peach product. The berry varieties could only be described as not containing artificial colors. 

Tarte Asian Yogurt is a unique French-Vietnamese fusion yogurt produced by a namesake family-owned and operated company located in Southern California. Winston and Henry Lee found inspiration from their mother’s homemade Southeast Asian yogurt recipe after realizing a void in the yogurt industry and craving a nutritious, slightly sweet, somewhat tangy, real authentic “good for you” yogurt. The company began in 2010, and the yogurt’s debut was first reported as a Daily Dose of Dairy in September 2013. You can read the posting HERE.

With no other products like it in the U.S. market, and with U.S. consumers craving new styles of yogurt, the product line was a big hit at Natural Products Expo West in March. Industry movers and influencers were impressed with its creamy consistency, delicate sweetness and subtle tartness.

Unlike Greek yogurt, Tarte is not strained, which allows the yogurt to retain its natural goodness including higher electrolyte and calcium content, according to the company. When compared to traditional flavored yogurt, Tarte has an average of 60 fewer calories, 50% less sugar, and nearly double the calcium. Tarte also contains double the protein of regular yogurt, with zero fat.

The yogurt gets its lightly sweet flavor from the natural milk sugars that are caramelized during a slow-cooking process. Extra sweetness comes from the use of a stevia-based sweetener, which keeps calories low (115 to 120 per serving).

Tarté Asian Yogurt comes in five flavors: Original, Green Tea & Honey, Mango & Coconut, Blueberry & Acai, and Strawberry & Guanabana. The fruit varieties all use fruit and vegetable juice for color.

Unilever Ice Cream is rolling out a number of new frozen treats for this summer. The new Magnum Double Peanut Butter bar is made with the perfect balance of rich peanut butter ice cream, peanut buttery sauce and Belgian Chocolate. Caramel color adds a visual touch of decadence. Each 3.38-ounce single-serve bar contains 340 calories and 24 grams of fat.

BC-USA recently added two new flavors to its popular Alouette Soft Spreadable Cheese line. New York Cheddar is described as a smooth spread with a touch of sour cream and chives. English-Style Brown Ale Cheddar delivers a bold kick of ale flavor that’s provided by malt extract. Both spreads use paprika and beta carotene to provide an eye-appealing cheddar cheese color. A 2-tablespoon serving of either contains 70 calories and 5 grams of fat. 

In select European markets, Unilever is growing its Becel range of dairy and vegetable oil blended spreads with a variety designed for baking and cooking. Like all Becel products, the company says this product is heart-healthy because of its omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid composition. It contains 50% less saturated fat than traditional butter. A touch of beta carotene gives it a buttery rich color.

Perry’s Ice Cream is just starting to launch a new ice cream line branded Escapes. These pint- and quart-sized treats are designed to take you on a journey, a flavorful one, according to the company. Colors help convey the adventure.

“The majority of our consumers prefer ice cream flavors that are loaded with inclusions; the more, the better,” says Eva Balazs, director of marketing and contract sales at Perry’s. “The trick is finding the right ingredients that complement each other for distinct and indulgent flavor combinations. Sometimes it takes several attempts before we identify that perfect cookie, fruit or nut piece and the right fudge, caramel or fruit swirl for a new flavor.”

When it comes to swirl, the Queen of Hearts flavor includes a raspberry swirl that relies on a red berry color to provide visual impact. That color is based on a blend of juices from black currants, blackberries and elderberries.

Piece of Cake is yellow cake-flavored ice cream with chocolate frosting swirls and pound cake pieces. To communicate the richness of yellow cake, without adding extra calories, the cake batter ice cream base contains some annatto color. That’s also the secret to making the pound cake pieces look like they were made with pounds of farm-fresh butter. 

There are 20 flavors in total, all targeting adult palates. Stay tuned, this product line will be featured as a Daily Dose of Dairy this coming week.

As Eva says, inclusions, and lots of them, are paramount. To read a recent article I wrote for Food Business News entitled “Inclusion innovation: More than a Chip or a Chunk,” link HERE.

This final product shows us how important color is, as it truly makes the celebration. Friendly’s Ice Cream, the operator of more than 250 Friendly’s restaurants and a manufacturer of ice cream products distributed in over 7,500 retail outlets in the U.S., has combined forces with Crayola, a colorfully innovative brand, to introduce a new, one-of-a-kind, premium Crayola Decorate Your Own Ice Cream Cake. Topped with freshly whipped icing, each ice cream cake serves as an edible artist’s canvas that can be customized with packets of blue and red icing, rainbow confetti and green and yellow sprinkles that are included with every package.

Perfect for birthday parties, family gatherings and celebrations of any kind, Friendly’s Crayola Decorate Your Own Ice Cream Cake is sold in a single 60-ounce size that easily serves 12 to 15 guests. Each cake is handmade at Friendly’s creamery in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and boasts layers of creamy vanilla and rich chocolate ice cream separated by chocolate crunchies.

Have a colorful spring day!

Spring Cleaning Time: Frozen and Refrigerated Dairy Dessert Clean-Label Trends

Nothing like a long weekend during spring break with seven teenagers (three boys, four girls, all 15 years old) to gain insight to the grocery shoppers of tomorrow. These are the youngest millennials, having been born in either 1999 or 2000. They survived Y2K.  And, oh my, do they have strong opinions of the foods they eat.

Fresh is paramount. I was very surprised that the baby carrots and celery sticks disappeared before the potato chips and pretzels. Eventually the chip bowl was cleaned out. The pretzels remained. (That contradicts better-for-you snacking!)

When I asked for requests from the grocery store for breakfast and snack foods, I was very pleased that almost all of them asked for yogurt. Whole fruits, hard-boiled eggs and green tea also made the list. (What happened to Pop Tarts and doughnuts? I bought them anyway. Eventually, they were consumed, too.)

When I asked for milk preference, they unanimously said 2%. One girl even went as far as explaining to me that it contained healthy fats. I was very impressed. But then one gal did say her mom likes to buy raw milk. Not to throw her mom under the bus, but I did break into a brief explanation of why raw milk is unsafe and why I will not be buying it. 

Though they did not seem to understand the term “clean label” when I asked them, they did have strong opinions of what they want to read on package labels. Surprisingly, organic was not as important as I thought it would be. “Nothing artificial” was something all seven agreed was a purchase requirement. (This did not hold them back from eating the cookies I made with artificially colored M&M’s.)

I’m not surprised that they do not understand the term clean label, as it really is not a consumer term. Shoppers are not walking up and down the aisles of the supermarket looking for the clean-label shelf. Retailers do not have a designated clean-label section, much like they do for organic and ethnic foods. Clean label is a marketing initiative for the R&D team, with the effort often varying by product category.

Clean label is not necessarily natural, which is a good thing, because natural is itself an ambiguous term. But I think we can all agree that natural infers that it came from Mother Nature, at least before it was processed and packaged, rather than concocted in a lab. It’s suggestive of good-for-you, minimally processed and even nontoxic.

Clean label is sometimes that, and other times it is not. Clean label involves transparency, which refers to the act of communicating to consumers the story of the food they are buying.

Transparency was identified as a key macro trend at the 35th annual Natural Products Expo West that took place in early March in Anaheim, CA. This term incorporates many facets of product marketing, including ingredient sourcing, nutrition claims, product description, packaging graphics and even a company’s business philosophy. When all of these are kept as clean, simple and truthful as possible, consumers often perceive the product to be close to something grandma would make in her own kitchen, with this notion of homemade being very appealing with today’s foodie society. The millennials, including my teen aged house guests, are all over it. (Little do they know that those cookies I claimed to make from scratch were refrigerated dough to which I added some topical M&M’s for that “made by Mrs. Berry” touch. I know, I was not very transparent. Shame on me!)

Clean really is about being clear. “The move from ‘clean’ to ‘clear’ labeling is a key trend for 2015, reflecting a move to clearer and simpler claims and packaging for maximum transparency,” says Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation at Innova Market Insights. “Meeting the needs of the millennial consumer has also become a key focus, as has targeting the demands of the gourmet consumer at home, re-engineering the snacks market for today’s lifestyles and combating obesity with a focus on positive nutrition.”

According to Clean Label Report 2015 from Nutrition Business Journal, no one in the industry seems to agree on an exact definition, yet suppliers, manufacturers and retailers are increasingly responding to and driving the movement. The report confirms that few consumers have even heard of the term, yet more and more of them are demanding food, supplement, personal care and household products that adhere to its strictures of fewer synthetic ingredients, fewer ingredients overall, “free-from” formulations and transparent supply chains.

So while only 23% of consumers surveyed say they have heard the term “clean label” and have at least some idea what it might mean, 83% say they actively try to avoid high-fructose corn syrup and 71% say “no” to artificial colors and flavors, according to Nutrition Business Journal research. The report shows that these and other ingredients are quickly on their way out of the natural channel, with mass retail following suit.

A recent report from Packaged Facts entitled What America Eats: Paradigms Shaping Food Choices identifies a number of positive shifts in American eating habits that bode well for the future. Chief among these is the finding that in 2014, 39% of consumers indicated they are eating less processed food than they were a few years ago. And while consumers are more likely to say they are shifting away from processed food, they say they are moving toward foods/food types that encompass “real foods,” such as fresh fruits/vegetables, locally produced foods and all natural proteins. Dairy is all this and more!

At IDFA’s recent Ice Cream Technology Conference in St. Petersburg, FL, Doug Goff, professor of food science at the University of Guelph, addressed the formulation challenges for clean labels. He provided data showing that consumers are clamoring to buy products with clean labels, fewer ingredients and less food additives. With ice cream, as well as refrigerated dairy desserts such as mousse and pudding, there are challenges with going clean label as emulsifiers and stabilizers serve key functions in texture, product stability, and with frozen products, controlling ice crystal development. The good news is that ingredient suppliers have stepped up to the challenge and have solutions to allow for cleaner-label formulating.

Here are some recent clean/clear label product launches.

Turkey Hill Dairy is rolling out All Natural Gelato, making it the first major ice cream brand to release an all-natural gelato product line.

“Our loyal fans are looking for great taste and simple ingredients,” says John Cox, Turkey Hill Dairy president. “Given the success of Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream--and realizing gelato is a rapidly growing category—we’re excited to bring this traditional Italian ice cream to grocery store shelves, adding a touch of Turkey Hill’s Lancaster County roots to every bite.”

Turkey Hill All Natural Gelato contains fresh milk and real sugar, and has less air than most ice creams giving it a richer mouthfeel. It is available in eight flavors: Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Coffee Chip, Hazelnut, Mint Chocolate Chip, Peach Mango, Purely Vanilla and Sea Salted Caramel.

In case you have not heard, the industry finally has the next Cookies and Cream. It is Salted Caramel. Read more about this trend in a recent column I wrote for Food Business News that you can access HERE.

Hudsonville Creamery and Ice Cream Company is rolling out Hudsonville Naturals. This ice cream line is described as artisan and made with local ingredients, and natural colors, flavors and sweeteners. Front labels boast a “rBST Free” logo. The website explains how the ice cream is sweetened with pure cane sugar and how, for example, the strawberry flavor is colored by the strawberries. In addition to Strawberry, there’s Chocolate Cocoa Bean, Vanilla Bean, and surprise, surprise, Salted Caramel.

Family-owned Graeter’s Ice Cream expands its hand-crafted, artisan ice cream and gelato line with five new flavors, providing consumers with an indulgent dessert experience. The new flavors are: Bananas Foster Gelato (super yummy!), Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Black Raspberry Gelato, Dark Chocolate Mint Crunch Gelato and Toasted Coconut Gelato.

Entrepreneurs like Graeter’s Ice Cream are increasingly coming up with unique flavors that remain true to the brand’s original mission. That is, creating the finest, creamiest, most deliciously indulgent ice cream in the world, 2 ½ gallons at a time. Communicating this batch-made, hand-crafted process is all about the company’s clean and clear communication.

Committed to creating healthy snacks made with simple, wholesome ingredients, the Outshine brand has launched a new line of Simply Yogurt Bars. These frozen yogurt bars are simply made with 100% yogurt and blended with real fruit or fruit juice. Flavors are: Blueberry, Lemon, Mango, Peach, Pineapple, Strawberry and Strawberry Banana. Each bar contains 90 calories, 5 grams of protein and 10% of the Daily Value of calcium. Simply Yogurt Bars also include live and active cultures.  Outshine Simply Yogurt Bars are available in four-count boxes at a suggested retail price of $4.39 at major retailers nationwide.

Three Twins Ice Cream, a San Francisco Bay Area-based organic ice cream manufacturer, celebrates its 10th anniversary with the rollout of two new flavors: Banana Nut Confetti and Cherry Chocolate Chunk. Committed to a giving-back model and providing a great product at an even better price, Three Twins created Ice Cream for Acres in 2011 and to date the land conservation initiative has saved nearly 130,680,000 square feet and counting. All Three Twins ice cream pints top out at $4.99 per pint and include a charitable donation to the Global Wildlife Conservation in collaboration with 1% for the Planet. The company uses USDA-stamped organic ingredients, including milk and cream sourced from family farms within a short distance of its factories.

On the refrigerated dessert side of the business, French premium dairy processor, Marie Morin, which now manufactures product in Canada and exports to the U.S., uses clear glass packaging to communicate the simplicity of the product inside. For example, Caramel Flan is a creamy custard baked with a layer of decadent caramel sauce. Made with only natural flavors, this product comes in two packs of 4.6-ounce glass jars.

Something I learned during my weekend with the youngest millennials, just like every generation before them, they do not always do as they say. But they definitely are more knowledgeable about food then previous generations, which is why clean and clear is so important.

Anuga FoodTec Recap: Two Packages and One Product Concept You Must Read About

I just returned from attending the 7th Anuga FoodTec in Cologne, Germany. Also known simply as AFT, this expo is not to be confused with Anuga, the world’s largest finished food fair taking place later this year (October 10 to 14) in the same location.

The AFT is held every three years. It is the only trade fair in the world that covers all aspects of food production. Five exhibition segments of AFT--Food Processing, Food Packaging, Food Safety, Ingredients (new for 2015) and Services/Solutions--form one transparent information system for all areas of the industry and for all levels of resources. For the industry visitor, AFT encompasses all the synergies of a process-orientated production chain, from raw material to delivery-ready end product.

The expo ends today, March 27, and final numbers are expected to show that more than 43,000 highly qualified trade visitors traveled from around 130 countries to view the more than 1,500 supplier exhibitors representing 49 countries.


Both the dairy and meat industries showed the most growth in terms of exhibitor numbers and space, as compared to the 2012 expo. To read some highlights from the dairy sector, as reported by Koelnmesse, a co-organizer of the event, link HERE.

As an attendee of many, many trade shows, I am exposed to a lot of innovation. The AFT was no exception; however, there were definitely some innovations that stood out. Here are two of them.

This gadget from the German packaging company Poppelmann GmbH & Co., takes the foon (fork plus spoon), also sometimes called spork (spoon plus fork), to a new level, as it has a foldable design so that it fits into the dome of a single-serve cup container. When removed, the consumer straightens it, snapping together the two halves of the handle to form a foon that is 125 millimeters long. It is also stable and long enough to reach the bottom of the container without effort and without getting hands dirty.

The company supplies the cup, the dome and the foon, but the pieces are available individually, too. This type of container is ideal for high-protein dairy foods such as cottage cheese (with delicious inclusions), yogurt blended with grains such as chia, oats and quinoa, and desserts such as rice pudding and quark. 
To read more about the foon, link HERE.
The foon recently won a German Packaging Award. Read more HERE.

The second show stopper for me comes from Ecolean, a Swedish aseptic filling and packaging company that markets a uniquely shaped stand-up plastic pouch for refrigerated and shelf-stable beverages, including milk and drinkable yogurt. During AFT, the company sponsored a seminar entitled “Packaging innovation and brand regeneration,” and showed attendees through customer testimonials how the stand-up pouch can help a dairy increase sales of fluid milk.

“We have been able to double the sales of the brand since the launch of the Ecolean package and this can be attributed to the new innovative package format,” said Syed Waqas Azhar, general marketing-dairy, Engro Foods Ltd., Pakistan, marketers of the Olper's brand of milk.

The flexible stand-up package is shaped like a pitcher. It has an air-filled handle that adds to the stability of the package, as well as makes it convenient for pouring. It comes in varied sizes, from single serve to family size. It can be colored or clear, and even have an attached straw. The flexible packaging has a well-suited surface for high-quality print, which together with a generous primary display panel, functions as a billboard to get the attention of today’s fast-paced consumer. To read more about the package, link HERE.

Now here’s the yummy product concept. Whenever and wherever I travel, I make supermarket visits. Germany always has some of the most innovative dairy products, and this one is definitely new, as I did not see it the last time I visited the country in October 2013 for Anuga.

It’s a cream cheese- and butter-based bread spread with large and plentiful flavorful inclusions. It is designed to be spread on bread or a baguette and then baked in the oven or toaster oven for about 8 minutes. The spread bubbles and firms up on the bread, which simultaneously gets toasted.

Hochland offers five varieties: Bruschetta, Chicken Tuscany, Mediterranean Vegetable, Pizza and Tarte (ham, onions and a touch of black pepper.)

Edelweiss is rolling out three varieties under its Milkana brand. There’s Hawaii, (ham and pineapple), Salami and Tarte.

This TV commercial—there’s two, and it’s the second one—shows you exactly how the spread bakes up. Watch it HERE.


I purchased the Hochland Tarte product and did not have an oven handy. But I spread it on some bread and it was super delicious even chilled. I would really love this product in America. Hint, hint.

There will not be a blog next Friday, April 3rd, in respect for Good Friday. Have a lovely Easter and Passover holiday, and for many, a sunny and warm spring break. Watch out Key Largo, the Berry’s will arrive soon!

Millennials Like Good Food. They Will Try Everything.

A Groupon email yesterday had this subject line: Eating—It’s the Fad Sweeping the Nation! I could not agree more. For many, eating today is more about the experience than sustenance. This is being driven by Millennials, who are more than a demographic. Being a Millennial is actually a state of mind.

How Millennial are you?

Pew Research Center developed a 14-item quiz to determine how Millennial you are on a scale from 0 to 100. You can access it HERE.

Your responses are compared to those of respondents to a scientific nationwide survey. You can also find out how you stack up against others your age. (I scored an 80, which is pretty darn good for a Gen-Xer. My 32-year-old niece, a prime Millennial, scored 98.)

Celebrating Good Food
Yesterday was also the first day of the 11th annual Good Food Festival & Conference in Chicago. I was fortunate to attend some sessions and met and heard some movers and shakers in the Good Food movement. By the end of the day, it became very clear, Good Food is what Millennials want.

The words natural, organic and GMO never came up during an incredibly moving speech by Chef Rick Bayless. Rather he emphasized local agriculture and deliciousness.

Bayless opened his first restaurant, Frontera Grill, in Chicago, 28 years ago today, and since has been a major influencer of changing the way chefs procure produce, meat and other ingredients in The Windy City. And, as he pointed out, at O’Hare airport, where Frontera operates a quick-serve restaurant run on the same principles as his downtown sit-down establishments.

He said he knew early on the only way he was going to succeed in the highly competitive Chicago restaurant scene was if he served up a plate of deliciousness. This was only going to be possible by sourcing the freshest ingredients, which, of course, is not the easiest thing to do in the Midwest. But he found a way, and today that way has become the Rick Bayless Farmer Foundation, a very impressive program designed to support local farmers. To read more about it, link HERE. This was the first time I had heard of it, and I remain in awe.

To read more about the Good Food Festival & Conference, link HERE.

A big thanks to Organic Valley, the only dairy to be an official sponsor of the event. (Loved the protein drinks you provided.)

What became apparent to me at the conference is that yes, organic, natural and non-GMO are important to a fast-rising number of people—the Millennials—but at the same time, if you are buying good food, consumers trust that these foods are made as organic, as natural and as free of GMOs as possible.

At lunch I spoke with a Millennial entrepreneur from Ohio who said he understands that GMOs are necessary to make food affordable and available to the many people hungry in the U.S. and around the world. (The guy is a genius in my book. Nice to have met you Nick.)

After Bayless spoke, there was a panel discussion featuring Good Food business success stories. Julie Smolyansky, CEO of Lifeway Foods, along with three other entrepreneurial leaders spoke about their early beginnings and how they became the success they are today. The unified theme was simply doing the best possible to offer consumers the best good food, along with investing in the communication of this goodness.

Let’s face it. Gone are the days of families eating frozen TV dinners. (Remember those metal trays? If you were lucky, you got one with dessert…some scary chocolate mush.) Though I occasionally crave my mom’s quick Friday Lenten fix…Kraft mac and cheese mixed with canned tuna and canned peas…it is highly doubtful Millennials have ever tasted or ever will taste what once a staple meal for many.

There’s no doubt that changing American demographics and the evolving food culture are affecting how we live, shop and eat. The good news for the dairy industry is that we produce some pretty darn good food. It’s a good time to be in dairy…but it is critical that you understand how to communicate your products’ goodness to consumers.

Source: IDDBA, Engaging the Evolving Shopper survey, 2014


IDDBA’s latest study, “Engaging the Evolving Shopper: Serving the New American Appetite,” concurs that Millennial shoppers are at the forefront of the “New American Appetite.” From this study, conducted by The Hartman Group Inc., IDDBA has developed an on-demand webinar entitled “Tapping the Momentum of Millenials in Fresh Perimeter Categories.” This includes dairy. You can view the webinar HERE.

Source: IDDBA, Engaging the Evolving Shopper survey, 2014

The Hartman Group’s research shows that Millennials engage with fresh perimeter categories differently than Boomers. Millennials use the fresh parameter both as a healthy source for ready-to-eat meals and snacks, and for fresh ingredients to cook. Dairy marketers are smart to offer more convenience options.

Millennials shop more frequently. They want fresh ingredients purchased the same day. Dairy marketers are smart to offer smaller sizes of products for one-time use.

Source: IDDBA, Engaging the Evolving Shopper survey, 2014

Millennials will try everything. They think in terms of ethnic cuisines, sometimes even regional specificity. 

Selection and wide variety in the dairy department resonates with Millennial shoppers. They want good food. They want more local food.

This is an easy one for dairy!

Dairy Foods at Expo West 2015

Photo source: Tate & Lyle

The 35th annual Natural Products Expo West took place less than a week ago in Anaheim, CA. And what an amazing Expo it was!
Having attended this show annually for the past decade and occasionally the decade before, I can honestly say that this year dairy products had the strongest presence ever. (But so did dairy alternatives...more on this later.)

As the world’s largest natural, organic and healthy products event, Expo serves as a reunion for many of the industry’s original players. I was not there in the beginning, but I do remember the early days…like the one “clothing optional, fig leave acceptable” year.

Not sure what year was my first, but I do remember there were only three dairies with booths larger than a tabletop. They were Stonyfield Farm, where Gary worked the booth in jeans and Birkenstocks; Organic Valley, which was then still referred to as CROPP, where George, in his predictable jeans and flannel shirt, was advocating for national organic standards; and Horizon, still owned by its founding fathers, Mark and Paul, was the newbie in the trio, and had grand plans in place to make organic milk available nationally.

Congrats to all three and the many, many more dairy companies selling everything from cheese to ice cream to kefir to yogurt. You all shined at this year’s Expo.

This past week, the Daily Dose of Dairy began featuring new products that debuted at the show. This will continue, most likely, for the next month, as there were so many innovations. Below is a sneak peak of what’s to come.

But first, some general show highlights. 

The 2015 event grew 7.2% from the previous year, bringing together more than 71,000 industry members, more than 2,700 exhibiting companies and 634 first-time exhibitors.

These are some of the macro trends influencing the marketplace. 

• Transparency: Consumers are increasingly demanding to know what is in their food, and brands are responding by using technology and other innovations to provide greater transparency and traceability for their products.
• Ancient Wisdom Gets Wiser: Brands continue to innovate by producing simple, delicious products that take minimal processing to new levels and contain short lists of nutrient-dense ingredients.
• Packaging Innovated: From edible cups to packages featuring famous cookbook authors, the packaging innovations made advancements in sustainability, consumer education and shelf stability.
• Protein Invasion: Responding to consumers’ insatiable hunger for protein, natural and organic brands are packing new offerings with protein in every conceivable form.

Many companies were recognized with awards at Natural Products Expo West, including one dairy product. Noosa Yoghurt LLC’s Vanilla Yoghurt was a runner up in the “Best of West: Press Award.” Congrats!

Noosa is a whole milk yogurt described as Aussie style. It is made using fresh Colorado milk at the family-owned Morning Fresh Dairy in Bellvue, Colorado. Noosa partners with Colorado-based Beyond the Hive to lightly sweeten its yogurt with golden Clover Alfalfa honey.

Most recently the company began offering its two most popular flavors—Blueberry and Tart Cherry--in four packs of 4-ounce cups. Each 4-ounce cup contains 140 calories, 5.5 grams of fat, 14 grams of sugar (including milk’s inherent sugar) and 7 grams of protein. The convenient on-the-go cups join the 8- and 16-ounce containers.

As mentioned, both dairy products and dairy alternatives were trending at Expo. Dairy processors should be aware of the competition, and that includes manufacturers and marketers of dairy alternatives. To read an overview of the dairy alternatives category and view product examples in a slideshow, link HERE to an article I wrote for Food Business News this week.

Something I point out in the article is that some of these alternatives rely on ingredients that you would not find in grandma’s pantry, which contradicts the clean-label trend. Dairy processors are fortunate to be starting with a highly functional and all-natural base material—cows milk—and have many clean-label ingredients readily available to them in order to provide health- and wellness-seeking consumers with products close to what Mother Nature intended.

To read more about formulating clean-label yogurt and other dairy products, link HERE.

Here are some product highlights from Expo. Remember to watch for more as a Daily Dose of Dairy the next couple weeks.

McConnell’s showed attendees that sea salt goes with more than caramel. Handcrafted in Santa Barbara, CA, Sea Salt Cream & Cookies Ice Cream starts with a base of dense, velvety smooth and creamy sweet cream ice cream. This gets layered with a hint of local sea salt and bountiful bits of chewy, house-made, Guittard chocolate chunk cookies.

Both Tillamook and Organic Valley rolled out cheese sticks designed for adult snacking. Organic Valley’s packages state “made with milk from our pasture-raised cows.” In addition to sporting the USDA Organic seal, the company wants to make sure consumers understand that “organic is always non GMO” and that it never uses “antibiotics, synthetic hormones, toxic pesticides or GMOs” and states so on the package. Organic Valley’s (0.75-ounce) sticks come in Medium Cheddar and Pepper Jack varieties. They are sold in bags of six.

Tillamook’s cheese sticks are also 0.75 ounces and come in 10 packs. Marketed as “a natural snack for kids of all ages,” there are two varieties: Colby Jack and Medium Cheddar. These varieties have long been part of the 0.75 ounce Tillamoos cheese portion packs. The company is growing this line with three adult-centric varieties: Hot Habanero Jack, Sharp White Cheddar and Smoked Black White Cheddar. (The latter is incredibly delicious!)

The good culture company used Expo to officially launch its namesake line of sweet and savory single-serve organic cottage cheese cups. The initial rollout includes five varieties: Blueberry Açaí Chia, Classic, Kalamata Olive, Strawberry Chia and Sundried Tomato. The single-serve containers come in convenient, on-the-go 5.3-ounce packs. For more info link HERE.

Stonyfield also used Expo West as its official launching pad for Oh My Yog! This tri-layer yogurt made its soft launch at the Fancy Food Show in January and has started rolling out to the retail marketplace. The top layer is cream, the middle layer is honey-sweetened whole milk yogurt and the bottom is flavorful fruit, or in the case of the Madagascar Vanilla Bean variety, vanilla-infused yogurt. The fruit varieties are: Apple Cinnamon, Gingered Pear, Orange Cranberry, Pacific Coast Strawberry and Wild Quebec Blueberry. Each 6-ounce cup contains 190 calories, 5 grams of fat and 7 grams of protein. For more information, link HERE.

WhiteWave Foods showcased many innovations, for both the refrigerated and ambient dairy cases, as well as grocery. Let’s focus on dairy.

The company made its official industry debut of yulu Aussie Style Yogurt at Expo, which Daily Dose of Dairy was first to write about in February. This is an Australian-style yogurt, which is known for its velvety texture and creaminess as well as inclusion of large, identifiable pieces of fruit. For more information, link HERE.

Under the company’s Horizon label, is an industry first in the U.S. New Super Squeeze is shelf-stable pouches of milk and real fruit. The highly viscous product is made with organic milk and organic fruit purees, with each pouch containing 100 calories, 5 grams of protein, 15 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fiber and no fat. For more info, link HERE.

My friends at Lifeway Foods have been very busy this year. In case you missed this week’s Daily Dose of Dairy on the company’s new Lifeway Protein Kefir, a line extension designed to aid in muscle recovery after exercise, you can read about it HERE.


Other innovations from the company include Lifeway Pretty Plain ProBugs. It’s the first no-sugar-added flavor in Lifeway’s popular line of organic whole milk kefir smoothies designed for younger children, and it comes in the same fun 4-ounce sippy pouch as the rest of the ProBugs family. That means an easy grip for little hands along with a no-spill spout--exclusive to Lifeway--that makes it car-safe.

Personified on the package by a cartoon bug character named Pretty Plain Pearl who “likes her life clean,” the new product joins ProBugs’ Sublime Slime Lime, Orange Creamy Crawler, Goo Berry Pie, Strawnana Split and Kiwi Kale Critter varieties, each with its own giggle-inducing persona to keep kids entertained. 

Also new for this summer is Lifeway Lowfat Watermelon Kefir. Scheduled to hit store shelves in June, this summertime special is lightly sweetened with only 8 grams of additional sugar and has just 20 fat calories in each 140-calorie serving. It’s also 99% lactose-free, gluten-free and all-natural with 12 live and active probiotic cultures, 11 grams of protein and 30% of your daily recommended calcium, plus the natural watermelon flavor everyone loves. No melon carving needed!

The folks over Smari Organics have also been super busy and are growing their line of refrigerated Icelandic namesake yogurts. Smari yogurt debuted about two years ago and was written about first by Daily Dose of Dairy HERE.

Smari yogurt is made with milk from grass-fed Jersey and Guernsey cows, with each 6-ounce cup delivering 20 grams of protein. The original line is four fat-free options: Blueberry, Pure, Strawberry and Vanilla. Now the line includes fat-free Peach, Pure Whole Milk, Vanilla Whole Milk and low-fat Coconut.

Mark your calendars for Natural Products Expo East 2015, which will return to the Baltimore Convention Center, September 16 to 19, 2015, in Baltimore, MD. For more info, link HERE.

Natural Products Expo West 2016 is scheduled to take place March 11 to 13, 2016, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. Details will be available later in the year.

Dairy Foods Make Headlines…and More!

Hi loyal subscribers,

I needed a travel/mental health day to get to and get in the mindset for Expo West/Engredion in Anaheim.

Not to disappoint….here are a few items for your reading enjoyment.

For starters, if you are involved in the development, marketing or distribution of ice cream, please plan to attend the Ice Cream Technology Conference March 31 to April 1 in St. Petersburg, FL. For more info, link HERE.

If you are involved in cottage cheese or other cultured dairy products, as well as fluid milk and milk beverages, you should plan to attend the Milk and Cultured Dairy Products Conference May 19 to 20 in Minneapolis. For more info, link HERE.

I emphasize cottage cheese, because this original high-protein cultured dairy product was featured in the March 2015 issue of Shape magazine. (Pictured to the right.)

That same issue featured an article about why dairy fats are good fats. (Scroll down to read the article.)

I recently wrote a column for Food Business News entitled “Scientifically based nutrition advice: Eat butter, meat and cheese.” It includes an interview with Nina Teicholz, author of the New York Times bestseller The Big Fat Surprise-Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet. You can read the column HERE.



Back to Expo West/Engredion. My Friday plans are to start in the early-morning hall (9:00am sharp at the Hilton) and walk up and down every aisle until I end the day at Engredion (Hall A).

Hope to see many of you there. Please shoot me an email HERE with your booth number and what time you will be there, and I will make an effort to visit. Think 9:00 Hilton, about 9:45 Arena, 10:30 Hall E (lower level), 11:15 Next Pavilion, noon Hall D, 1:00 Hall C, 2:00 Hall B, 3:00 (to the Marriott for State of the Industry symposium), 4:15 Hall A. 
Aggressive schedule! I know, hence no blog. My apologies.

Sincerely,
Donna Berry
P.S. Don’t forget to move your clocks ahead Saturday night. Spring is almost here!

Here's the Shape magazine article: