Sorrento Lactalis is planning an expansion to its Nampa, Idaho cheese factory, adding a new whey processing facility. The company plans to break ground this winter and finish in less than two years.
Its planned new whey facility will be 50,000 to 60,000 square feet and cost close to $50 million, Jean Claude Bruneau, vice president of manufacturing, told the Idaho Press-Tribune on Wednesday.
The expansion will include a 175-foot whey evaporation tower and several silos. The company could break ground on the project this winter and finish in less than two years.
The new facility will enable the cheese-processing plant to increase its production in three years from between 400,000 and 420,000 pounds of cheese per day to 600,000 pounds per day, Bruneau said.
Your weekly Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) export update.
CWT has accepted ten export assistance bids for the sale of butter, cheese and anhydrous milkfat.
Four of the bids were from Darigold of Seattle, WA, for butter exports in the following amounts to the following destinations: 500 metric tons (1,102,312 pounds) to Morocco; 125 metric tons (275,578 lbs.) to Japan; 50 metric tons (110,231 lbs.) to Lebanon; and 25 metric tons (55,116 lbs.) to the United Arab Emirates.
Three of the bids were from Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, MO, for the export of anhydrous milkfat to Russia in the following amounts: 72 metric tons (158,733 lbs.), and two separate bids of 50 metric tons each (110,231 lbs.).
Two bids were accepted from California Dairies Inc., one for the export of 3,000 metric tons (6,613,869 lbs.) of anhydrous milkfat to Mexico, and another for the export of 92 metric tons (202,825 lbs.) of butter to Mexico.
And finally, a bid was accepted from Foremost Farms of Baraboo, WI, for the export of 185 metric tons (407,855 lbs.) of Mozzarella cheese sticks to South Korea. CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidders, only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
With these accepted bids, CWT’s total 2008 export obligations are: butter, 15,272 metric tons (33.6 million lbs.); cheese, 1,111 metric tons (2.4 million lbs.); whole milk powder, 170 metric tons (374,000 lbs.); and anhydrous milkfat, 4,438 metric tons (9.8 million lbs.).
Los Altos Food Products, owned by Raul Andrade and his family, is expanding from 36,000-square-foot factory to a new 100,000-square-foot facility a few blocks away. Demand for the company’s cheese is growing, particularly for their Cotija-style cheese, one of Mexico’s most famous flavors.
In rural Mexico, there is a tiny town at the base of the Southern Sierra Madres called Cotija - a quiet place where herds of cattle fan out into green mountain canyons. In those hilly places, dairymen for 200 years have made Mexico’s most famous cheese - Cotija.
Summer rains each year wash out dirt roads into Cotija, so ranchers let their cheese sit for months until the rain stops and the roads are safe, which gives the cheese its pungent, hard character. The difficult rainy times, experts say, caused Cotija cheese to become the most recognizable cheese in Mexico.
Latino-style cheeses are one of the nation’s fastest-growing cheese categories, according to the California Milk Advisory Board.
A pilot project conducted by the Midwest Dairy Association in the Kansas-based Goddard Public School district was a tremendous success. The students at the district chose cheese from their school cafeteria more than three times as often during the program. The effort was designed to increase cheese sales and consumption while educating students about the health benefits of cheese.
To meet the goal of improved cheese sales, counter top coolers at the schools were stocked with a variety of cheese products that could be purchased by students a la carte. Cheese was also incorporated into school menus and offered as a side item once a week.
Before the pilot, 424 cheese items from the menus were sold over a two-month period; the new offerings resulted in a sharp increase to 14,228 cheese items purchased during the two-month pilot. “This project shows that schools can offer nutrient rich foods and students will embrace them,” said Tami Larson, Midwest Dairy Association’s Kansas school nutrition program manager.
Additional results confirm the school’s success: 1,785 additional reimbursable meals were served due to the project. When students came through the line missing one component of the meal, they were offered a variety of cheeses from a Got Cheese? cooler bag. The addition made the meal reimbursable through the national school lunch program, and the large increase in reimbursable meals had a positive financial impact on the school district. Due to the excellent results, school officials have also encouraged other districts to increase the availability of cheese through similar programs. Of the cheese products provided, Colby Jack was by far the most popular, with cheddar and mozzarella taking second and third places, respectively.
Scotland’s biggest cheese maker, the Caledonian Cheese Company, has announced that they will begin selling their leading product, “Seriously” in the U.S. There are four varieties of the Seriously cheese, vintage, strong, mild red and mild white. They are marketed by Lactalis McLelland.
The launch, expected in the coming week, follows interest drummed up at a major food exhibition in the US. All the cheeses will be packaged so that customers will be in doubt that they come from Scotland.
Andy Smith, Lactalis McLelland’s managing director, said: “This brand is now sold in 42 countries around the world and this international expansion is set to grow in the future.
“Part of this success is down to the consistently high standard of quality produce we receive from farmers. We will continue to seek additional opportunities as well as strengthening our relationships and fostering new partnerships with farmers.”
As experts in the agricultural industry, we know better than most how the food we eat each day made it to our plate. For those who don’t have a knowledge of agriculture, there is a new show on the Food Network called “How’d That Get On My Plate?” One recent episode featured milk being made into mint chocolate chip ice cream in Modesto, Calif., string cheese in Wisconsin and chocolate in Chicago. Click here for a schedule of repeats of this episode! The host of the show, Sunny Anderson, also has posted photos of the places she visits with informative captions - including the dairy farm she was on. Check it out!
Schreiber Foods says it plans to close its processed cheese plant in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. at the end of September and shift production to Missouri. Schreiber Foods is a $3 billion global enterprise and the world’s largest customer-brand dairy company. They provide products to the biggest names in fast food and are the world’s largest supplier of private-label dairy products to grocery chains and wholesalers.
Deborah Van Dyk is vice president of industry and regulator affairs with the Green Bay-based Schreiber. She says a small amount of production could continue beyond Sept. 30, depending on how the transition works out.
Van Dyk also says the decision was made to transfer production to Schreiber’s Fairview facility in Carthage, Mo., because it is closer to the southeastern United States. The products made at Wisconsin Rapids tend to be shipped to customers in that region, she said.
The plant has 140 production, quality assurance, laboratory and office workers.
The Star Valley Cheese factory in Thayne, Wyo., closed since 2005, may be re-opening its doors again later this year. Idaho dairyman Gaylen Clayson is in the process of buying the facility.
“We’re looking to buy the factory, and we are very interested in purchasing it and starting it up again,” Clayson said. “Our goal right now is just to get the plant going again and make mozzarella cheese … and try to bring local milk into the plant to help the local dairymen.
“We’re going to try and work with the farmers in the valley to buy their milk … not so much because we need the milk, but we’d sure like to bring them along just to keep the milk here in Star Valley and help keep the dairy industry alive in Wyoming.”
Clayson, a former Bedford dairy farmer, is the owner of Cedar Arch Dairies in the Idaho communities of Blackfoot, Firth and Penagre. He said the Thayne plant will initially produce mozzarella cheese.
Clayson initially plans to use milk from his Cedar Farm operations to produce cheese at the factory until Star Valley producers can be secured. Milk will be trucked in, and whey — the watery part of milk that is separated from the curds during cheese production — will be trucked back to Idaho to be used as feedstock for cattle.
The plant has the capacity to produce up to 1.5 million pounds of cheese per month. Star Valley cheese was sold in markets across the United States and as far away as Hawaii, though most of the cheese produced during the last few years of production went to California.
The sights in Times Square in New York City can be unique, unusual or interesting. This Fourth of July weekend one sight was all three - a one ton block of cheddar cheese sculpted into a depiction of the Declaration of Independence. The sculpture was sponsored by Cheez-It as a way to celebrate the Fourth.
“It’s very patriotic, using the signing of the Declaration of Independence, bringing Americans together for the Fourth,” said Troy Landwehr, who carved the sculpture for cracker company Cheez-It. He worked eight hours a day for a week in a 40-degree cooler carving the block of Wisconsin cheddar.
“The cheddar has been pasteurized and will not melt,” Landwehr said. “What I spray on it is cooking oil and that stops it from drying out and cracking,” he said. “That’s why it looks sweaty. It actually preserves the cheese.”
The replica of an iconic painting by John Trumbull shows John Adams, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin and others standing around a table signing the historic document.
The work is not the first time Landwehr has recreated U.S. history with cheese. Last year he carved a cheese version of Mount Rushmore, which depicts U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln.
This year he took on another version of America’s first “big cheeses” — Trumbull’s oil painting, which hangs in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol and shows 42 of the 56 signatories of the 1776 Declaration of Independence from Britain.
He said putting the cheese on display in New York and Philadelphia would help it age faster and then it would be taken back to Wisconsin to be donated to food pantries.
The Southwestern Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (SWCMA) recently awarded their sixth annual $2,000 Young Dairy Producer Educational Scholarship to Matt Minder of Minder Farms, Browntown, Wis.
The purpose of this individual scholarship is to encourage young dairy producers to pursue educational opportunities that will allow them to continue in the dairy business.
Minder, a recent high school graduate, will use the scholarship money to attend the Farm and Industry Short Course at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and pursue a certification in Dairy Herd Management. Matt plans to complete the two year program and then return to the family farm. They currently milk 80 cows and Matt has a future goal of operating a 300 cow herd with a free stall barn and milking parlor. Matt currently works with their farm’s dairy nutritionist to produce high quality milk with good protein and butterfat composition. Minder currently owns four Holstein cows and three Holstein heifers.
A new cheese plant is being planned for Greeley, Colo. Leprino Foods, the nation’s biggest maker of mozzarella cheese made the announcement last week.
Greeley’s former Western Sugar Cooperative site has been in the running for the site of Leprino’s 10th plant for several months, and the City Council in January approved a special taxing district for the location. Privately held Leprino is headquartered in Denver and has one other facility in Colorado, a cheesemaking plant in Fort Morgan.
Posted: June 16, 2008 at 12:25 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Here’s the latest announcement from Cooperatives Working Together:
Cooperatives Working Together announced today that it accepted three export assistance bids last week for the sale of cheese and anhydrous milkfat.
All three bids were from Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, MO: one for the export of 209 metric tons (459,800 pounds) of Cheddar cheese to Japan; a second for 150 metric tons (330,000 lbs.) of anhydrous milkfat to Mexico; and a third for 60 metric tons (132,000 lbs.) of anhydrous milkfat to Russia.
CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidder, only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
With these accepted bids, CWT’s total 2008 export obligations are: whole milk powder, 170 metric tons (374,000 lbs.); butter, 291.2 metric tons (641,805 pounds); cheese, 209 metric tons (459,800 pounds); and anhydrous Milkfat, 210 metric tons (462,000).
Allegations of dairy price fixing are still, well, milky. It’s been almost two weeks since the Wall Street Journal reported that federal commodity regulators were investigating Dairy Farmers of America for price fixing and manipulation. The farmer-owned dairy cooperative controls about one third of the nation’s milk supply.
Monica Coleman, a spokeswoman for the Dairy Farmers of America, said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking into the group’s trading of cheese futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The price of cheese futures can impact milk prices. The Department of Agriculture sets a minimum price of milk that is based in part on a survey of cheese prices that includes futures prices…
The Journal reported that the CFTC is preparing to bring charges against DFA.
“We do not believe we have violated any laws, and we have and will continue to cooperate,” Rick Smith, president and chief executive of the DFA, said in a statement.
The price of milk jumped 13.5 percent in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but Coleman said the “alleged activity is from 2004 and does not affect milk prices today.”
A spokesman for the CFTC would neither confirm or deny any investigation.
The DFA markets 61.7 billion pounds of milk for more than 19,000 dairy farm members.
The 2008 Annual Meetings of the American Jersey Cattle Association and National All-Jersey Inc. will feature Jeffrey P. Roberts, principal consultant for the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese, as the opening program presenter. The seminar, slated for Wednesday, June 25 in the Asheville, N.C., will include Roberts’ insights on artisan cheesemaking, specific to the Jersey breed.
In his seminar, Roberts will relate Jersey-specific insights about regional and national trends in artisan cheesemaking, the types of cheeses being produced, and marketing directions.
He will also conduct a guided tasting of artisan cheeses similar to his program at the 2007 Fancy Food Show in New York City, but this time using only Jersey milk cheeses.
“Artisan cheese represents something distinctive about an area,” Roberts says in his widely acclaimed book, The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese. “The key is milk: its flavors, color, butterfat, protein and other elements depend upon myriad factors. Each dimension adds another layer of complexity to the quality of milk.”
Sixty percent of the 180 cheesemakers using cow’s milk profiled in the Atlas use Jersey milk for all or part of their production. Roberts identified 37 cheesemakers making cheeses exclusively with Jersey milk, and another 71 producers using Jersey milk in combination with milks from other cattle breeds, goats, and/or sheep.
The seminar starts at 3:00 p.m. at Asheville’s Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Resort. It is free and open to the public. There is a charge of $15 for the guided tasting, with a limit of 100 tickets available.
The happy cows of California may be a little sadder this summer, it looks like Wisconsin will remain number 1 in cheese production for quite some time. This according to Dick Groves, longtime owner of the Madison, Wis. based trade publication, Cheese Reporter.
Groves helped spark the friendly competition between the states 10 years ago with an editorial predicting California would overtake Wisconsin in cheese production by 2005. He later amended it to 2010 and then, last month, to “not anytime soon.” New numbers showing a growing gap between Wisconsin and California prompted Groves to abandon his earlier prediction.
Wisconsin’s lead in annual production shrank to about 164 million pounds in 2007, according to National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Last July, California came within less than 6 million pounds of Wisconsin in monthly production. But then the gap started growing again, reaching 30 million pounds in March.
The quick shift is partly due to two plants closing in California in 2007, while two opened in Wisconsin this year, Groves said.
Dairy Farmers of America closed an American cheese plant in Corona, Calif., saying it wasn’t profitable, and Lactalis USA Inc. closed a specialty cheese plant in Turlock, Calif. Lactalis officials declined through a spokeswoman to discuss that plant closing.
Meanwhile, Foremost Farms USA idled a plant in Waumandee in western Wisconsin in January 2007, retooled it to make a premium type of cheddar and reopened it in March. The temporary shutdown was “not insignificant” in terms of the state’s cheese production, Foremost Farms spokeswoman Joan Behr said. Also in March, BelGioioso Cheese Inc. opened its fifth plant in Wisconsin.
California now has 61 cheese plants compared to Wisconsin’s 124. The Golden State’s plants are larger, but they’re pretty much operating at full capacity while Wisconsin’s could probably make a bit more, federal and state agricultural officials said.
The 2008 annual meetings of the American Jersey Cattle Association and National All-Jersey Inc. will have a unique and tasty event - a guided sampling of six artistian cheeses made exclusively with milk from Jersey dairy cows. The tasting will take place at 4:00 p.m. on June 25 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Asheville, N.C. Don’t miss out - the event is limited to 100 people!
The tasting, part of the program for the 2008 will be conducted by Jeffrey Roberts, principal consultant for the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese and author of the acclaimed Atlas of American Artisan Cheese.
The cheese tasted will be:
Orb Weaver Cave Aged Farmhouse Cheese by Marjorie Susman and Marian Pollack of New Haven, Vt.; Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise, made by John and Janine Putnam and family of North Pomfret, Vt.; Vache Sant from Bittersweet Plantation Dairy in Gonzales, La.; Blue Ridge Dairy of Leesburg, Va., will be represented by its fresh mozzarella; Hickory Grove by Portia McKnight and Florence Hawley at Chapel Hill Creamery, Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Blue Thistle by Eric Rector at Monroe Cheese Studio in Monroe, Maine.
Mother’s Day is this weekend, and what’s a better gift for mom than a grilled cheese sandwich? Kraft Singles and American Greetings is teaming up to help husbands and kids make mom the perfect grilled cheese and free e-cards as a thank you.
Kraft Singles is teaching kids and husbands how to make the sandwiches by offering in-store cooking demonstrations topped off with samples of the finished product. Reps will visit select grocery stores through May 11. During the demos, in-store TV will feature Kraft Singles’ “Have a Happy Sandwich” ad. More than 675,000 samples will be distributed. In addition, Kraft reps are also handing out 250,000 Singles Savers, special square tubs used to store Kraft Singles Cheese.
“For many people, the first grilled cheese sandwich they ever had was one prepared by mom,” said Kraft spokesman Basil Maglaris. “Kraft Singles is providing fun ways to help children, fathers and husbands celebrate moms and all they do.”
The firm is also teaming up with American Greetings. In-store, the greeting card company is giving out free Happy Mother’s Day “Grilled Cheese Sandwich” gift certificates, which kids (and husbands) can give to mom on her special day. Each comes with cooking instructions. It’s also supporting the promotion with in-store signage in its greeting card section.
Online at http://www.AmericanGreetings.com, kids can send free Kraft Singles-branded e-cards to mom with customizable coupons. The coupons can be redeemed for everything from a grilled cheese sandwich and a kitchen clean up to a hand-drawn picture or a week of bed making. Husbands, too, can send e-cards with their own coupons for countless compliments, a romantic rendezvous, or trash takeout. Banner ads support the effort.
The dairy industry continues to become more global, and with the help of dairy checkoff dollars, the U.S. Dairy Export Council is pursuing growth opportunities for U.S. cheese worldwide, including Asia. Brian Baxter provided us with this report featuring Jeff McNeill, USDEC – Japan Director, that says that major progress has been made increasing U.S. cheese sales in Japan.
The cheese state has added two new masters to its rank of 44 certified cheesemakers. Tom Torkelson of Pasture Pride Cheese, Cashton, Wis. and Bruce Workman of Edelweiss Creamery, Monticello, Wis. have completed the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker® Program. The program is the only advanced certification program of its kind outside of Europe.
The Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker® Program is administered by the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research and funded by Wisconsin dairy producers, through WMMB. Participants must be active, licensed Wisconsin cheesemakers with at least 10 years’ experience. Cheesemakers can earn certification in up to two specific cheese varieties each time they enroll and must have been making those varieties as a licensed cheesemaker for a minimum of five years prior to entering the program.
Torkelson received Master certification in the production of Brick and Muenster cheeses, and Workman added Emmenthaler and Specialty Swiss (low-fat, low-sodium lacy Swiss) to his Master’s portfolio. This is Workman’s fourth time through the rigorous three-year program, and he now holds Master certification in the production of seven cheese varieties, more than any cheesemaker in the state. Both men already have applied to go through the program again.
The newest value-added dairy product on the market is from Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (DFA). The company has introduced Borden Essentials™, a cheese containing protective antioxidants, which help support a healthy immune system.
Borden is among the first packaged cheese to provide consumers with a source of antioxidants. DFA responded to consumers’ desire to increase antioxidants in their diets. According to the “2007 HealthFocus Trend Report,” more than 75 percent of moms believe that antioxidants improve or strengthen the immune system. Research from the U.S. National Institute of Health shows that protective antioxidants support a healthy immune system.
Antioxidants are molecules that protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals. Antioxidants, such as beta-carotene, lycopene, tocopherol and retinol, interact with and stabilize free radicals. Free radicals are formed through a process called oxidation which occurs when we eat, breathe or go out in the sun.
Two varieties of Borden Essentials are distributed nationally:
• 2% Singles – 16 individually wrapped slices in a 10 2/3-ounce package
• Mozzarella string cheese – 12 individually wrapped sticks, low-fat part-skim, in a 10-ounce package
Sorrento Lactalis is planning an expansion to its Nampa, Idaho cheese factory, adding a new whey processing facility. The company plans to break ground this winter and finish in less than two years.
Here’s the latest announcement from 
