To view D-brief online, visit www.dbrief.org

February 2, 2005

Dean Foods spins off specialty foods business...Cornell to boost CLA in milk...Glanbia buys Dairygold business in Ireland...YoCream sales increase in fourth quarter...In Passing...Passing the baton at Wegmans...The Fresh Market enters Indiana...HEB celebrates 100th anniversary...Odds-and-Ends...Stock Market Ticker...More news at www.idfa.org.

DAIRY BUSINESS BRIEFS

To focus on dairy operations, Dallas-based Dean Foods Co. will spin off by September its specialty foods business to shareholders, including a group of former Kellogg executives. The new business, Dean Specialty Foods, will have estimated annual sales of about $700 million and will be based in the Chicago area. It will be one of the largest pickle processors in the country and the largest U.S. producer of non-dairy coffee creamer; it will also make cheese sauces, puddings, dressings and egg substitutes for Wal-Mart Stores, other retailers and the foodservice industry.
     Former Keebler Foods Co. CEO Sam Reed will serve as chairman and CEO of Dean Specialty Foods. Reed and his management team formed TreeHouse LLC following Keebler's acquisition by Kellogg; TreeHouse has invested $10 million in Dean Specialty Foods and will own 1.67% of the business. (Company report, Chicago Tribune)

Cornell University researchers are trying to boost conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk via a cow's diet in order to bolster health benefits. Research has shown that CLA can prevent or limit cancer growth in animals. CLA is currently being tested in humans for its ability to modify blood lipid profiles, body composition and immune function. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets contributed a $60,000 grant for the research. (Associated Press)

Kilkenny, Ireland-based Glanbia and Dairygold, Mitchelstown, Ireland, announced today that Glanbia has bought the milk, cream and juice branded business of Dairygold for 10.05 million euros. The sale includes the relevant sales and distribution assets of Dairygold but excludes the production and chill facility. Under the new arrangement, Dairygold's 130 milk suppliers will continue to supply milk to Dairygold, which will sell the milk to Glanbia. Glanbia will continue to supply milk, dairy and juice brands in the Cork area, including door-to-door deliveries. (Finfacts Ireland Business News)

Portland, Ore.-based YoCream International Inc. reported that fourth quarter sales increased 1.6% to $5.06 million, compared with $4.97 million in fourth quarter 2002. Sales of the company's product line increased 7.1% in 2004; however, total sales dropped 5.9% because of previously reported shifts in customer needs. Net income for the fourth quarter increased 43.8% to $71,600 ($0.03 per share) compared with $49,800 ($0.02 per share) in 2003. Net income for the year decreased 21.4% to $420,600 ($0.18 per share) compared with $535,100 ($0.23 per share) in 2003. (Company report)

IN PASSING

Richard Smith, co-chairman and co-CEO of CoolBrands International Inc., died Saturday at the age of 64. Smith founded ice-cream company Frusen Gladje in 1980 and sold it to Kraft Foods Inc. in 1985. Coolbrands' management agreement with Calip Dairies Inc. will end, as Smith was chairman of Calip, which provided Smith's full-time management to CoolBrands. No changes are expected in Calip's separate distribution agreement of CoolBrands products in the New York metropolitan area. Toronto-based CoolBrands named David Stein as sole CEO and co-chairman; he was president and co-CEO since 2000. (Company report, The Toronto Star)

Samuel 'Pamp' Howe of Sulphur, Okla., died Jan. 24, at age 89. A long-time dairy producer, he established the first Grade A milking barn in southern Oklahoma in 1938. He was acting manager of the Central Oklahoma Milk Producer's Association when it consolidated with Associated Milk Producers Inc. in 1967, then became manager of the AMPI Oklahoma Division and was later the general manager of Southern Region AMPI. (The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City)

Chuck Olin, 68, died Jan. 20 in Stinson Beach, Calif. After graduating from Harvard College in 1959, Olin returned home to Chicago to join the family business, Goldenrod Ice Cream. He created Vala's Ice Cream, a hand-packed premium brand known in Illinois for its catch-phrase as the "world's most expensive ice cream." He left the business after family members resisted his efforts to market the brand nationally. Olin was perhaps more widely known as an award-winning documentary filmmaker who achieved acclaim for his 1998 film chronicling an all-Jewish fighting unit during World War II. (Los Angeles Times)

Kathleen Nelson, 34, died Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C. Nelson was senior director of legislative affairs at the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA). She was instrumental in influencing and improving dairy policy in the United States. Under her leadership, the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact was overturned. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., Nelson served as senior account executive for McDermott/O'Neill and Associates in Boston and as communications manager for the Massachusetts Port Authority. In 2004, she was selected as the spokesperson for "Look Good, Feel Better," a program assisting women to mitigate appearance-related changes from cancer treatment. (IDFA, Boston Herald)

CUSTOMER CLIPS

Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans Food Markets has named Colleen Wegman, and a granddaughter of chairman Robert Wegman, as its new president. Colleen Wegman joined the chain in 1991 and has held a number of positions, most recently as senior vice president of merchandising. Her father, Danny Wegman was promoted to CEO of the supermarket chain; he had held the role of president since 1976 while his father, Robert Wegman, served as both chairman and CEO. (Buffalo News, New York)

The Fresh Market, a privately held Greensboro, N.C.-based grocery chain, debuts its first store in the Indianapolis metro area this week. The community-style, upscale store stresses fresh perishable items. The new store is the 46th one in nine states, mainly in the Southeast. The largest stores in the chain are 24,000 square feet.

San Antonio, Texas-based H.E. Butt Grocery Co. celebrates its 100th anniversary this year; the company will host celebrations at many of its stores and will offer shoppers a year-long contest in which they're eligible to win one of four new Ford F-150 Texas Edition trucks, shopping sprees or a new house. HEB has annual sales of more than $11 billion, operates more than 300 retail stores in 155 communities throughout Texas and Mexico, and employs 56,000 people. (San Antonio Express-News)

IDFA NEWS

IDFA's HACCP Short Course Set for March 22-24
Back by popular demand, the Advanced HACCP Short Course for the Dairy and Juice Industries has been added to IDFA's spring education schedule. The course will be held March 22-24 at the Hotel Madera in Washington, D.C. This workshop is the first step for plant operators who want to become HACCP-certified. Many processors are moving toward HACCP as their preferred food safety system, particularly since HACCP has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a voluntary alternative to the traditional Pasteurized Milk Ordinance procedures. For details or to register for the short course, click here.

ODDS-AND-ENDS

Cabot Creamery will temporarily lay off 31 of its production workers due to a sales slump, but hopes to rehire them within a month. The company has 130 to 150 people in its cheese and wrap department, up from 40 to 50 employees in 1995. Cabot, owned by the cooperative Agri-Mark, is in the process of expanding its cheese packing area into former warehouse space; the project should be completed this summer. Cabot opened a $6 million, 63,000 sq.-ft. cold-storage warehouse in September in Montpelier, Vt. (Associated Press)...This week's Sports Illustrated chronicles the recent milk mustache photo session with Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, noting that the two are now part of Super Bowl and milk mustache history. The two were photographed separately for print ads by longtime SI photographer Walter Iooss. (Sports Illustrated)...A new Virginia state law, effective Jan. 26, bans dairy farmer sales of cheese or butter containing unpasteurized milk; milk for fresh cheese must either be pasteurized, or aged for 60 days or longer. The new regulations also require farmers to process cheese in a room separate from the family kitchen with a tile or concrete floor. State law has banned the sale of unpasteurized cow's milk and products containing raw cow's milk since 1986; the new law also includes milk from goats, sheep and other mammals. (The Washington Times)

STOCK MARKET TICKER

As of 2/1/05, market close.

Company/Symbol		Last Trade		Change over Previous Close		Change over Last Week's D-brief
Dean Foods/DF Dreyer's/DRYR General Mills/GIS Groupe Danone/DA Hershey Foods/HSY Ingles Markets/IMKTA Kraft Foods/KFT Kroger/KR Ruddick Corp./RDK Safeway/SWY Saputo/SAP.TO Supervalu/SVU Unilever PLC/UL Weis Markets/WMK Wimm Bill Dann/WBD Winn-Dixie/WIN		34.95 80.45 53.36 18.81 59.24 13.05 33.70 17.16 21.20 18.78 36.45 31.79 38.50 38.07 16.24 03.60		-0.28 -0.17 +0.37 +0.20 +0.75 +0.00 -0.28 +0.06 +0.10 -0.07 -0.07 +0.18 +0.20 +0.02 -0.50 -0.01		+1.80 +0.00 +1.47 +0.71 +3.02 +0.00 +0.67 +0.19 +0.90 -0.05 +0.58 +0.00 +1.88 +0.57 -0.41 -0.06
Source: Yahoo! Finance

Click here to view last week's edition of D-brief.
http://www.idfa.org/dbrief/archive.cfm

ABOUT D-BRIEF

D-brief is written by Dairy Field magazine, a Stagnito Communications Inc. publication, www.dairyfield.com. It is provided for the benefit of the industry by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), www.idfa.org.

D-brief is sponsored by Polytainers and Curwood. Polytainers is a leader in the design, production and printing of thinwall rigid plastic containers for the dairy and food industries. Learn more about this sponsor at www.polytainersinc.com. Curwood develops and manufactures high-performance, high-barrier, polymer-based packaging materials. For more information about Curwood products, visit www.curwood.com.

For editorial content submissions, contact Cathy Sivak, D-brief editor, at editor@dbrief.org.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this e-newsletter, send your request — along with your full name, title, company, phone and email address — to subscribe@dbrief.org.