April 14, 2004

HP Hood buys Crowley Foods....Parmalat executives under house arrest...Kraft to delay shutdown of cheese plant...Dairies step up doorstep delivery...Added Value Dairy...Publix to launch 57 stores...Kroger extends bargaining agreement...Pathmark reports earnings up 22 percent...Odds-and-Ends...Stock Market Ticker...more news at www.idfa.org.More news at www.idfa.org.

DAIRY BUSINESS BRIEFS

Chelsea, Mass.-based HP Hood LLC has acquired rival dairy products company Crowley Foods LLC, Binghamton, N.Y., as well as Crowley's sister company Marigold Foods of Minnesota, from Dallas-based National Dairy Holdings. Hood's new divisions' product lines include milk, cheese and ice cream with production facilities in New York, Pennsylvania and the Midwest. (Associated Press)

Citing opportunity for evidence tampering, prosecutors may put Parmalat Finanziaria SpA founder Calisto Tanzi back in jail after he was released and ordered under house arrest April 9. Two former CFOs, Fausto Tonna and Luciano Del Soldato, have also been placed under house arrest. Of those arrested thus far, only former Parmalat lawyer Gianpaolo Zini remains jailed. In other Parmalat news, Deloitte Italy, Parmalat's auditor, is under fire for ignoring evidence of accounting irregularities revealed by six other Deloitte offices. Also, U.S. creditors are calling for Parmalat administrators to recognize them as a formal negotiating body so they may have a role in the company's restructuring. (Financial Times; Associated Press)

Upper-Midwest sources claim that the practice of doorstep delivery of milk is quietly making a comeback in tandem with consumer demand for high-quality dairy products and convenience. Oberweis Dairy, North Aurora, Ill., expanded its home-delivery service to the Milwaukee market this month. It competes with LW Dairy, Beaver Dam, Wis., which has been delivering milk for three years to 500 customers in Milwaukee and Madison, Wis. Oberweis currently has 250 Milwaukee customers, and expects to grow to a base of 2,000 by year-end. Oberweis has the Midwest's largest home-delivery milk service, with more than 45,000 customers. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Associated Press)

ADDED VALUE DAIRY

Georgetown, Ontario-based Neilson Dairy has launched milk containing DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an important omega-3 fatty acid for supermarket distribution. DHA, vital to nervous system function, is released into cow's milk naturally through a specially formulated diet developed by the University of Guelph and supported by Dairy Farmers of Ontario. The milk tastes the same as regular milk and is available in whole and 2% varieties. (Company report)

Dairy processors are increasingly tapping into consumer interest for beneficial probiotic and prebiotic bacteria. Earlier this year, Tarrytown, N.J.-based Dannon mainstreamed its Actimel probiotic drink (launched in the late 90s) from health food stores into supermarkets, re-branding the product as DanActive. The re-launch is backed by extensive mainstream marketing support. Longmont, Colo.-based Horizon Organic's August 2003 launch of prebiotic yogurt lines supplemented with Nutraflora has led to product line extensions. Horizon, a division of Dean Foods, has since introduced Nutraflora to its cottage cheese and sour cream products, and plans to introduce further items this year. Another prebiotic, inulin, is a main feature of Londonderry, N.H.-based Stonyfield Farm's yogurt line. (Automatic Merchandiser)

CUSTOMER CLIPS

Publix Super Markets Inc. plans to invest nearly $500 million to launch up to 57 new stores this year. Three new supermarkets have already opened in 2004. The expansion is part of the Lakeland, Fla.-based supermarket chain's growth plan established in 2001; it calls for 340 new stores by 2006. In 2003, Publix opened 78 supermarkets, closed 18 and remodeled 80. (The Ledger, Lakeland, Fla.)

Kroger Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, extended a bargaining agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Houston to gain more time to compose a new contract. The contract was extended to April 24 and will continue on a day-to-day basis after that date. In other labor news, the Teamsters union ended its boycott of Eugene, Ore.-based Bi-Mart. The union dropped the five-year boycott after employees voted to make Bi-Mart an employee-owned company, and additionally cited the bigger threat of Wal-Mart as a reason for ending the boycott. On the East Coast, Costco union members ratified a new contract, adding three years to a one-year deal approved in September. The new contract for workers in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia will expire at the same time as contracts with Costco's 12,000 workers in California. (CBS MarketWatch, Associated Press, Company Reports)

Pathmark Stores Inc., Carteret, N.J., reported that earnings jumped 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003. Earnings totaled $9.6 million for the quarter ended Jan. 31, 2003, up from $7.9 million a year earlier. Merchandising changes and cost-cutting measures contributed to the increase. (San Antonio Express-News)

IDFA NEWS

Interested in making weight-loss claims on your labels and in advertising?
IDFA will hold a special teletraining session on the Healthy Weight with Dairy licensing program on April 29, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET. The session will explain the ins and outs of which products qualify for making claims, and provide examples of claims you can make. Click here for details. http://www.idfa.org/meetings/2004hwwd_teleconf.cfm

ODDS-AND-ENDS

After two weeks of hospitalization for a viral infection and acute dehydration, Kraft Foods CEO Roger Deromedi has been released. He is expected to return to work May 10. (Reuters)...Separately, Kraft Foods plans to delay the planned June closure of its cheddar cheese plant in St. Lawrence County, N.Y., for at least an additional month. (Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times)...The Land O'Lakes Web site earned high praise from Customer Respect Group. The site was named most visitor friendly among the nation's largest food, beverage and tobacco companies. Kraft Foods' site ranked fifth and Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream's site tied for ninth. (Company Report)...Meanwhile, Men's Fitness magazine offered favorable mention of the new slow churned light ice cream line from Dreyer's in a brief article titled "Most 'Light' Ice Cream Sucks." The item made an exception to the title for the Dreyer's product, and offered details on the processing method, which churns ice cream longer at a lower temperature to more evenly distribute fat molecules. The slow churn line is expected to have national distribution by May under both the Dreyer's and Edy's banners. The line hit Philadelphia markets in March. (Men's Fitness, Philadelphia Inquirer).

STOCK MARKET TICKER

As of 4/13/04, market close.

Company/Symbol		Last Trade		Change over Previous Close		Change over Last Week's D-brief
ConAgra Foods/CAG 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		28.23 32.76 78.85 45.96 32.34 81.79 11.60 30.84 17.12 20.63 21.08 34.00 29.75 39.57 33.59 19.15 07.79		+0.06 -0.12 -0.05 -0.30 -0.46 -1.20 -0.14 -0.24 -0.16 -0.52 -0.56 -0.07 -0.50 -0.35 -1.41 -0.47 -0.26		+0.33 -1.09 +0.04 -0.86 -1.10 -2.23 +0.15 -0.96 +0.19 -0.32 -0.26 +0.30 -0.32 -0.27 -0.57 -0.82 +0.08
Source: Yahoo! Finance

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