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July 14, 2004

Innovation in novelties boosts results...Parmalat USA sells ice cream business...Milk Products LP to pay $17 million in employee death suit...Global Marketwatch...Co-op dairy retail outlet debuts in Arizona...Publix and Winn-Dixie cater to ethnic dairy demands...Domino's listed on NYSE...Odds-and-Ends...Stock Market Ticker...More news at www.idfa.org.

DAIRY BUSINESS BRIEFS

Product innovation in the frozen novelty case is a growth area in the overall mature $21 billion ice cream and frozen desserts category, according to a new market research report from Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com in New York City. The increase is credited to the better-for-you promotion of ice cream sandwiches and bars as dessert alternatives for adults, including nutrition exchange information for popular diets on-label. Ice cream sandwich sales alone jumped 57.1% to $1 billion in 2003 from $651 million in 2002 sales; the ice cream sandwich segment now makes up $1 billion of the $6.2 billion frozen novelties market. (Packaged Facts report)

Parmalat USA's ice cream distribution business is part of CoolBrands International Inc. in a deal completed this week; terms were not disclosed. Toronto-based CoolBrands purchased the frozen dessert portion of Georgia-based Kinnett Dairy, including customer lists, route lists, delivery vehicles, trademarks and inventory. Kinnett's fluid milk operations will remain under operation and ownership by Parmalat USA subsidiary Farmland Dairies LLC. CoolBrands' Eskimo Pie Frozen Distribution Inc. unit will absorb Kinnett, which distributes frozen desserts to Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. (Company report)

A jury awarded $17 million in a case related to the 2003 death of Faye Martinez at a Borden Superior Dairies facility in Austin, Texas. The husband of the dairy worker will receive $10 million in actual damages and $7 million in punitive damages from Borden owner Milk Products LP. Martinez, a Borden employee for six months, was substituting on a milk crate conveyor line when left alone during another employee's break; she suffocated after being trapped between a wall and toppled milk crates. The emergency switch to shut down the line was hidden, and a supervisor with knowledge of the shut-down process apparently left to find a maintenance worker to stop the machinery. (Associated Press)

GLOBAL MARKETWATCH

Groupe Danone is now the largest supplier of fresh dairy products in Poland, holding a 32.6 percent marketshare. Milk quality improvement efforts in particular are cited for the company's success in the country. French dairy giant Danone initially founded a joint venture with Wola, a Polish state-owned company, in 1991. As part of its efforts to improve the poor quality of locally sourced raw milk, Danone supplies animal feed to producers. While feed cost is deducted from milk checks, producer payments from Danone remain higher than average. (La Tribune; The Financial Times)

Specific nutritional content labeling is required in China under new national standards for infant formula milk powder implemented July 6. Mass malnutrition incidents in China as a result of inferior-grade powder are behind the new standards. Powdered formula labels now require: food name, ingredients, quantity of heat, nutrition content, manufacturer's name and address, product standard number, production date, usage method, storage and recommended users, etc. In addition, labels should note that the most ideal food for babies is human milk. (SinoCast China Business Daily News)...The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an alert warning consumers not to use Guan Wei Yuan brand infant formula from China due to unknown safety and nutritional adequacy. The illegal formula was found on shelves of an Asian retail market in New York. (FDA report)

Meanwhile, only about 60 percent of frozen dessert products in China met government quality standards in a recent check by the National General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Officials tested product from 145 frozen dessert markers in 14 provinces and municipalities; 103 of the 183 products tested met quality standards. Ice cream products held a 74 percent pass rate, while 37 percent of popsicle-type products met the standards. Microbes exceeded standards in 35 products tested, 17 products exceeded standards for fat content, 10 for sugar content and nine for protein content. In addition, some processors were found to be replacing sugar in ice cream with a harmful sweetening agent. (South China Morning Post)

Australia's first cloned dairy cow died in early June of acute mastitis soon after calving. "Suzi" was born in 2000 as part of research conducted by the Dairy Cooperative Research Centre. The experience in Australia and elsewhere suggests cloned animals can develop various complications, including lower immunity to disease and infection. (Weekly Times-Australia)

CUSTOMER CLIPS

The dairy retail industry has new competition from newly opened Tempe, Ariz., Milk 'n More Store, owned and operated by the United Dairymen of Arizona cooperative. The store offers milk, cheese, butter, ice cream and other dairy products at discounted prices, including two gallons of whole milk for $5 vs. $4 per gallon in the supermarket channel. (Arizona Republic)

Publix and Winn-Dixie supermarket dairy cases in Florida recently received media compliments for their ethnic selections including those for Indian cuisine. Such products include plain yogurt for curries, marinades, drinks and use in Indian vegetable dishes; unsalted butter to clarify for ghee; and queso blanco (white cheese) to fry to simulate the Indian fresh curd paneer used in spinach and pea dishes. (The Miami Herald)

Newly listed as "DPZ" on the New York Stock Exchange, Domino's Pizza sold $337 million in stock, at $14 per share, during its initial public offering on Tuesday. In the offering, 9.4 million shares were sold by the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza chain and another 14.7 million by Thomas Monaghan, Domino's founder, and buyout firm Bain Capital. (The Washington Post, Company report)

IDFA NEWS

Be Sure to Celebrate Sunday as National Ice Cream Day!
Don't forget that this Sunday, July 18, is National Ice Cream Day! In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. He recognized ice cream as a fun, delicious food that is enjoyed by more than 90% of the nation's population. The International Ice Cream Association (IICA) encourages everyone to celebrate Sunday, July 18, 2004, as National Ice Cream Day. For more fun facts about ice cream, click here.
http://www.idfa.org/facts/icmonth/page1.cfm

ODDS-AND-ENDS

Milk consumption's suggested link to reduced risk of colorectal cancer is confirmed in a newly released Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Scientists compiled the results of 10 studies tracking nutrient consumption of about half a million people, and found a 12 percent risk reduction in those consuming one glass of milk per day vs. those drinking less than two glasses per week. Risk reduction was 15 percent for more than one glass daily intake. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, did not show a "statistically significant" relationship for other dairy products. (Associated Press)...Government dairy industry regulation is singled out as the most detrimental regulation to the overall animal agriculture industry in Minnesota, according to a 35-page report from the state's Livestock Advisory Task Force. Key state actions recommended to preserve livestock ag concerns include: improvement of various zoning issues, permit and environmental review processes, tax and financial incentive development with review of existing loan and grant programs; government support of university R&D efforts; and further protection from nuisance lawsuits via strengthening of Minnesota's-Right-to-Farm Law. The entire report is available at http://www.governor.state.mn.us. (Dairy Herd; Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, State of Minnesota report)...Dairy crime report: Despite efforts by a Madison, Wis., Schoep's Ice Cream supervisor, ten cases of ice cream valued at about $300 were taken from a delivery truck one night last week. The supervisor and other employees saw three men in their late teens to early 20s load the cases from a Schoep's truck into a car; the supervisor grabbed the car door handle but the men sped away with the ice cream. (Wisconsin State Journal)

STOCK MARKET TICKER

As of 7/13/04, 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		27.35 36.67 79.22 46.40 17.04 46.24 11.18 31.08 17.20 21.51 23.42 32.00 29.29 38.24 34.00 14.05 07.03		-0.29 -0.30 -0.06 -0.21 -0.08 -0.33 +0.18 -0.28 +0.09 +0.33 -0.04 +0.03 +0.30 -0.58 -0.15 -0.14 +0.25		+0.50 -0.27 -0.06 -0.35 -0.37 +0.15 +0.08 -0.47 -0.65 -0.32 -1.24 -0.05 -0.63 -0.61 -0.65 +0.65 -0.05
Source: Yahoo! Finance

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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, Curwood and TIC Gums. 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. TIC Gums is America's oldest supplier of hydrocolloids to food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and industrial companies worldwide. To learn more about this sponsor, visit www.ticgums.com.

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