October 22, 2003

Dairy industry launches Healthy Weight with Dairy campaign.... FDA releases listeria risk assessment.... Law firm seeks FDA approval of calcium claims.... Dairy deals in the works..... Wal-Mart blocked in Oakland, Calif.... Labor issues continue.... Odds-and-Ends.... Stock Market Ticker.... More news at www.idfa.org.

DAIRY BUSINESS BRIEFS

Major national advertising and local marketing efforts to promote scientific research linking dairy consumption and reduced body weight started this week as part of the Healthy Weight with Dairy joint marketing campaign. The six-month promotion by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) and Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) will remind consumers that milk, cheese and yogurt may help in weight loss efforts when paired with a reduced-calorie, lowfat diet and regular exercise. The campaign includes major print advertising, national and regional public relations, and trade and health professional efforts. A new consumer website, www.healthyweightwithdairy.com, includes information on the scientific research, helpful weight loss tips, recipes that include dairy, and links to other wellness sites. Two sessions at next week's Worldwide Food Expo will review the science and the marketing efforts of this new industry initiative.

A part of the Healthy Weight with Dairy campaign, yesterday's promotion kickoff of MilkPEP's "Calcium Weighs In" program touts the success of a 16-week trial in the town of Calcium, N.Y. The program taught residents how to make better food and lifestyle choices overall, including eating at least three servings of milk, cheese and yogurt each day and resulted in participants losing about a pound each week. The promotion includes 13 regional events with sampling of milk, cheese and yogurt products from 43 dairy processors to commuters. Events included: prize giveaways, including a year's supply of milk cheese and yogurt, and pedometers for the first 100 lunchtime location visitors; dairy council dietitians were on-hand to answer questions; and a milk mustache photo booth was available.

The Food and Drug Administration has shifted its stance on soft cheeses. As part of its final listeria risk assessment for ready-to-eat foods, the FDA announced yesterday that people at higher risk for listeriosis can safely eat feta, bleu or camembert products that are made with pasteurized milk when stored properly. Previously, the FDA had advised this population (including pregnant women, people with weak immune systems and the elderly) to avoid soft cheeses entirely. The FDA position was shifted when new studies found soft cheeses made from pasteurized milk are not at a high risk for listeria. IDFA has worked closely with FDA on the risk assessment over the past three years, and was pleased with the improved position of soft cheeses. (Associated Press, IDFA)

Law firm Emord & Associates filed five calcium-related health claim petitions with the FDA on October 9. The petitions seek approval of 26 claims on behalf of the calcium company Marine Bio USA. Petitions seek calcium benefit claims related to reduced risk of: colorectal cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer; bone fractures, hip fractures, vertebral fractures, wrist fractures, and nonvertebral fractures; hypertension, gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia; kidney and urinary stones; and cyclic severe depression associated with the menstrual cycle, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, abnormal menstrual cycles and polycystic ovary syndrome.

DAIRY DEALS

Two rumored international dairy deals are being disputed. Arden Hills, Minn.-based Land O'Lakes reports it "is not and has not been" in negotiations with Montreal, Canada-based Saputo Inc. as speculated by analysts.... Meanwhile, Russia's leading juice and dairy company Wimm-Bill-Dann reports it is will not close a deal with Groupe Danone this year, indicating only that it is exploring investment deals with several multinational companies. Danone currently owns 7.2 percent of Wimm-Bill-Dann, and reportedly hoped to buy the 68 percent owned by the Russian company's executives.

British authorities gave the green light to Europe's largest dairy cooperative, Arla Foods, regarding its acquisition of the U.K.'s Express Dairies, saying that "the merger was not expected to operate against the public interest and that, in particular, it will not lead to a substantial lessening in competition in the supply of fresh processed milk." Remaining requirements for the merger's completion could be met as early as today. Upon its finalization, the British dairy's name will be changed to Arla Foods U.K. plc. (Dow Jones, company reports)

Green Bay, Wis.-based Schreiber Foods plans to increase its holdings (from 19% to 49%) in New Delhi, India-based Dynamix Dairy Industries Ltd (DDIL). Schreiber's original 8% holding in the company came via its sharing of cheesemaking technology; it bought another 11% share from Britannia Industries Ltd. DDIL's product line includes milk powder and associated products for export, processed cheese, butter and flavored UHT milk. The plant additionally co-packs dairy products for McDonald's, Nestle and Pepsi's Tropicana brand. (The Hindu Business Line-India)

CUSTOMER CLIPS

Wal-Mart Supercenters will be stopped from entering Oakland, Calif., by this week's passage of an ordinance by the Oakland City Council that bans discount retail stores with full-service supermarkets that exceed 100,000 square feet. Wal-Mart Supercenters average about 187,000 square feet. Oakland becomes the largest of several California cities to pass similar ordinances. Meanwhile, the Bentonville, Ark.-based mega-chain plans to accelerate the opening of 40 supercenters from an original four to six year period to within three to five years. The first sites for the non-unionized Wal-Mart outlets in California include Palm Springs, Redding and Bakersfield. The supermarket industry's stance to cut labor costs to better compete with Wal-Mart's non-union workforce is one of the causes of California's ongoing supermarket labor disputes. Ironically, Wal-Mart faces a union dispute in China, where the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is officially urging the retailer to allow unions at its China operations. ACFTU is also threatening a lawsuit against the retailer for depriving employees of the right to establish trade unions. (Associated Press, The San Diego Union-Tribune, China Daily)

The combined grocery industry labor disputes over healthcare benefits and wages in California, Missouri and the West Virginia-Ohio-Kentucky region represent the largest U.S. grocery channel work action during the 24-year history of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). The UFCW represents 1.4 million of the supermarket industry's 3.4 million workers; about 85,000 members are currently involved in work actions. (Reuters) .... The strike involving 10,000 union grocery workers for Shop 'n Save Warehouse Foods Inc.; Schnuck Markets Inc. and Dierbergs Markets Inc. in St. Louis began October 7. As of Tuesday, no new labor talks were planned. Schnuck's "Express Connection" online grocery delivery service resumed taking orders this week, pitching service to consumers unwilling to cross picket lines and offering free delivery for orders of $75 or more. Online ordering had been suspended when the strike began. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) .... Southern California supermarket clerks enter the second week of striking and picketing Safeway Inc. (Vons and Pavilions), The Kroger Co. (Ralphs) and Albertsons Inc. The strike by 70,000 clerks began October 13 following a breakdown in contract negotiations. As expected, teamster warehouse workers and tractor-trailer drivers increased support of the California strike and will honor picket lines at all 12 regional food distribution centers associated with the three retailers. Meanwhile, the October 13 strike by union workers at 44 Kroger stores in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky over similar contract issues also remains unresolved. (Associated Press) .... Negotiations between 14,000 UFCW workers and Safeway and Fry's supermarkets in Phoenix are expected to resume today after being suspended over the weekend. Health care and pension benefit cuts, as well as wages, are under dispute. The current contract ends Saturday; both supermarket chains have started to seek replacement workers in the event of a strike. (Associated Press)

IDFA NEWS

Dairy Facilities Offered New Service to Meet Biosecurity Deadline
All domestic and foreign food facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for consumption in the United States must register with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by December 12, under the new bioterrorism rules announced earlier this month. IDFA is launching a new online service to assist the dairy and food industries in meeting this new regulatory requirement. To offer this system, IDFA is partnering with an independent company, Registration and Licensing Systems, Inc. (RLS), which specializes in web-based regulatory data registration for government agencies. RLS will be providing its services to the dairy industry exclusively through IDFA. For complete information on the benefits of IDFA's online facility registration service, or to sign up, click here.
http://www.idfa.org/meetings/facilitiesreginfo.cfm

ODDS-AND-ENDS

Wimm-Bill-Dann began production on a new $8.1 million aseptic cup filling line at the Kharkov Dairy Plant PJSC in Kharkov, Ukraine (WBD holds nearly 77 percent ownership). The new capacity is expected to replace milk and cream yogurts as well as puddings that were previously imported to Ukraine from Russia. (Reuters).... A new strain of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow disease") may have been identified in Japan. Initial test findings on the 23-month-old Holstein bull have led to the quarantine of 604 cattle raised with the infected animal. The September 29 announcement brings the total cases of mad cow disease in Japan to eight since September 2001. (Dow Jones Newswires).... A word from our sponsor: D-Brief sponsor Polytainers Inc., a leading supplier of rigid plastic packaging for the food and dairy industries, has implemented a HACCP food safety system in its Toronto facility. The Polytainers plant near Kansas City is implementing the same HACCP procedures. The company states HACCP was implemented to ensure its food and dairy customers that Polytainers' containers and packaging systems are as safe and free from contamination as possible. Polytainers becomes among the first food packaging suppliers to seek and achieve HACCP compliance.

STOCK MARKET TICKER

As of 10/21/03, 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 Horizon Organic/HCOW 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		23.91 30.67 77.40 44.50 31.30 75.60 23.95 10.03 28.95 17.44 16.36 21.67 27.00 25.06 33.90 35.02 21.54 08.00		+0.42 -0.09 -0.01 +0.18 -0.08 -0.24 +0.00 +0.05 -0.25 -0.51 +0.03 -0.67 +0.02 +0.03 +0.74 -0.02 -0.16 +0.08		+0.71 -0.39 -0.13 -0.37 +0.46 +0.03 +0.01 -0.19 -0.40 -1.66 -0.27 -2.41 +0.20 -1.18 -1.21 -0.16 -0.15 -0.39
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.

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