FDA-Possible Dairy Link to E.Coli

The Wisconsin Ag Connection reported on this story. I’ll update our readers when there is a final statement from the FDA.

The Food and Drug Administration is getting closer to identifying the source of the E. coli outbreak linked to Taco John’s restaurants, the federal agency announced on Friday. The DAN fingerprint of the strain of E coli bacteria associated with the outbreak was traced back to two environmental samples gathered from dairy farms near a lettuce growing area in California’s Central Valley, the FDA says in its statement.

The outbreak sickened approximately 81 people in November and December of 2006, including 33 in Minnesota, 47 in Iowa and one in Wisconsin with 26 hospitalized and two suffering hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Glamorous Advertising

Here’s an interesting story I came across. Our dairy promotions in the U.S. have been very successful, something producers in the UK have noticed. The links below will lead you to some promotions you may have missed in the past. I particularly like the “milk rap” the Dairy Farmers of Ontario came up with.

The UK has a long history when it comes to generic milk advertising. But in recent years things have been a bit quieter. But what happens in other countries? Well, a scan of the internet shows that things are a little bit more glamorous the other side of the pond.

The Canadians have also shown some interesting approaches to the business of selling milk. For example, Dairy Farmers of Ontario have produced a rather slick video with rappers extolling the virtues of drinking milk. The Dairy Farmers of Canada also had a link up with the national Olympic team, screening TV adverts in support of their sporting stars.

Wisconsin Association Makes Donation

The Wisconsin Dairy Products Association recently made a large donation to the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin’s Education Foundation. Pictured at right are PDPW Executive Director Shelly Mayer and WDPA Executive Director Brad Legreid.

The $2,000 donation results from the net proceeds of WDPA’s 2006 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest and Auction. According to WDPA Executive Director Brad Legreid, “This donation represents the support our processor members have for the dairy producers of this state.” The PDPW Education Foundation was formed to provide education on key issues impacting the dairy industry, including youth and leadership development, environmental stewardship and biosecurity/food safety. In addition to this financial contribution, Wisconsin Dairy Products Assn. also made product donations to the Ronald McDonald House, Second Harvest Food Bank, MATC Culinary Arts School and the UW Food Science Dept.

UNH Joins Organic Valley

Today, Organic Valley, an organic farmers cooperative welcomed the University of New Hampshire Organic Dairy Research Farm into its cooperative as a milk supplier and full voting member.

The first shipment of milk will go from UNH to Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry, New Hampshire, where it will be made into Stonyfield Farm Yogurt and Smoothies. Organic Valley will pick up milk every other day from UNH. On days when it does not go to Stonyfield Farm, the milk will go to Organic Valley’s processing partner in Connecticut, Guida Dairy, where it will be made into Organic Valley “New England Pastures” brand organic milk.

The UNH Organic Dairy will serve as both an applied research center for integrated organic production and management and an education center for organic dairy farmers, farmers undergoing or considering transition to organic and students of sustainable agriculture. UNH is the first land-grant university in the nation to launch an organic research dairy farm.

Pyramid in Stores

The new food pyramid is heading for your grocery stores. A campaign to encourage shoppers to buy foods based on the pyramid recommendations was announced last week. The campaign will include point-of-sale information, such as shelf cards at the dairy case that remind consumers milk is a recommend part of a healthy diet.

The triangle-shaped guide for healthy eating will be promoted in 2,000 supermarkets in 17 states, reaching millions of grocery shoppers, officials announced Thursday. More supermarket chains are expected to join the campaign, which is being paid for by food companies and stores. Store chains in the campaign are Publix Supermarkets Inc., the central region of Supervalu Inc., Brookshire Grocery Store Co., Giant Eagle Inc. and Raley’s.

Based on federal dietary guidelines, the rainbow-colored pyramid appeared in 2005, replacing an old pyramid that most people recognized but that hardly anyone followed, surveys showed. The new pyramid doesn’t spell out what foods to eat or how much to put on your plate. It’s supposed to be a motivational symbol, like a Nike swoosh, directing people to a Web site. The Agriculture Department also has a kids’ food pyramid and a Spanish-language pyramid.

Lactose Research

Lately, I’ve been hearing many consumers talk about being lactose intolerant. This new research could lead to an exciting array of milk options for those who can’t consume regular milk.

Fermentation of dairy with a mix of lactic acid bacteria and a Streptococcus strain could selectively reduce the protein responsible for cows milk allergy, researchers have reported. Researchers at Germany’s University of Hohenheim have reported that fermentation of skim milk and sweet whey with a one-to-one mixture of the bacteria could reduce the quantity of beta-lactoglobulin, the main allergen in cows milk, by as much as 90 per cent. Writing in the journal Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, the researchers state that by reducing the beta-lactoglobulin content of the dairy product, the allergic response to the dairy may be reduced by as much as 90 per cent.

“In more than 80 per cent of all cases, the whey protein beta-lactoglobulin (beta-lg) is the main elicitor of milk allergies for children and infants. Beta-lg is the major whey protein in milk and milk products and it is of particular interest because it is the sole whey protein fraction present in cow’s milk which is not in human milk,” explained lead author Nicole Kleber.

Monday Morning Fun

Well, it’s Monday morning and since most of us have to work while a lucky few people have the day off, I thought I’d start the posting today with a little fun. I ran across this website by accident, “The Insignificant Championship Series.” ICS is an in-office competition between two co-workers - Dave Bossard and Carl Langhorn. One of their recent posts was a milk drinking competition - check it out to see who wins!.

We had healthy breakfast day a couple months ago. Some sort of wellness kick our company had recently been on. Cereal, fruit, yogurt, and milk. Dave said that he preferred two percent. On the other hand, I thought non-fat was far more refreshing. We decided to compromise. Half two percent. Half skim. First to finish twenty-four ounces – the king of milk drinking.

We’re Moving To a New Server

ZimmComm New Media is moving to a new web server today. Therefore we won’t post anything new until that’s complete. We hope it will be later today.

Thanks for your patience.

Dairyline Markets In Review

Dairy Markets Week in Review
The cash cheese market weakened in the second week of 2007. Block cheese slipped to $1.3075, down 3 1/4-cents on the week, and 6 cents below a year ago. Barrel closed Friday at $1.33, down 1 1/2-cents on the week, but a quarter-cent above a year ago. Ten cars of block traded hands on the week and nine of barrel. The latest NASS-surveyed U.S. average block price gained a penny, hitting $1.3154, while barrel averaged $1.2968, down 0.2 cent.

Butter closed Friday at $1.23, up 3 cents on the week, but a dime below a year ago. Eleven cars were sold on the week. NASS butter averaged $1.1910, down 1.8 cents. NASS nonfat dry milk averaged $1.0469, up 4 cents, and dry whey averaged 43.68 cents per pound, up 2.1 cents.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

Kearnan Joins Arm & Hammer

Congratulations to Jeff Kearnan for his new position with ARM & HAMMER Animal Nutrition as a Dairy Enterprise Sales Manager. Jeff will cover California, Arizona and Nevada.

In his new role, Kearnan will work with nutrition consultants, veterinarians, suppliers and dairy producers. “Jeff is an accomplished, results-driven professional with valuable experience in dairy production management,” says Curt Siverling, Director, ARM & HAMMER Animal Nutrition. “His technical expertise and proven ability to help dairy producers boost profitability will serve clients well.”

Kearnan had served as a Dairy Production Specialist with Nelson-Kloss Dairy Consulting since 2004. Earlier he worked closely with veterinarians, nutritionists and dairy producers as an Area Market Manager with Monsanto. A Cal Poly graduate, Kearnan earned a master’s degree in reproductive physiology from Virginia Tech and completed additional graduate work at the University of Kentucky.

Save on Feed Costs

With low milk prices, producers are looking for anyway to increase profits. Mycogen brand Silage-Specific BMR hybrids can help your herd produce 4.8 more pounds of milk and save money on purchased grain! Click here to use Mycogen’s online ROI calculator and hear producer success stories.

Dairy producers who feed their cows Silage-Specific BMR hybrids are generally able to feed 3 pounds less grain per cow per day because Silage-Specific BMR hybrids are more digestible and increase dry matter intake. This allows for lower grain feeding and improvements in rumen health, since higher-forage diets tend to be healthier. As a result, dairy producers can not only save money on purchased grain, approximately $0.08 per cow per day (when purchasing grain at $3.50 per bushel), but they also will see an increase in the return on investment (ROI) from seed by switching to Silage-Specific BMR.

Sixteen university and independent scientific reports published since 1999 have proven Silage-Specific BMR hybrids can produce an average of 4.8 pounds more milk per cow per day than cows fed non-BMR hybrids.
“The milk response is well worth the higher up-front seed costs with producers seeing an ROI ratio approaching 5:1 and getting the additional benefits of a higher forage ration,” says Greg Cannon, Forage Marketing Specialist, Mycogen Seeds. “The bottom line is that feeding Mycogen brand Silage-Specific BMR hybrids when grain prices are high increases profitability two ways, through more milk and also through lower feed costs.”

2007 WDE Judges

It seems like World Dairy Expo just wrapped up, but time sure does go fast. Only nine months until “Bright Lights, Big Show” shines on the world’s premier dairy cattle - and the following judges will be center stage.

Official judges for World Dairy Expo 2007 have been appointed. The individuals responsible for placing over 2,000 head of dairy cattle during the five-day show are:

Central National Ayrshire Show – Ron Mosser, Geneva, Indiana
Central National Brown Swiss Show – Steve Armbruster, Muscoda, Wisconsin
National Guernsey Show - Madison – Bill Langel, McFarland, Wisconsin
International Holstein Show – Barclay Phoenix, Greenbank, Ontario
International Junior Holstein Show – Michael Heath, Westminster, Maryland
Central National Jersey Show – Andrew Vander Meusen, Brighton, Ontario
International Milking Shorthorn Show – Steve Carson, Newbury, Vermont
Grand International Red & White Show – Lynn Harbaugh, Pine River, Wisconsin

The 2007 World Dairy Expo is scheduled for October 2 through 6.

Dairy Australia

The opening of the nation’s premier centre for dairy manufacturing science, technology and innovation has begun an entirely new era of research for the Australian dairy industry. The Centre’s objective is to deliver commercially-driven science and technology that has a measurable impact and benefit to dairy companies and the industry.

Dairy Innovation Australia, which opened in Werribee Victoria on Monday, will invest more than $15 million over the next three years to generate innovations in bulk processing and bulk ingredients; functional foods and ingredients; and cheese starters and fermented products.

Joining Dairy Australia in the initiative are the Geoffrey Gardiner Foundation and key dairy companies. Full members are Murray Goulburn, Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory, Tatura Milk Industries Limited, Bega Cheese and Burra Foods while Dairy Farmers, National Foods and Parmalat will invest in particular services of interest. Dairy Innovation Australia was formed as a merger of the Dairy Process Engineering Centre, Australian Starter Culture Research Centre, UHT Centre, Australian Cheese Technology Program, and Dairy Ingredients Group of Australia.

Full-Fat Dairy

More research news to share with you.

Full-fat dairy products have a more slimming effect than low-fat foods, researchers at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute said. The findings were based on interviews with nearly 20,000 women whose dietary habits were tracked since 1987, The Local newspaper said Monday. When the study began, the women had an average body mass index of 23.7. Ten years later, the women who consumed full-fat milk or cheese had a lower BMI than those who didn’t.

Based on their findings, researchers said a glass of whole milk every day will result in 15 percent less weight gain. Full-fat cheese showed even better results: a portion a day yielded a 30 percent less weight gain. “The surprising conclusion was that increased consumption of cheese meant that overweight women lost weight,” said Alicja Wolk, a Karolinska Institute professor.

Producers Visit Mexico

Cornell Cooperative Extension has organized a trip to Mexico for the state’s dairy farmers. I know a producer who took a similar trip last year, and the experience changed their daily lives.

Upstate New York dairy farmers are heading to Mexico to better understand what drives their workers thousands of miles to find jobs in our neighborhood. The farmers will spend a week in Mexico, learning about traditional farming, customs and life in their workers’ home villages.

John Mueller went last year, he said, in order “to try and understand about their culture and understand why they are the people that they are, and why they come here to help us milk cows and farm the way we do.” One of the ironies is that Mueller’s trip to Mexico is something his workers dream about. They’ll be in New York for two, three years at a time before they’re able to go home and see their families.

New Moms and Calcium

This seems like common sense to me, but I guess any positive news about dairy is good news!

A study using 62 rats found those that didn’t have enough calcium in their diet, and were breastfeeding, were more likely to have deteriorating bone around their teeth and gums.

The study also found rats that had low calcium levels but were not breastfeeding had some bone loss, however, it was not as significant as those that were breastfeeding. Experts recommend women undergo a periodontal exam when they find out they are pregnant, and have more frequent teeth cleanings during pregnancy and up to 3 months after delivery.

Leading Lady

The road to stardom is often paved with….manure? Illinois dairyman, Alan Conro, has a leading lady in his herd of 50 Holsteins. Bridget, already a winner in the showring, made her TV debut yesterday in a commercial for Oberweis Dairy. I wish I had a picture of Bridget to share with you, but I guess in all the filming excitement, posing for a photo was forgotten.

Bridget is known around the dairy farm for her well-mannered behavior. “You can light a firecracker under [Bridget], and she wouldn’t jump,” said Alan Conro, owner of Sunset Acres. The Conros have worked their 180-acre farm in Hampshire, Ill. for 95 years.

The commercial shows Jim Oberweis, chairman of the company, and his son, Joe, interviewing candidates for employment at the company. The camera shot leads viewers to assume the pair is speaking to a human. But as the camera pans out, viewers see Bridget across the desk from Oberweis and son. The commercial is set to air on major Chicago networks and cable channels Jan. 8.

Chipless RFID

This is exciting news in the identification realm. Somark Innovations has announced an ID system based on a biocompatible ink with chipless RFID functionality.

Somark is proud to announce the successful testing of Biocompatible Chipless RFID1 Ink in cattle and laboratory rats. The test proved the efficacy of injecting and reading a Biocompatible Chipless RFID Ink “tattoo” within the skin of animals. The technology will be initially leveraged to the livestock industry to help identify/track cattle and thus mitigate export trade loss from BSE2 scares.

Secondary target markets include laboratory animals, dogs & cats, prime cuts of meat, and military personnel. The company, which is currently raising a Series A equity financing, will license the technology to secondary target markets. Additionally, the company is pleased to announce the establishment of its Advisory Board, which includes scientists, engineers, and executives in the agriculture industry.

Ben, the Butter Sculpture

2007 marks the 91st Pa. Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa. Opening weekend saw record crowds - the warm weather didn’t keep people away from the fun! “Growing Pennsylvania Agriculture to Feed and Fuel Our Future” is the theme - one that even the now infamous butter sculpture honors. Featuring Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell, the buttery artwork will be on display until Sunday, January 14th. After that, the 800 pounds of butter (donated by Land O’Lakes), will become part of a research project to turn butter into biodiesel! Philadelphia-based Fry-o-Diesel, operates a pilot plant in north Philadelphia and has developed technology to convert waste greases from restaurants into high quality biodiesel.

Think About Your Drink

The start of a new year brings a new milk campaign. Called Think About Your Drink, the campaign’s goal is to raise awareness of the role beverage choices could play in the rising obesity.

A new comprehensive analysis of U.S. beverage consumption called What America Drinks suggests that making healthier beverage choices could play a key role in the battle against Americans’ widening waistlines. While people trying to lose weight may tend to focus on what’s filling their plates, the new study suggests that it’s time for Americans to take a closer look at what’s in our glasses, cups, cans and car drink holders, too.

The campaign messages are supported by the American Dietetic Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and the School Nutrition Association, organizations each participating in the unveiling of the new campaign today in Washington, DC.