Currently browsing posts about: Dairy

Farm bankruptcies rose again in 2019 painting a bleak picture on maps of the U.S.

Dairy farms showed the largest decline in 15 years.

As for dairy consumption, take a look at this collection of charts.

Butter and cheese are up; milk is down.

Even ice cream is down.

That leaves us with yogurt as the one product that was doing well, but then wasn’t.

I like dairy foods and don’t want farms to go under, but dairy products are way overproduced so it’s hard to make a living from them.

On another dairy matter, the International Dairy Federation has just issued new guidelines for the welfare of dairy cattle.   Let’s give this industry credit for trying to do right by dairy cattle.  But the real problem, which nobody wants to address right now, is that there are too many of them in the wrong places.

The dairy industry, ever under siege, is doing its best to convince us to eat dairy foods.  Full disclosure: I eat and like dairy foods.  I do not, however, like the way the dairy industry funds research aimed at marketing its products.  Here are two examples.

Example 1: Full-fat dairy foods are good for you [yes, they can be, but in moderation]

The study: Potential Cardiometabolic Health Benefits of Full-Fat Dairy: The Evidence Base.  Kristin M Hirahatake, Arne Astrup, James O Hill, Joanne L Slavin, David B Allison, and Kevin C Maki.  Adv Nutr 2020;00:1–15.

Conclusions: “Emerging evidence shows that the consumption of full-fat dairy foods has a neutral or inverse association with adverse cardiometabolic health outcomes, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and associated risk factors.”

Conflicts of interest and funding (dairy groups are highlighted):

Example 2: Dairy foods can help reduce world hunger [of course they can]

The report: Dairy’s Impact on Reducing Global Hunger

Major finding: “The remarkable consistency of the positive association between dairy animal ownership,
milk/dairy intake, and child growth across the experimental and observational studies, and
the dose-response relationship between dairy consumption and child growth…provide strong evidence that, in rural
low-income settings, household milk production increases household milk consumption, and increased milk consumption results in improved child growth and reduced stunting.”

Recommendation: “dairy development needs to be accompanied by nutrition education of caregivers to ensure that milk is provided in the most critical phase of childhood, namely in the 0.5 to 2-year age group”

Sponsors: “Published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Global Dairy Platform and
IFCN Dairy Research Network.

Comment:  It’s interesting to compare the first paper to another one done by investigators who are not funded by the dairy industry.  They don’t disagree, exactly, but spin the results much less favoably.  See: Milk and Health, by Walter C. Willett and David S. Ludwig. N Engl J Med 2020;382:644-54.

…guidelines for milk and equivalent dairy foods ideally should designate an acceptable intake (such as 0 to 2 servings per day for adults), deemphasize reduced-fat milk as preferable to whole milk, and discourage consumption of sugar-sweetened dairy foods in populations with high rates of overweight and
obesity.

Dairy foods are foods.  Like any other, they are not essential.  If you like them, eat them—in moderation, of course.

Really?  Camel’s milk?  I am indebted to DairyReporter.com for a review of research on the health benefits of camel’s milk.

According to this overview, camel’s milk can

• Prevent colorectal cancer
• Reduce cellular inflammation due to diabetes
• Cures autism
• Enhances immunity
• Cures hepatitis
• Prevents food allergies

A miracle food?

Alas, the article explains, most of these studies were performed in mice or published in journals unlikely to be rigorously peer reviewed.

What can I tell you about the nutritional quality of camel’s milk?

Unfortunately, the USDA’s food composition data base does not have an entry for camel’s milk.  What looks like a reasonable review of the nutritional value of camel’s milk (which you can download from this site) suggests that there are differences in nutrient composition between cow’s and camel’s milks, but the differences are small.  Because the proteins differ, people sensitive or allergic to cow’s milk will have an easier time consuming camel’s milk.

The big issue with camel’s milk in the United States is that it is not pasteurized.  Raw milk carries a greater food safety risk than pasteurized milk.

The FDA also has issued a warning against unproven claims that camel milk prevents autism.

I’m not seeing any particular health benefits from drinking camel milk other than avoiding allergic reactions to cow’s milk.

If you insist on drinking it, make sure it comes from a producer who diligently tests it for pathogens.

The Study:  Dairy Foods and Dairy Fats: New Perspectives on Pathways Implicated in Cardiometabolic Health.  Kristin M Hirahatake; Richard S Bruno; Bradley W Bolling ; Christopher Blesso; Lacy M Alexander, et al.  Advances in Nutrition, nmz105, https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz105  Published: 25 September 2019

The Conclusions: Most observational and experimental evidence does not support a detrimental relationship between full-fat dairy intake and cardiometabolic health, including risks of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Indeed, an expanded understanding of the dairy food matrix and the bioactive properties of dairy fats and other constituents suggests a neutral or potentially beneficial role in cardiometabolic health.

The Conflicted Interests (my emphasis): SHA’s research is funded in part by USDA-Agricultural Research Project…Support for RSB is provided by USDA-NIFA…the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center at the Ohio State University, and the National Dairy Council. BWB’s research is funded in part by the National Dairy Council. Author disclosures: SHA has received honoraria from ILSI North America, the National Dairy Council (NDC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Herbalife, and the Council for Responsible Nutrition as a presenter and participant at sponsored scientific conferences. RSB has received honoraria from NDC to serve as an external research advisor and from Abbott Nutrition for serving as a presenter at a sponsored scientific conference. BWB has received honoraria from NDC and Nederlanse Zuivel Oranisatie for presenting research at scientific conferences. CB has received honoraria from NDC and the America Egg Board as a presenter and participant at sponsored scientific conferences. LMA has received funding from NDC, NHLBI, and Performance Health. KMH has received funding from NDC to coordinate author contributions and to write the article. The National Dairy Council (NDC) sponsored the 2018 Scientific Summit: A New Look at Dairy Foods and Healthy Eating Patterns. The sponsor reviewed this manuscript prior to submission. All editorial decisions were solely left to the authors, and this report reflects the independent opinions and views of the authors.

Comment: The National Dairy Council funded this study and reviewed its manuscript.  The authors receive funding from the Dairy Council.  This review should be considered a paid advertisement.  Do dairy foods have any special role in cardiometabolic health?  I doubt it, but we are unlikely to find out until such questions are investigated independently.

DairyReporter.com, one of those industry newsletters I love getting every day, tracks the international dairy industry and occasionally collects them in one place.  Here is an example.  I never can get over how the dairy industry has worked its way into countries where populations never consumed such products and are largely lactose-intolerant.  The industry has gotten the word out that children grow faster and bigger if they consume dairy foods.  That’s all it takes, and Asia is a huge consumer market.  To wit:

• Changing market heaps pressure on Vietnam’s dairies: Much of Vietnam’s domestic dairy industry has been sailing in choppy waters this year, not helped by new international market entrants and by uncertainty over whether the pan-national trade pact it entered at the start of 2019 will help or hinder the market. Read more
• International efforts are helping Myanmar build its dairy industry from scratch: All the critical factors are there for dairy to bloom in Myanmar… almost. Read more
• India turns to technology to improve dairy productivity and animal health: India has been going through a technology spurt, backed by central and state governments, as it continues an ambitious program to make agriculture more profitable for farmers. Read more
• US dairy targets SE Asia in protein charm offensive:  American dairy has been on a charm offensive in Southeast Asia recently, in a bid to persuade more food companies to feature its protein and permeate ingredients in their products. Read more
• Dairy valley program could just possibly bring self-sufficiency to Malaysia:  Malaysia has traditionally had a poor record with cows, be they of the beef or the dairy persuasion. Read more
• US dairy piles pressure on Washington to complete Japan trade deal:  Dairy companies and farmer-owned cooperatives in the US have mobilized to put pressure on Washington to conclude its negations with Japan for a “strong trade deal” to secure critical market access for the domestic dairy industry. Read more

Rick Barrett at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has written a series of articles under the heading “Dairyland in Distress.”  

1. Chapter One: “Dairy farmers are in crisis — and it could change Wisconsin forever”
2. Chapter Two: “‘Struggling to tread water’: Dairy farmers are caught in an economic system with no winning formula”
3. Chapter Three: “Americans love soda, fancy water and fake milk. Can the dairy industry keep up?”
4. Chapter Four: “Wisconsin farmers helped the world get hooked on dairy, but those customers are becoming competitors”

The articles come with data: The changing market for dairy in 7 charts

These explain the enormous increase in world milk production and its effects on Wisconsin farmers.  The supply is so great that farmers cannot sell their milk at a price high enough to break even.

The answer, of course, is production controls but good luck with that in today’s agricultural politics environment.

USDA policies include incentives for increasing production; they work well for doing precisely that.

Rescuing small and mid-size dairies requires political will and willingness to pay the real costs of milk production.

Otherwise, we will be getting our milk from the cheapest possible sources, and that does not bode well for quality or public health.

This one was sent to me by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous (thanks!).

The Study: Dairy Fat Consumption and the Risk of Metabolic Syndrome: An Examination of the Saturated Fatty Acids in Dairy.  Allison L. Unger,Moises Torres-Gonzalez, and Jana Kraft.  Nutrients 2019, 11(9), 2200; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11092200

The review argues: “it is likely that the diverse array of SFA [saturated fatty acid] constituents within full-fat dairy foods contributes to favorably modulating cardiometabolic health.”

It concludes: “In summary, previous work on the impact of dairy-derived SFA consumption on disease risk suggests that there is currently insufficient evidence to support current dietary guidelines which consolidate all dietary SFA into a single group of nutrients whose consumption should be reduced, regardless of dietary source, food matrix, and composition.”

Funding and Conflicted Interests (my emphasis): “The work involved for this manuscript was funded by National Dairy Council….M.T.-G. is employee of National Dairy Council. J.K. has received research funding from National Dairy Council.

Comment: This purpose of this dairy-funded review is to demonstrate that contrary to contradictory information, the saturated fatty acids in dairy foods are not only benign, but beneficial. The dairy industry would love that to be true.

This particular sponsored review is exceptionally well organized and illustrated.  I especially appreciated the timeline of dietary recommendations for saturated fat from 1977 to the present.  This is the bottom half:

This is a classic industry-funded review arriving at the desired conclusions.  In essence, it is a dairy industry advertisement and should be understood as such.

Why do this?  The dairy industry is in serious economic trouble these days, as I will discuss tomorrow.

I’ve been collecting items related to plant-based meat and dairy foods from the various newsletters I read.  I am having a hard time keeping up.  This is a super-hot topic with investors pouring money into these products.

Things are moving so quickly that Food Dive has established a plant-protein tracker to help readers keep up.

Even a quick scan of just the titles of these articles will make clear just how hot this area is.

Let’s start with the in-fighting.

• Impossible Foods CEO: Plant-based competitors ‘suck’ and stifle industry growth: Pat Brown, who started the California company eight years ago, said other offerings in the market only serve to reinforce the idea that faux meat options “are terrible.”

Here’s what he’s talking about.  I’ll bet they don’t agree.

• Nestlé’s Awesome Burger debuts in crowded plant-based meat space: Sweet Earth founders Kelly and Brian Swette discuss their relationship with the Swiss food giant, the creation of the product and why it will beat its competitors.
• Chickpeas: The next big protein source for plant-based meat? Nutriati unveils TVP:  Virginia-based Nutriati has commercialized what it claims is the world’s first textured chickpea protein, providing plant-based meat formulators with a Non-GMO protein source that rivals soy, wheat, and peas in the functionality and nutrition stakes, and could also simplify ingredients lists by removing the need to add methyl cellulose… Read 
• Ripple Foods launches ‘superfood’ milks, relaunches yogurts (‘we messed up’), explores new low-cost plant protein sources: Ripple Foods has debuted a new, improved line of creamy plant-based yogurt alternatives (following an abortive launch of a Greek-style product last year); unveiled a new line of ‘superfood’ plant milks infused with matcha, turmeric and acai; and built some IP around the extraction of protein from ‘secondary’ feedstocks such as sunflower meal… Read 
• What’s next beyond soy, pea, and wheat for plant-based meat? In conversation with ADM:  Soy, wheat, and peas currently dominate the plant-based meat market, but what’s next? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Ana Ferrell (AF), VP of marketing, and Kurt Long (KL), commercial director of protein specialties and flexitarian solutions at ADM, to talk plant proteins… Read  
• Parabel USA unveils neutral-tasting, beige-colored protein hydrolysate from water lentils:  Parabel USA – best known for its green-hued ingredients from the ‘water lentil,’ a micro aquatic plant also known as duckweed/Lemna/Lemnaceae – has unveiled a neutral-tasting, beige-colored protein hydrolysate suitable for a wide range of applications from plant-based burgers to sports nutrition products… Read  
• Conagra Brands talks plant-based meat: ‘In 7-10 years we’re talking about a $30bn opportunity in the US’  Gardein has quadrupled in size over the past four years and is now the second largest brand in the meat-alternative space behind Morningstar with annual retail and foodservice sales topping $170m. And there is still a significant opportunity to grow in both channels, says brand owner Conagra Brands… Read  
• Atlantic Natural Foods: Shelf-stable is area of untapped opportunity for plant-based meat, poultry, seafood:  While the shelf-stable market for plant-based meats and eggs is small compared with the frozen and chilled segments, it represents an area of significant untapped opportunity, says Atlantic Natural Foods (ANF), which is gaining traction in this market with its Loma Linda and neat brands… Read  
• PowerPlant Ventures partner: ‘The plant-based milk market didn’t take off until they solved the taste issue; the same applies to plant-based meat’  Insect protein remains frustratingly niche, and cell-cultured meat – while groundbreaking – could be a tough sell. But plant-based meat is something mainstream consumers can understand and embrace, provided products truly deliver on taste and price, argues a co-founder of PowerPlant Ventures… Read  
• The ‘clean taste and smooth texture of almond protein are unparalleled in the protein space,’ says Blue Diamond:  Plant-based protein is a hot ingredient in the food industry right now, as formulators experiment with everything from mung beans to sacha inchi. But how does almond protein square up vs the competition?.. Read  
• Vegan start-up takes on mozzarella, parmesan and brie: ‘It’s all about the classics’:  Israeli food tech start-up Goodfoods is developing dairy-free alternatives to classic cheeses based on cashew nuts. It is ‘dairy reinvented’, founder Michal Peleg tells FoodNavigator… Read  
• MycoTechnology unveils texturized fermented vegetable protein for plant based meat applications:  >As the race to expand protein options for plant-based meats heats up, Colorado-based MycoTechnology has thrown its hat into the ring with a texturized version of PureTaste, a vegetable protein produced via the fermentation of pea and rice proteins with Shiitake mushroom mycelium (roots)… Read
• Tyson expands presence in plant-based sector with New Wave Foods investment: US processor Tyson Foods has completed an investment in plant-based shellfish business New Wave Foods… Read
• Tyson Foods launches plant-based range:  US processor Tyson Foods has launched its first range of plant-based and blended products… Read
• Hormel Foods unveils plant-based range: Hormel Foods has become the latest producer to enter the plant-based meat alternatives market with the launch of the Happy Little Plant brand… Read
• Plant-based and cell-based investment skyrockets: Investment in plant-based and cell-based meat alternative companies has grown significantly in the past two years, new research has shown… Read
• Cargill increases investment in pea protein business: US food giant Cargill has invested $75m in pea protein producer Puris to help it double capacity at its Minnesota site… Read
• Smithfield Foods enters plant-based market with Pure Farmland range: Smithfield Foods has thrown its hat into the US plant-based ring with the launch of a new soy-based portfolio… Read
• Thurston Butchers becomes the first in the UK to sell plant-based meat: Thurston Butchers in Suffolk has partnered with THIS to become the first UK butcher to sell plant-based meat alternatives… Read
• US plant-based market now worth $4.5bn: US retail sales of plant-based foods have grown 11% over the past 12 months, according to new data… Read
• Is plant-based reaching saturation? Innovation opportunities in a meat-free market: While certain plant-based categories are booming, others are lacking in innovation. So where do market opportunities in vegan product development lie? FoodNavigator hears from industry experts at Oatly, Bol Foods, and Sainsbury’s… Read

As for what the meat industry thinks of all this…

• Meat industry needs to ‘restore pride’: The meat industry has become a ‘pharmakon’ and needs to communicate its benefits to the public, according to a leading food expert… Read 

And the New York Times’ take on Big Meat’s getting in on this action.