| At this moment, I am at the airport, minutes from boarding a plane to Phoenix. I am headed there to speak on a panel about consumer opinion for IDFA (International Dairy Foods Association) conference. I hesitated before accepting the invite because IDFA is an industry trade group and I do not want my independence compromised by affiliations with food industry ties. I asked a few dairy farmers for their opinions on the invite and they said "Go for it!" One added: "We'll never get anywhere if we only preach to the choir. And, you might learn something!" That's a good point. And, while IDFA is covering the costs of the trip, I'm not being paid to speak. (For that matter, if they had offered to pay me, I wouldn't have accepted it.)
So what will I be saying there? The panel is about consumer opinion on dairy products. I plan to say that consumers do NOT want high fructose corn syrup, rbGH, high quantities of sodium, milk protein concentrate, artificial food dyes, parabens, and excess amounts of added sugar in their food. And they DO like when milk comes from cows grazed on pasture from small dairy farms, especially when dairy farmers are compensated fairly for their milk. Of course these issues vary in the percent of customers (and regulators and media) that are aware of them, but they all pose both opportunities and threats to dairy product manufacturers. It's a threat if your product contains nasty ingredients and the public turns against you, and an opportunity to gain good public opinion and market share if your product is a leader in ditching the nasty stuff.
The other issue that will likely come up is dairy in schools - particularly chocolate milk. From my perspective, the dairy industry has a moral high ground when it comes to beverages served in schools. Milk is what the kids SHOULD be drinking. But chocolate milk is not. I don't think the dairy industry and I will agree there as 70% of milk sold in schools IS flavored milk. Dairy companies fear that the kids will prefer 100% juice to milk unless chocolate milk is an option. I'd say that kids should be eating their fruit, not drinking it. And milk should be kept cold in schools so it tastes good. What could be better to wash down your PB&J with than ice cold milk? Chocolate milk aside, I'd LOVE to see the dairy industry beat up on the soda companies to try to get sodas (even diet sodas), energy and sports drinks, and juice drinks out of schools. And for goodness sake, if you're going to sell chocolate milk in schools, pretty please don't put high fructose corn syrup in it! |
