Logan-- Dairy processor Gossner Foods celebrated its most recent contract to supply milk to the U.S. military in Afghanistan while also paying tribute to a former employee killed this summer in an Afghan fire fight.
President Dolores Gossner Wheeler announced the new contract to the cheers and applause of some 2,000 employees, dairy farmers, milk truckers and their families during a company picnic this fall.
She said service members will be drinking chocolate, strawberry and white milk under the Borden and Hershey’s labels shortly before the holidays. But her celebratory remarks turned tearful when she spoke of Utah Marine Norberto Mendez Hernandez, who had liked to joke that he had helped put together Gossner milk cartons.
Hernandez, 22, was shot in the head while on patrol in Helmand province. He died July 10.
“He came to my office in April [2010] to tell me that he was fulfilling his lifelong dream to be a Marine,” Wheeler told the crowd. “He wanted to thank me for his job and to say goodbye.”
Wheeler posted photographs of the fallen infantryman, including one of him drinking a carton of Gossner milk, a longtime staple at military bases nationwide. Hernandez, a Gossner equipment operator, often told buddies at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where he was stationed: “Hey, I folded this carton!”
For more than a quarter century, Gossner has supplied ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk, which needs no refrigeration, to U.S. troops around the world. But the firm and its 155 dairy farmers lost out on the Persian Gulf contract, based on a federal law that the U.S. military does not have to purchase American goods in war zones.
Gossner was not allowed to submit bids. But after years of working world trade shows and making personal contacts, the food vendor Supreme Foodservice, based in Amsterdam, asked Gossner to supply 1 million cartons of milk each week to the landlocked Afghan theater. Gossner is one of the nation’s largest processors of UHT milk, under its own brand and several other labels.
“It’s a wonderful day when we can use our own resources to supply our troops,” said Glen Brown, a Coalville dairy farmer and former speaker of the Utah House of Representatives.
At the company gathering, Wheeler also read the names of 14 GIs associated with Gossner or its producers. Among them is Army Reservist William Pedersen, a Gossner employee who is serving in Iraq.
Pedersen’s wife, Heather, said he often complained about the quality of milk in the mess hall, so in January she mailed him a case of Gossner milk. Her husband, in turn, shared cartons with his colleagues, and she began receiving requests for more milk. Since then, she’s been mailing a case of milk every month, using U.S. Post Office flat-rate boxes costing $15 for each shipment.
“I started sending the milk as a treat, but with all those requests, I just keep doing it, and now it’s kind of a tradition,” she said. “Everyone seems to enjoy the milk, especially the flavored ones, such as banana, mango, root beer and chocolate.”
Pedersen said in an email that the difference between Gossner milk and UHT milk produced in the Middle East is that Gossner uses fresh milk, while overseas processors, such as Awal Dairy, fill cartons with reconstituted powdered milk.
“The easiest way to explain the difference would be to have someone taste both milk from powder and fresh milk,” he said. “Almost no one can define the difference, but almost anyone prefers fresh milk. The fact that some of my buddies have offered to pay for milk when other milk is supplied at no cost to them by the Army demonstrates their preference.”
Dairy farmers and Gossner also chipped in to donate milk to 350 Army Reservists serving in Iraq two years ago. At the time, milk prices were at a 30-year low, forcing farmers to burn up equity in their land and equipment to stay in business. Producers, who received unexpected bonus checks from Gossner totaling $2.5 million, made the donations in Wheeler’s name.
The donations were sent despite Gossner never being allowed to bid on the Iraqi contract.
“Our milk has always gone with American troops all over the world,” Wheeler said. “Ever since the war in Iraq started, we’ve been trying to get that milk contract back.”
The Kuwaiti-based Public Warehousing Company was the prime Middle East food vendor for U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf. Federal prosecutors charged Public Warehousing, renamed Agility, with price gouging in November 2009, and the contract was not renewed.
The new vendor, Anham, has yet to accept a bid from Gossner and did not return emails asking for comment.
In July, an audit showed the Dubai-based Anham had overbilled the Pentagon for spare parts by as much as 12,000 percent. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen said all contracts, which total about $3.9 billion, should be examined. He called for the in-depth review after discovering questionable competition practices and possible undisclosed ownership affiliations between Anham and some of its subcontractors.
Anham has refuted the findings, calling the conclusions “false, without legal or factual justification.”
Agility also has denied allegations that it overbilled the United States.
Tab Damiens, chief executive of Gossner distributor Diversified Foods, said his staff and Gossner had worked for years before landing the contract to supply milk to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Utah delegation provided no help, and two out-of-state senators lost interest in assisting Gossner in its quest to submit a bid. The Louisiana-based Diversified is soldiering on, he added, still working to secure a contract for Iraq.
Said Damiens: “We will never give up.”
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Milk contract affirms Utah firm’s commitment to military Military contract
Logan-based Gossner Foods is supplying nonrefrigerated milk to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Specifically:
» The company will supply 1 million cartons of milk each week under the Borden and Hershey’s labels.
» Transportation time from Logan to Afghanistan is 15 weeks.
» Total distance from Utah to the Afghan theater is 11,809 miles. Distance by ship is 6,897 miles; truck, 3,364 miles; railroad, 1,548 miles.
» Helicopters will deliver milk to U.S. troops via 400 flights per day.
