The New York Times, in a major article published in Sunday’s edition, took on Dairy Management Inc.’s all-out effort to grow cheese sales through partnerships with the likes of Domino’s Pizza.
The article alleges that just one slice of Domino’s American Legends pizza, which contains 40% more cheese than the chain’s traditional pies, contains two-thirds of the daily limit of saturated fat. The article also chides USDA, for its “inherent conflict” of urging Americans to eat less saturated fat while approving promotional contracts between DMI and fast food vendors.
There’s little question that the effort to develop new pizza offering has spurred sales. Through the first six months of 2010, quick-serve retail pizza sales have moved an additional 100 million lb. of cheese.
That means an additional 1 billion lb. of milk was needed to produce that cheese January through June. If that trend continues for the rest of this year, it means a total of 2 billion lb. of milk will have been utilized through chain pizza sales.
This morning, DMI released the following statement in response to the New York Times article:
“As you know, the goal of the producer-funded and directed dairy checkoff program is to grow sales of and demand for U.S. dairy products. That’s why America’s dairy producers created the national dairy checkoff in 1983, and created Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) in 1995, which brought together the producer-funded state and regional dairy promotion organizations and the National Dairy Board.
Dairy producers themselves pay for all national and local dairy checkoff programs. This includes reimbursements to USDA to provide government oversight for the program. Outside of contributions made to help grow export markets for U.S. dairy through USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, no federal funds are used to implement checkoff programs.
DMI helps the dairy industry keep pace with both consumer preferences and the latest in dietary guidance by sharing nutrition science, product and consumer research. DMI provides such research to industry to support their efforts in developing healthier versions of dairy foods -- such as reduced-fat cheese and reduced-sugar flavored milk -- that meet the health priorities of Americans without compromising on taste.
The National Dairy Council (NDC), the nutrition research and education arm of the dairy checkoff, funds independent, peer-reviewed research to aid in the ongoing discovery of information about dairy foods’ important role in a healthy lifestyle. Dairy producers established NDC in 1915. It maintains the highest standards for and commitment to sound, credible research as it is conducted under the appropriate laws, regulations and review protocols.”
