Australian ASX-listed company Warrnambool Cheese and Butter (WBC) today announced the signing of a five year deal to supply dairy products to Coles Supermarkets under a new consumer brand. The new brand, called ‘Great Ocean Road’, will be sold exclusively through Coles stores across Australian and includes a range of cheddar cheeses and fresh milk products. In a statement released today, WCB said it will work with Coles to formalise the agreement into a contract. Under the supply contract,... ...Read more »

Australia’s largest ASX-listed dairy company Bega Cheese has won the contract to supply the entire range of Coles’ home-branded cheese products. The contract, announced yesterday, will involve Bega Cheese manufacturing and packaging natural cheddar, processed cheddar and mozzarella products for Coles, Australia’s second-largest retailer, under a five year contract. Initial anticipated volumes are set to be 19,000 tonnes a year. Bega Cheese’s Chief Executive Aidan Coleman said,... ...Read more »

Australia’s largest listed dairy firm, Bega Cheese Group, has announced an 11.4% drop in profits for the financial year ended on 30 June 2011. The Group’s full year results, just published, show total sales revenue to be A$931.7 million, with a net profit after tax of A$21.6 million. Bega Cheese is the largest provider of contract cheese packaging and processing services in Australia. The company’s product range includes cheddar, mozzarella, processed cheese, cream cheese, milk powders, infant... ...Read more »

Australia’s oldest dairy company, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, has more than doubled its operating profits for the year to 30 June 2011. The Victoria-based dairy company has recorded a net profit of $18.5 million, with total revenue of about $504 million. Its full year results were published yesterday. Warrnambool Cheese and Butter’s principal activities are the manufacture, processing, and sale of cheese, milk powder, butter, cream, whey protein concentrate, bulk and processed milk, and... ...Read more »

The ‘best of the best’ Australian dairy products received their crowning glory at Wednesday’s 2011 Australian Grand Dairy Awards (AGDA), with 19 Champions and two Grand Champions awarded in front of members and supporters of the country’s dairy industry. Themed a ‘salute to migrant Australia’, the awards celebrated the contribution and dedication of Australian immigrants to the dairy industry. Dairy Australia Managing Director Ian Halliday said this year’s awards... ...Read more »

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and collaborators from other institutions have identified a natural substance in dairy fat that may substantially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. The compound, trans-palmitoleic acid, is a fatty acid found in milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter. It is not produced by the body and so only comes from the diet.Researchers explain that trans-palmitoleic acid may underlie evidence in recent years that diets rich in dairy foods are linked to lower... ...Read more »

Milk and meat from the offspring of cloned animals would not need to carry labels informing consumers of the origin of the food, the UK’s food-safety watchdog has argued. A meeting of the Food Standards Agency board yesterday agreed that the mandatory labelling of milk meat from the descendants of cloned cattle and pigs would be “unnecessary and disproportionate”. The use of such labels would provide “no significant food safety benefit to consumers”, the FSA board said. The... ...Read more »

A Heart Foundation investigation into margarine and butter has shown that butter has, on average, 20 times the trans fat levels of margarine. “This news will come as a big surprise to many people who choose butter believing that it’s ‘natural’ and therefore healthier – but it simply isn’t the case,” said Susan Anderson, the Heart Foundation’s National Director Healthy Weight “Butter is mostly made of the fat that raises your bad cholesterol levels – saturated fat at... ...Read more »

The Australian dairy industry remains confident that the impending locust plague will not affect the safety and ongoing supply of Australia’s dairy products. Dairy Australia,  the national services body for the Australian dairy industry, said that Australian dairy products are known for their safety, quality and reliability, attributes which have formed the platform of a long standing reputation for supplying world class dairy products, and that it would work with farmers and government to ensure... ...Read more »

The UK’s Food Standards Agency has released a statement confirming that meat from the offspring of a cloned cow has been sold to consumers in the UK. Related claims of dairy from the offspring of cloned animals being sold have not yet been substantiated. While meat and dairy from cloned animals has been approved in the United States for two years, the UK regulations consider it a ‘novel food’: a food or food ingredient that does not have a significant history of consumption in the... ...Read more »