The dairy industry, gathered in Auckland this week, realises it has a problem. It relies on the sale of milk fats, and the second of those two words comes with unflattering connotations.The 2200 representatives at the International Dairy Federation-host
The dairy industry, gathered in Auckland this week, realises it has a problem. It relies on the sale of milk fats, and the second of those two words comes with unflattering connotations.
The 2200 representatives at the International Dairy Federation-host World Dairy Summit in Auckland this week heard that anti-obesity campaigners have trained their sights on cheese and flavoured milk.
While such criticism is dimmed in New Zealand, with Fonterra regarded as such a vital part of the national economic engine, the scale of this PR problem is best illustrated by an extensive investigation published in yesterday's New York Times.
The grey lady, pulling no punches, took a close look at the activities of Dairy Management. The organisation worked with Dominos Pizza, paying for marketing costs for a pizza with 40% more cheese, and a Taco Bell burrito that contained no fewer than four different cheeses.
Dairy Management is part-funded by the US Department of Agriculture, which exposes a curious example of doublethink in the "Agriculture Department's historical roles as both marketer of agriculture products and America's nutrition police."
In a warning to World Dairy summitters, who yesterday said their best prospect of skyrocketing sales would be a product that helps consumers lose weight, the Times illustrated a similar effort to push a "dairy diet".
In 2003 Diary Management pushed a "clinical study" that showed people dieting who ate three servings of milk, cheese or yogurt lost "significantly more weight and more body fat than those who just cut calories."
In an attempt to build more support for the diet, Dairy Management enlisted several scientists to replicate the study. Turns out, it was most likely bunkum. One scientists involved said of the diet: "I think they felt they had a lot riding on it and felt it was a cash cow if it worked out."
Is the future in low-fat cheese? Fat chance, notes Dairy Management: "Consumer acceptance of low-fat and fat-free cheese has been limited."
