NFO launching probiotic milk project
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/04/2010 8:40 AM
E-mail article | Print version
CORALVILLE, Iowa —National Farmers Organization members learned about the group's new partnership with Ganeden Biotech Inc. to offer probiotic-enhanced milk at last week's annual convention in Coralville.
NFO is ready to launch sales of probiotic milk in Michigan, said Nick Nerheim, NFO national dairy sales director, in an interview.
NFO signed an agreement last fall with probiotic manufacturer Ganeden Biotech which gives NFO access to probiotic Ganeden BC30, offering processors the opportunity to provide probiotic-enhanced milk product to consumers, Nerheim said. The partnership allows NFO dairy producers an opportunity to earn increased revenue through the production and sale of probiotic-enhanced milk, a new market segment.
Nerheim said probiotics are good bacteria that support healthy digestive and immune systems. Unlike many other probiotics strains, GanedenBC30, is able to survive the heat and high pressure associated with pasteurizing and homogenizing milk, making it an ideal probiotic for beverage and food applications. It is also resistant to stomach acid.
The probiotic-enhanced milk containing GanedenBC30 tastes, smells and is handled just like the milk consumers drink every day, Nerheim said. Now consumers will be able to receive all of the benefits of probiotics without adding any new products to their daily eating routine.
"This will offer dairy producers a new market for their milk and a new stream of income," Nerheim said. "This will be a highly value-added commodity. It will be good for our dairy farmers who have faced the worst year the farm economy has seen in 30 years."
BC30, which is a natural spore forming bacteria which has been isolated and grown commercially, passes all organic rules and regulations, Nerheim said. The product has many applications for food products that dairy farmers can benefit from. The first probiotic-enhanced product will be with conventional milk, but future products will include organic milk, and NFO intends to pursue applications in cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
Nerheim said members at the convention were excited about the new product.
"It's something they can see will benefit their bottom line and benefit the consumer as well," he said. "Our members like being associated with something new that benefits consumers. That makes them proud.
Nerheim said many dairy farmers burned up so much equity in the past year that while they may be able to survive at current prices, they can't regain what they lost in equity.
"Farmers could not stand another year like 2009," Nerheim said. "We're very concerned and trying to do anything we can to add value to the producers' products and return that value to them. NFO's main thrust is to be a collective bargaining force in the market place and improve prices through group selling and through things like probiotic products."