New Dairy Products Under the Golden Arches Will Boost Demand
With dairy producers facing major economic losses, an increase in demand for dairy products is good news. Several new dairy products will arrive on the McDonald’s menus beginning Monday. Dairy scientists have been working on a new cheese for McDonald’s hamburgers, one that uses more real dairy products and tastes better. “The benefit of moving to this new cheese is that each slice is 30 percent larger than the current cheese,” said dairy scientist Porter Myrick. “We’re excited about this. And, talk about Signature Crafted, this will be featured on the Garlic White Cheddar sandwich that will be advertised for national launch on April 2nd.” This new product is the result of years of research funded by the dairy checkoff.
In addition, McDonald’s will offer a new McCafe turtle coffee beverage, and a new line of ready to drink McCafe Frappes in grocery stores nationwide. The drinks come in three flavors, caramel, vanilla, and mocha. McDonald’s plans to expand its line-up later this year.
All of these efforts will help use more dairy. Dairy Management Inc. president Barb O’Brien says this is the goal of the dairy checkoff, “That is just further motivation for the checkoff to really focus on building demand and sales and trust for dairy. And that’s where these partnerships come in. And they’re so important.”
The new cheese and the new dairy-based McCafe offerings are just the latest results of dairy farmers’ partnership with McDonald’s which began back in 2009. DMI dairy scientists Divya Reddy and Porter Myrick worked with the McDonald’s team to make each project a reality and to ensure real dairy products were used. DMI also provided McDonald’s with insights on dairy and consumer trends and taste preferences. “We work here every day alongside the McDonald’s culinary staff, and we very much feel like one team,” said Myrick, who has been working with the McDonald’s culinary team for five years. “The McDonald’s employees are just as excited as we are to showcase the goodness and versatility of dairy. They understand, as we do, that creating offerings such as these gives consumers what they want, and it’s also good for dairy farmers.”