MMPA's Constantine and Ovid Plants Receive World Dairy Expo Honors
Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) was recently awarded top honors at the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest, being named first and third in the unsalted butter category and second in the open butter class.Just the fourth year MMPA has competed in the nationwide contest, the co-op's success is a testament to its dairy farmer members' high quality milk supply and plant employees' commitment to product quality.
"The combination of exceptional quality of milk produced by our member-owners along with a dedication to excellence from our plant employees' has once again been recognized at the World Dairy Expo. For the fourth straight year, MMPA received awards on the butter produced from our manufacturing facilities, solidifying the superior quality and consistency of our products to best serve our customers," MMPA General Manager Joe Diglio comments.
MMPA's Ovid Plant produced the first place entry in this year's unsalted butter competition as well as the second place entry in the open butter class. The MMPA Constantine Plant placed third in the unsalted butter category. In addition to butter, MMPA's plants manufacture nonfat dry milk (NFDM), condensed skim milk, cream and whole milk powder.
This year's contest received hundreds of entries in 71 product classes including cheese, butter, fluid milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream, sour cream, sherbet, cultured milk, sour cream dips, whipping cream, dried whey and creative/innovative products from throughout the United States. In its 12th year, the contest continues to grow.
On Sept. 30, the contest's auction will be held at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., at which time all category first place winners will be auctioned off. A portion of the proceeds from the Sept. 30 contest auction will be used to fund the Dr. Robert Bradley Scholarship Fund. This scholarship will be awarded annually to a deserving student pursuing a career in the dairy industry.
The MMPA Constantine and Ovid manufacturing plants are owned and operated by Michigan Milk Producers Association, a milk marketing cooperative serving approximately 2,000 dairy farmers throughout Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. Headquartered in Novi, Mich. MMPA employs about 200 people. In 2013, MMPA marketed over 4.3 billion pounds of milk.
9.24.2014