1. © 2016 CHEESE MARKET NEWS®
— This is Cheese Market News’ E-subscription and may not be forwarded to anyone other than the intended paid subscriber
without the express permission of Cheese Market News (For more information, contact ksander@cheesemarketnews.com)
CHEESE
OF THE
MONTH
M o z z a r e l l a
Photo
courtesy
of WMMB
U.S. cheese production up
2.6 percent from year ago
WASHINGTON — Total U.S. cheese production in January,
excluding cottage cheese, was 1.00 billion pounds, 2.6 percent
above January 2015’s 977.4 million pounds but 2.6 percent below
December 2015’s 1.03 billion pounds, according to data released
Thursday by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS). (All figures are rounded. Please see CMN’s Dairy Pro-
duction chart on page 18.)
ProductionofMozzarella,thenation’smost-producedcheese,
totaled 336.6 million pounds in January, up 0.3 percent from
January 2015. Total Italian-type cheese production, of which
Mozzarella is the largest component, was 434.8 million pounds
in January, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, production of Cheddar, the nation’s second
most-produced cheese, was 295.9 million pounds in January,
Top pizza topping Mozzarella
still is increasing in demand
Editor’s Note: Welcome to “Cheese of the Month,” Cheese Market
News’latestprofileseries.Eachmonth,CMNwillhighlightadifferent
cheese in this exclusive feature, giving our readers a comprehensive
look at production, marketing, sales and in-depth aspects of each
profiled cheese type. Please read on to learn about this month’s pizza
favorite: Mozzarella.
By Chelsey Dequaine
MADISON, Wis. — Demand for the United States’ most-produced
cheese, Mozzarella, continues to increase, and new research has been
developed for faster production and extended shelf life.
AccordingtoUSDA,totalU.S.Mozzarellaproductionin2015was3.97
billion pounds, up from 3.49 billion pounds in 2010. In terms of cheese
volume in the foodservice channel, Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board
(WMMB) says Mozzarella is the No. 1 cheese used in U.S. restaurants,
accounting for 29 percent volume share of total cheese usage (largely
driven by the pizza segment).
According to Information Resources Inc. (IRI) data courtesy of
Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), Mozzarella was purchased last year by
nearly 60 percent of households, and homes with children purchased
the most prepackaged Mozzarella.
While millennials and Generation X shoppers are heavy buyers, IRI
saysseniors,retirees,AfricanAmericanandAsianhouseholdspurchase
Volume 36 March 4, 2016 Number 7
By Alyssa Mitchell
MADISON, Wis. — When one
thinks of pizza, it’s hard not
to also imagine the melted
deliciousness of the cheese
thatplayssuchanintegralpart
in the favorite food’s makeup.
Perhaps surprisingly, 10
years ago, the pizza industry
was facing a decline in sales,
and less cheese was being put
on pizza while operators put
their investment largely in
marketing and other ingre-
dients, notes Tom Gallagher,
CEO of Dairy Management
Inc. (DMI).
“We wanted to show that if
they focused their core efforts
back on cheese and put more
cheese on their pizzas, they
Pizzerias entice consumers
with new cheese offerings
wouldseeanincreaseinsales,”
Gallagher says.
In 2009, DMI forged a part-
nership with Domino’s Pizza
to promote a line of six new
specialty pizzas featuring 40
percent more cheese.
Thelaunchprovedsuccess-
ful,leadingtothecontinuation
of the partnership and diversi-
fication of marketing efforts.
While Domino’s has seen
sales growth, product innova-
tion and increased knowledge
of the dairy consumer base
through DMI, the dairy indus-
try also has benefited from
working with Domino’s.
“This partnership has been
dramatically successful to in-
creasing sales of pizza cheese
and the amount of cheese on
pizzas,” Gallagher says.
He adds that a lot of pizza
companies have taken note
of Domino’s success and have
added more cheese and more
varieties of cheese to their
pizzas over the years.
• Cheese of choice
Cheese not only makes up
the base of a majority of pizza
varieties, it also can be added
as a tasty topping as pizza
operators have expanded into
topping pies with cheese vari-
eties ranging from Asiago to
Cheddar to goat cheese.
WhileMozzarellacontinues
to be the most popular cheese
used on pizza, Heather Porter
Engwall, director of national
product communications for
the Wisconsin Milk Marketing
Board says stronger flavored
cheeses, such as Pepper Jack
and specialty cheese variet-
ies like Brie and Fontina, are
among the fastest-growing
pizza cheese varieties.
TheRomanCandle,aMadi-
son, Wisconsin-based pizzeria
with a few locations in sur-
rounding areas, prides itself
on sourcing all of its cheese
fromWisconsinproducers,says
Founder and Owner Brewer
Stouffer.
“Cheese is a staple of our
menu, and we’ve worked hard
to certify that our cheeses are
madeinWisconsinandsourced
fromWisconsinmilk,”Stouffer
says.
The Roman’s Candle’s
house blend used on most of
its pies is a custom blend of
Wisconsin cheeses including
Mozzarella and Provolone,
and Stouffer says the pizzeria
also adds several varieties of
cheese to its specialty pies
or by custom order, including
Cheddar, Aged Parmesan,
Smoked Provolone, Feta and
goatcheese.Thecompanyalso
is experimenting with cheese
curds on pizza.
“We’re always looking for
better and exciting ingredi-
ents,”hesays.“Wehavealotof
funandcanreallymixthingsup
byaddingdifferentcheeseson
top of our house blend.”
Stouffer notes The Ro-
man Candle last year added
a Chicken Parm pizza to its
menuandaddedProvoloneand
Parmesan on top of its house
blend to achieve great flavor.
“Adding a couple extra
cheeses can really elevate a
pizza and make it something
special,” he says.
Creatingapizzaversionofa
favoritemeal,liketheChicken
Parm, is an increasingly popu-
lar trend.
At Toppers Pizza, based in
Whitewater, Wisconsin, the
company offers a Taco Topper
Pizzathatfeaturestacosauce,
taco meat, Mozzarella, Ched-
darandothertacoingredients,
with sour cream included
on the side. Toppers’ Mac ‘N
CheesePizzafeaturesacreamy
cheese sauce layered with
macaroni noodles, smothered
in a mound of Mozzarella and
Cheddar.ItsCaliforniaTopper
is topped with Feta and Moz-
zarella along with spinach,
GMO labeling bill
passed by Senate
Ag Committee
Turn to PIZZERIAS, page 16 a
Turn to PRODUCTION, page 18 a
WASHINGTON — A bill
that would establish a
national standard for vol-
untary labeling of products
containinggeneticallymod-
ified organisms (GMOs)
and preempt states from
implementing their own
GMO labeling laws passed
Tuesday by a vote of 14-6 in
the Senate Committee on
Agriculture, Nutrition and
Forestry.
Turn to GMO, page 18 aTurn to MOZZARELLA, page 10 a
Scan this code
for breaking
news and the
latest markets!
OUR BIG PIZZA ISSUE!
✦ U.S. House passes bill
to ease calorie labeling
regulations on menus.
For details, see page 5.
✦ Urschel Labs sells
company to employees.
For details, see page 11.
✦ Study: Millennials
driving pizza trends.
For details, see page 21.
✦ Shelburne Farms offers
4-year-old ‘leap cheese.’
For details, see page 28.
INSIDE

2. © 2016 CHEESE MARKET NEWS®
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without the express permission of Cheese Market News (For more information, contact ksander@cheesemarketnews.com)
10 CHEESE MARKET NEWS®
— March 4, 2016
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the least amount of Mozzarella.
Mozzarella has been made in
southern Italy since Roman times and
is believed to have originated in the
Naples area. It is a pasta filata cheese,
meaning that it is produced by dipping
thecurdintohotwhey.Thecheesethen
isstretchedandkneadedtothedesired
consistency.
The cheese was invented when
cheese curds accidently were dropped
into a pail of hot water. Mozzarella
traditionally was made using water
buffalo’s milk, although today even in
ItalythemajorityofMozzarellaismade
with cow’s milk.
TodayintheUnitedStates,thereare
various forms of Mozzarella as codified
in the Code of Federal Regulations.
For Mozzarella and Scamorza (a mild,
slightly salty cheese similar to Mozza-
rella that is distinctively shaped into
an oval or pear), the minimum milkfat
content is 45 percent by weight of the
solids,andthemoisturecontentismore
than 52 percent but not more than 60
percent by weight.
For low-moisture Mozzarella and
Scamorza,theminimummilkfatcontent
is45percentbyweightofthesolidsand
the moisture content is more than 45
percent but not more than 52 percent
by weight.
Part-skimMozzarellaandpart-skim
Scamorza conform to the definition
and standard of identity as prescribed
for Mozzarella cheese and Scamorza
cheese, except that its milkfat content
islessthan45percentbutnotlessthan
30 percent.
John Lucey, director, Wisconsin
Center for Dairy Research (CDR), says
Mozzarella’s performance attributes,
such as melting, stretching and brown-
ing, are sensitive and determined by
the amount of acid development in the
cheese. Because of this, CDR currently
is researching ways to standardize
the amount of lactose in the milk to a
specific number. The process, which
CDRlaunchedin2015,iscalledlactose
standardizing.
“Rather than cheesemakers fight
the acidity, we control the sugar in
the milk to end up with the cheese we
want,” Lucey says. “The idea is to make
it more easy and consistent to make
Mozzarella.”
Luceyusestheanalogyofaracecar.
The lactose in the cheesemilk is like
thefuel.Inarelay,racecarsdon’twant
overfull fuel tanks, but only the exact
amountoffuelneededtofinishtherace.
“We don’t want a lot of extra lactose
inthesystem,”Luceysays.“Wearetrying
tofigureouthowmuchsugarweshould
leaveinthecheesemilkbeforewestart
anything.Bydoingthatwecanstartwith
the right amount of fuel in the tank.”
InMozzarella,toomuchlactosecan
lead to excessive acidity, poor melt and
extra browning.
CDRalsohasbeenresearchinghigh-
pressureprocessingasawaytopreserve
cheeses for the extended times needed
fortransportinvolvedinexporting.CDR
hasbeentestingthenewtechnologyon
MozzarellaatAmericanPasteurization
Co.’s facility in Milwaukee. Once Moz-
zarella is manufactured, CDR treats it
at high pressure for 3 minutes, killing
enzymes and bacteria.
“It slows down the ripening process
in the cheese,” Lucey says. “In Mozza-
rella, we don’t want a lot of ripening.
We want it to melt, stretch and shred
well.Shortlyaftermanufactureitisjust
right, but during further storage these
attributes start to deteriorate.”
Using high-pressure processing,
CDR has extended the performance
shelflifeofMozzarellabeyond6months.
Without high-pressure processing, Lu-
cey says Mozzarella’s shelf life in the
United States typically is 1-2 months.
“This is new to the dairy industry,
but it’s common in the fruit juice and
meat industries,” he says. “We see this
asonoptionforacompanythatexports
overseas to places like Korea.”
JasonMounts,directorofmarketing,
LeprinoFoodsCo.,Denver,saysbecause
themajorityofMozzarellathecompany
produces ends up on pizza, Leprino
challenges itself to not only be cheese
experts, but also pizza experts.
“As the pizza industry grows, Moz-
zarella will grow,” Mounts says.
With Mozzarella, Mounts says Lep-
rino works with its pizza customers to
ensure the cheese delivers on specific
consumerexpectations,suchasstretch,
melt, color and flavor.
LeprinoFoodsalsooffersitsinnova-
tion agency, Innovation Studio, which
Mounts calls an extension of Leprino’s
belief in delivering value to its custom-
ers beyond quality cheese.
“Werecognizethatifwehelpourcus-
tomersgrowthroughconsumer-insight-
driveninnovation,wewillgrow,andthe
dairy industry will grow,” Mounts says.
“A lot of the work we do manifests in
pizza because it’s such a specific part
of our business.”
AbigailMerz,directorofcheesesales
and marketing, Foremost Farms USA,
Baraboo, Wisconsin, says consumers
will always have a demand for pizza.
MOZZARELLA
Continued from page 1
CHEESE OF THE MONTH: M o z z a r e l l a
Turn to DEMAND, page 11 a

3. © 2016 CHEESE MARKET NEWS®
— This is Cheese Market News’ E-subscription and may not be forwarded to anyone other than the intended paid subscriber
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March 4, 2016 — CHEESE MARKET NEWS®
11
For more information please visit www.epiplastics.com
®
www.urschel.com
U.S.D.A., Dairy Division
accepted Urschel cheese
shredders offer a full
range of precision cuts
through use of easily
interchangeable cutting
heads. With different
achine con gurations
available, one is
certain to meet your
application requirements.
OVAL
WIDE OVAL
GRANULATION
STRIP CUT
FLAT-V®
REDUCED FLAT-V®
CRESCENT
WIDE CRESCENT
FULL SHRED
REDUCED V-SHRED
For more information please visit www.urschel.com
DEMAND
Continued from page 10
ForemostFarmshasdoubleditsproduc-
tion of Mozzarella since 2000.
“There will be a continued increase
of Mozzarella driven by the pizza cat-
egory,” Merz says. “The other thing you
can attribute the growth to is the fact
thatpizzaismoreaccessiblethanithas
been in the past. A lot of people and
businesses are serving pizza.”
Foremost Farms works with indus-
trial pizza manufacturers and opera-
tors who want a high quality, premium
Mozzarella.
“When we enter conversations with
those different channels, we ask what
theyarelookingforinaMozzarellaand
customize our products to meet their
needs,” Merz says.
TheNo.1attributeMerzsaysclients
look for in a Mozzarella is consistent
quality.
“Theyneedtoknoweveryweekwhen
CHEESE OF THE MONTH: M o z z a r e l l a
they get a load of cheese it will slice,
shred or bake the same week in and
week out,” she says.
Beyond that, Merz says clients look
for bake appearance in Mozzarella, in
addition to oiling, flavor and texture.
“TheEastCoastlikestoseealighter
colored pie,” she says. “The Midwest
likes a golden-brown pie.”
Foremost Farms offers a blending
service of shredded Mozzarella and
other cheeses for clients who want
to feature specialty pizzas on certain
nights of operation.
“TheymightblendCheddarandPro-
volone with Mozzarella to make a more
specific or unique pizza,” Merz says.
“In a 5-pound bag of shreds, you could
have80percentMozzarella,10percent
Provolone and 10 percent Cheddar.”
Adesireforlaborsavingsandopera-
tionalefficiencieshasledtoanincrease
in demand of shredded Mozzarella at
Foremost Farms, Merz says.
“Instead of the block, which we saw
an increase in years ago, people are
asking for it already shredded,” she
says. “That trend continues as labor is
a challenge and is costly.”
Foremost Farms works with in-
dustrial customers to make different
shapesandsizesofMozzarellafortheir
operations.
“There are more forms and sizes
offered today than 15 years ago,” Merz
says.“Weoffertomeetcustomerneeds,
such as our addition of long styles of
Mozzarella for more efficient slicing.”
According to IRI, the retail cheese
market for shredded Mozzarella in the
UnitedStatesisapproximately221mil-
lionpounds,withavalueof$968million.
WMMB says shredded Mozzarella is
popular and growing among American
consumers.Intheretailchannel,volume
sales of shredded Mozzarella increased
by6percentfrom2014-2015andaccount
for 72 percent of total retail Mozzarella
volume sales.
“Americansconsumeabout34pounds
of total cheese each year,” WMMB says.
“We eat more Mozzarella than any other
cheesevariety,about11poundseachyear.”
Beyond pizza, Mozzarella is seeing
growth from snacking trends. Mounts
says snacking on cheeses such as Moz-
zarella is increasing as consumers eat
smaller meals and look for healthier
snack options.
“Mozzarellaisanidealsnackchoice
because it’s lower in fat and calories
than other types of cheeses,” he says.
“Wealsoseeanopportunitytoinnovate
through flavor. Mozzarella is a neutral
flavor profile, so it provides a blank
canvasforuniqueflavoroptions.”CMN
CHESTERTON, Ind. — Rick Urschel,
president and CEO of Urschel Labora-
tories, on Thursday announced that the
Urschel family has sold the company.
The news, however, was not met with
boosandjeersbutratherhugsandhigh-
fives because just a few days before, the
shareholders of Urschel Laboratories
sold the company to the employees.
Over the past few weeks, sharehold-
ers have been tendering their stake in
the company to the Urschel Laborato-
ries Employee Stock Ownership Plan
(ESOP). Shares are allocated to em-
ployeeaccountsonanannualbasis,and
upon retirement from the company, the
employees sells their shares back to the
ESOP for cash.
Urschel notes the uncertainty of
the ability or willingness of the fifth
generation to run the business caused
the company to start exploring options.
It quickly became clear that conversion
toanESOPwasfairforthecompany,the
shareholders and the employees.
“I’mnotsurehowmanyyearsmydad
haslefttowork,buteveryoneappreciates
having him around,” Rick Urschel says.
“He’s a great source for institutional
knowledge, and I rely on his counsel.
Asforme,Ilovelivinghereandcouldn’t
Urschel Labs sells company to employees
think of anywhere else I’d rather work.”
For generations, the company has
always tried to do what is in the best
interests of the employees, he adds.
“I know it sounds trite, but we really
feel our employees are our No. 1 asset,”
saysChairmanoftheBoardBobUrschel.
“My father always taught me that it was
the family’s job to look out for the em-
ployee, and decisions should always be
made with them at the forefront.”
UrschelLaboratorieshasbeenowned
and operated by the Urschel family for
four generations. Started in 1910 by
WilliamUrschel,thecompanyisaglobal
leader in food cutting technology, with
direct sales office in Europe, Asia and
South America.
“This decision was not an easy one
to come by and has been in the works
for nearly a year,” Rick Urschel says.
“I am grateful that the shareholders of
the company were able to realize what
an incredible benefit this would be for
the employees, and what a wonderful
way we can reward them for their years
of dedicated service. Now, instead of
the Urschel family being the stewards
of the company, we have passed that
obligation on to the employees. Today,
we’re all part of the same family.” CMN