Chocolate BEVERAGE?? EH!?

The issue of Canadian Dairy processing companies replacing (quietly) 1 % chocolate milk with chocolate beverage has been driving me slightly batty. In the usual fashion of the industry the farmers have been discussing this new wrinkle with the processors trying to get them to pay attention. Meanwhile, the consumer who has been buying this product with confidence has been cruelly tricked!!

I was roaming the web to see what I could see and came across this really good article from another website (Another Talking Head) " Chocolate Milk Beverage", WTF? This cheeky slightly irreverent title is the opener for a well done blog posting about this issue. Even better, this is another consumer who is not happy and wants answers. Even better than that, there are lots of comments posted about this messy business.

I was intrigued to see the Sealest/Parmalat response that claims the formulation change is a result of a federal regulation change. What hogwash!! They are saving mega dollars and can still discount this stuff in the stores. They don't have to use as much milk from Canadian Dairy farmers. Many consumers do not realise what the differences are. The packaging they are using is a blatant abuse. Shame on you Parmalat!

The author is quite right when he discusses the length of the listed ingredients fotr the 'beverage' versus milk. The company can source its Modified milk ingredients from the cheapest available product. It does not have to be Canadian product at all.

There is more...... Chocolate Dairy Beverage, Where’s The Follow-up (WTF)?? is the next round. More good fodder here, too!!! Better watch out Parmalat.

I have gone searching to find 'other' companies that DO provide us with the real thing. In particular I was looking for 4 litre bags of the good stuff.

I found 4 litre bottles of 1% Chocolate milk from Macs Milk and I found 1, 2 and 4 litres of the good stuff from Dairy Oh! a Neilsons Brand.

Macs Milk provides the 4 litre and 1 litre plastic bottles of the good stuff.

Someone needs to take the time to educate the public about what the differences are. Trying to fob off the changes as necessary to meet regulations is horse manure. The regulations state what can be called milk so if a processor wants to goof around with any milk or cream product they can not call it milk any more. This is the reason for the change. The regulation was intended to protect the public and standardize our products.

And apparently we need regulations more than ever........ look what they are trying to do with our chocolate milk.-CG