Chobani is debuting its first-ever shelf-stable low-fat dairy milk product that will be donated to people impacted by natural disasters or food insecurity.
The product, called Chobani Super Milk, lasts up to 9 months without refrigeration. The food and beverage company will initially produce an average of 145,000 pounds of Chobani Super Milk monthly to be deployed by the American Red Cross and distributed to local food banks and pantries in Central New York and Southern Idaho.
Becca Dittrich, Chobani’s vice president of impact, said in an interview that dairy is one of the top five most requested food items among assistance networks due to its nutrient-dense, protein-rich properties. Still, dairy, because it needs to be refrigerated, can be difficult to donate to a disaster area if power is out, or if a local food pantry is located in a place where refrigeration capacity is limited.
“Shelf-stable dairy opens up an entire realm of possibilities,” Dittrich said. “We’ve created a product that will fill a need that is really hard to fill otherwise.”
Chobani will only donate the product and “will never” sell it in stores where its other products are typically found, she added.
While the privately-held Chobani is best known for its popular Greek yogurt, a cornerstone of the 19-year-old company has centered on outside causes, including making food as a “force for good.” The idea for Super Milk came following the aftermath of the deadly earthquake last year in Turkey where Chobani’s founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya was born.
With storms, wildfires and hunger affecting tens of millions of people each year, the need for nutrient-dense, shelf-stable milk will remain and potentially even increase. Chobani noted its recent donation of Super Milk to residents in New Mexico facing wildfires as one example of how the product can support people in need or facing a crisis.
Dittrich said Chobani developed, marketed and manufactured Super Milk. To do that, required the dairy company to funnel resources that would have gone toward its revenue-generating products. Scientists spent time creating the product and marketers designing the label. Chobani also temporarily shifts production of oat milk to make Super Milk instead.
“From everything we’ve seen, this is a really unique endeavor,” she said. “It is seeking to be a proof point of what business can do when it uses its knowledge, its expertise, its logistics, its access to certain equipment and resources, its skills and uses those things to disrupt a problem, whether that is industry or whether that be in a social environment.”
Chobani said Super Milk contains nutrition that is superior to traditional milk. It has 50% more protein, 25% less sugar and a quarter more calcium. The product also has prebiotic fiber for digestive health and is fortified with vitamins A & D.