DFA plant named

manufacturer of the year

Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.'s (DFA) Fort Morgan, CO, plant has been named a Safe Quality Food (SQF) Manufacturer of the Year as part of the organization's 2011 Quality Achievement Awards. The award was presented at the SQF International Conference held recently in St. Louis, MO.

The awards program recognizes individuals and organizations that have contributed significantly to achieving the SQF mission of delivering consistent, globally recognized food safety and quality certification programs based on sound scientific principles, consistently applied across all industry sectors, and valued by all stakeholders.

DFA's Fort Morgan plant, which recently achieved Level 3 SQF certification status, processes an average of 63 million pounds of milk per month to make whole and condensed milk, cream and nonfat dry milk.

"As a supplier of dairy ingredients domestically and globally, we have an important responsibility to produce products that meet stringent quality standards, and each person at the Fort Morgan facility is committed to this important initiative," said Tom Cotter, plant manager. SQF certification is an initiative throughout DFA's Global Dairy Products Group (GDPG), which emphasizes operational excellence, food safety and quality. A systematic effort is under way to achieve SQF certification in all of DFA's manufacturing plants.

Through GDPG, DFA produces retail cheese and butter, foodservice cheese and butter, and a wide range of dairy protein ingredients. The Cooperative's consumer brands include Borden® Cheese and Butter, Keller's® Butter, Plugra® Butter and Cache Valley® Cheese, among others.