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Chobani is introducing its first shelf-stable, low-fat dairy product that will be donated to people impacted by natural disasters or food insecurity.
The product, Chobani Super Milk, can be stored for up to nine months without refrigeration. The food and beverage company will initially produce an average of 145,000 pounds of Chobani Super Milk per month, which will be distributed to the American Red Cross and local food banks and food 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 foods in support networks because of its nutrient-dense, protein-rich properties. Still, dairy products must be refrigerated, which can make them difficult to donate to disaster areas when there are power outages or when local food pantries have limited refrigeration capacity.
“Shelf-stable dairy opens up a whole range of possibilities,” Dittrich said. “We’ve created a product that fills a need that would otherwise be difficult to fill.”
Chobani will only donate the product and will “never” sell it in stores where it normally sells other products, she added.
Privately held Chobani is best known for its popular Greek yogurt, but the 19-year-old company’s cornerstone is also focused on external causes, including making food a “force for good.” The idea for Super Milk came after a devastating earthquake last year in Turkey, the birthplace of Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya.
As storms, wildfires and hunger affect tens of millions of people each year, demand for nutritious, shelf-stable milk will continue and potentially increase. Chobani recently donated Super Milk to wildfire victims in New Mexico, which it noted is one example of how the product can support those in need or in crisis.
Dittrich said Chobani developed, marketed and manufactured Super Milk. That required the dairy company to invest the resources it would otherwise invest in a profitable product. Scientists spent time creating the product, and marketers designed the label. Chobani also temporarily switched its oat milk production to Super Milk.
“From everything we’ve seen, this is a truly unique effort,” she said. “It’s meant to be a testament to what companies can do when they use their knowledge, their expertise, their logistics, their access to specific equipment and resources, their technology to disrupt a problem, whether it’s an industry or a social environment.”
Chobani says Super Milk is more nutritious than regular milk, with 50 percent more protein, 25 percent less sugar and a quarter more calcium. It also contains prebiotic fiber for digestive health and is fortified with vitamins A and D.
