Color-changing "smart cartons" from Tetra Pak will be embedded with a chip that can determine how long the contents have been out of the refrigerator. The chips would also hold useful information about the farm where the milk was produced, accessible by a cell phone scan.

The smart cartons will be the latest innovation to improve food safety from the Swiss-based company as demand for sustainable packaging increases..."We are committed to supporting our customers, retailers and suppliers over the long term and will continue to invest in products, services and facilities that look beyond tomorrow, while also making sure we deliver what is needed today,“ said Dennis Jönsson, president and chief executive of Tetra Pak.

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The growing demand for local products in the United States has opened the door for many small, independent dairy farmers to make a living. Due to the sudden boom, many farms are searching for equipment small enough to be utilized for their specific endeavors, which is where entrepreneurs like Frank Kipe come in.

Frank Kipe thought he had everything he needed to launch a business selling what he described as the world's most expensive ice cream: two Jersey cows, a 10-acre farm and an old barn.

Then he found out that he would have to pasteurize his milk before making his ice cream. Equipment for commercial farms was bulky and cost tens of thousands of dollars, so he built his own pasteurizer. Then he built more to sell. His pasteurizer business boomed, and the ice cream was forgotten.

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In very un-French fashion, President Nicholas Sarkozy has banned cheese from the Elysee Palace menu, in order to adhere to his strict diet. However, with the upcoming election, Sarkozy has accepted tidbits of cheese, chocolates and pastries, even visited a cheese factory, perhaps to assure voters he is a true Frenchman after all.

Since his marriage to wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Sarko reportedly adheres to a rigorous exercise plan and strict diet that prohibits chocolate, cheese and desserts.

The president's personal chef, Bernard Vaussion explained to AFP Sarkozy opts for more healthy options such as "light, balanced meals and poultry to red meat".

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Photo by Michael Korcuska

In 2001, there were just 35 farmers markets in New Jersey and last year there were 148 in the Garden State. Markets are expanding in urban and rural areas as people are looking for locally grown, quality food that tastes better than what they can buy in the supermarket.

Keebler, who lives in nearby Andover Township, said she wanted a product that was both fresh and produced locally.
"I wanted better quality and I think we need to have a closer relationship with our food," she said.
"And," she said of the sausages, "they taste so much better."

Read the full story here.

Photo by Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger

Just a few years ago Washington only had a handful of artisan cheesemakers, but now the state boasts over 40 of them. On Saturday, the first ever Washington Artisan Cheesemakers Festival will take place in the Seattle Design Center, highlighting the great products coming out of the area.

Sherwin Ferguson probably is the newest cheesemaker in the whole festival: She just got her dairy license in February. The founder and herdmaster at Mountain Lodge Farm in Eatonville, Ferguson keeps a herd of 27 La Mancha and Nigerian dwarf goats. She makes fresh chevre, a raw aged tomme and a pasteurized bloomy cheese, all of which will be up for tasting at the festival.

Read the stories of three young cheesemakers here.

Cypress Grove Chevre, a goat cheese farm in Arcata, CA, was once just a local company, but is now internationally renowned and owned by a Swiss co-op. The company wishes to expand its commercial dairy property by 25,000 square feet. Expansions in the past have created a flurry of confrontational opposition from community members. One supporter of the expansion gives a few reasons as to why the community should be more open-minded.

Cypress Grove Chevre, previously embraced by the community as a local business that hit the big time with its internationally renowned goat cheese, seemingly transformed overnight into an evil pawn of a foreign corporation bent on asphyxiating its neighbors with a tsunamis of goat poop -- blah, blah, blah. Never mind that founder Mary Keehn -- verbally accosted in the parking lot after a community meeting -- was still with the business, or that it was a corporation before it was bought by a Swiss co-op.

Last week, Domino's released a new ad campaign that "says no" to customers. This week, they'll be giving away free pizza to the first 75,000 people to "like" a specially created Facebook page. All of this is to push their new line of artisan pizzas. Two of the styles include:

Chicken & Bacon Carbonara: An inspired blend of our robust marinara and Alfredo sauce, grilled chicken breast, smoked bacon, cheese, diced tomatoes, and a dash of oregano on an artisan-style crust.

Spinach & Feta: Alfredo sauce, feta and Parmesan-Asiago cheeses, fresh baby spinach and onion toppings.

Read the full article here.

Bedouins have been using camel milk for centuries, but only recently has it been used commercially in cafes, restaurants, and products like cheese and bottled chocolate milk. Camel milk is lower in fat and higher in Vitamin C than cow's milk and Dubai citizens are the latest to approve the taste.

The newly opened Cafe2Go is one of the first to put camel milk on its menu and it seems to be passing the taste test with intrigued customers.
"I'm surprised because I was thinking it was tasting really different from the normal milk, but ... it's really nice," said customer Nadia Rizk.
"I thought it would be weird when I tried it, but it's just like everything else," said another, Sal Hobbi.

Read the full article here.

New Jersey teacher Ashley VanHaste brings agriculture into her third grade classroom in a variety of ways: there's a vegetable garden outside, perennial garden where students can watch the birds in the winter, and the newest addition are two Alpine goats. VanHaste's efforts recently won her the 2012 New Jersey Agricultural Teacher of the Year.

"I grew up on a dairy farm, agriculture is what shaped me," said the Green native. "I learned everything about life, responsibility, hard work, the way I lived and I wanted to make sure my students were also given those values in school.

Read the full article here.

Photo by Lyndsay Cayetana Bouchal of the New Jersey Herald

"The Fabulous Beekman Boys," a reality TV show that captures the farm life of Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, aired for two seasons on Planet Green and fans were left wondering if there would ever be a third. The Boys live on Beekman farm in upstate New York and have created a lifestyle brand selling artisan cheese, goat's milk soap, and other crafts. This week, fans were relieved to hear the show found a new home at the Cooking Channel where a third season will be aired.

“We are grateful to our friends and fans who have been very supportive and passionate, insisting that the show return. Networks took note and recognized the value of the show as a franchise and we are thrilled to inform you that we have found a new home for the show. We are now officially part of the Scripps family of networks and will return to television this year on The Cooking Channel.”