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Yogurt becomes the official snack food of New York State

Cornell University hosting the second annual New York State Yogurt Summit this week, a gathering of industry, academic and government-type people to collaborate on how to help the dairy industry continue to grow in the Empire State.

The state leads the nation in yogurt production turning out 741 million pounds in 2013, a 46-million-pound increase from 2012.  To celebrate the growth: Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation making yogurt the official snack food of the State of New York.  The Governor also noted New York surpassed Idaho in milk production last year, reclaiming its spot as the nation’s Number-3 dairy producer.

For its part; the state has increased purchases of dairy products for use in state institutions including 1.2 million cups of vanilla yogurt for the Department of Corrections.  The State is also offering financial assistance to help increase technical assistance for the dairy industry and provide initiatives to make the industry more energy efficient.  The State is investing in the development of anaerobic digester technology including $1.2 million for the construction of a digester at Cornell’s Dairy Research Facility in Hartford, New York.