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==Controversy==
==Controversy==


In 2001, the company was sued by seven former employers. The employees alleged that the company did not protect them from harassment by fellow workers in the workplace. The alleged harassment activity included the posting of swastikas and KKK graffiti as well as rope nooses and Confederate flags. The incidents are said to have taken place between 1993 to 2000. The case was settled in May 2003 when plaintiffs agreed to a $3.3 million, out of court, settlement.<ref name="coopamerica.org">[http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=209 www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper]</ref>
In 2001, the company was sued by seven former employers. The employees alleged that the company did not protect them from harassment by fellow workers in the workplace. The alleged harassment activity included the posting of swastikas and KKK graffiti as well as rope nooses and Confederate flags. The incidents are said to have taken place between 1993 to 2000. The case was settled in May 2003 when plaintiffs agreed to a $3.3 million, out of court, settlement.<ref name="coopamerica.org">[http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=209 www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper]</ref>
In 2003 two shareholders filed lawsuits against Dean Foods and Horizon Organic Holding Corp. alleging that Dean paid too little in their agreement to acquire the company. The lawsuits, which seek class-action status, also allege neither company met their legal obligation to satisfy the interests of the Horizon Organic shareholders. Executives at Dean Foods said the lawsuits were without merit. Dean Foods settled with the shareholders in May 2007.<ref name="coopamerica.org"/>
In 2003 two shareholders filed lawsuits against Dean Foods and Horizon Organic Holding Corp. alleging that Dean paid too little in their agreement to acquire the company. The lawsuits, which seek class-action status, also allege neither company met their legal obligation to satisfy the interests of the Horizon Organic shareholders. Executives at Dean Foods said the lawsuits were without merit. Dean Foods settled with the shareholders in May 2007.<ref name="coopamerica.org"/>

Revision as of 12:33, 13 May 2010

Dean Foods
Company typePublic (NYSE: DF)
IndustryAgribusiness
Founded1925
Headquarters
Dallas, Texas
Key people
Gregg L. Engles, CEO & Chairman of the Board
Jack F. Callahan Jr., Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President
Joseph Scalzo, President/Chief Executive Officer of Whitewave Foods
Michael H. Keown, President of Indulgent Brands - Whitewave Foods
Harrald Kroeker, President of Direct Store Delivery Group
ProductsMilk, Dairy Products
RevenueUSD $12.5 Billion (2008)[1]
USD $608 Million (2008)[1]
USD $184 Million (2008)[2]
Number of employees
25,585 (November 13, 2008)
Websitewww.deanfoods.com
The Cityplace Center, future headquarters of Dean Foods

Dean Foods (NYSE: DF) is an American food and beverage company with two operating divisions: Fresh Dairy Direct and WhiteWave-Morningstar.[3] The company maintains plants and distributors in the United States and the United Kingdom.

History

In 1925, founder Samuel E. Dean purchased the Pecatonica Marketing Company, an evaporated milk processing facility located in northwestern Illinois. In 1927 Dean renamed it Dean Evaporated Milk Company.[4] That same year Dean purchased some local Illinois dairy plants. Dean Foods products are sold throughout the USA.[5] Dean Foods products include: fluid milk, frozen vegetables, and processed pickles. Dean's product line includes ice cream, frozen desserts, canned vegetables, relishes, salad dressings, dips, and non-dairy creamers.[5]

On December 21, 2001 Dean Foods was acquired by the Dallas based company Suiza Foods Corporation. Suiza began in 1995 when Gregg L. Engles, owner of commercial ice company Reddy Ice merged Reddy with Suiza Dairy which Engles had acquired in 1993. After the merger of Reddy and the dairy acquisitions, the company became Suiza Foods Corporation, based in Dallas, Texas. After the acquisition, Suiza changed its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange from “SZA” to “DF” and moved all of its operations to Dallas, Texas. On March 29, 2006, Dean Foods was added to the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index.[citation needed]

The original headquarters for Dean Foods was located in Illinois but were moved to Dallas, Texas, after the merger with Suiza Foods.[6] The company plans to move to Cityplace Center in the Cityplace district in the first quarter of 2010.[5][7]

On August 9, 2006, The New York Times published an article regarding visitors to the web site YTMND.com and their humorous reviews on a gallon of "Tuscan Whole Milk" (a Deans Foods brand) available on Amazon.com.

In August 2006, Dean Foods acquired Jilbert's Dairy, a 70 year old family business near Marquette, Michigan.[8]

In December 2007, Dean Foods bought the Wells Dairy milk plant in Le Mars, Iowa.[9]

In 2009 Dean Foods purchased Alpro for an estimated $455 million USD making it the "global leader in soy beverages".[10]

Brands and Divisions

Dean Foods produces soy milk in the United States under the name Dean Foods and (Sun Soy). organic milk is marketed under the brand Horizon Organic.

Dean Foods subsidiary, White Wave Foods, is the distributor for Silk soy milk, Horizon Organic dairy products, International Delight creamer, some Land O'Lakes dairy products, Hershey's milk products, and Rachel's yogurt (both in the UK and the US). [citation needed]

The company's TofuTown brand and its various tofu products were acquired by the Hain Celestial Group in June 2007.

In addition, Dean Foods owns many other brand names such as Adohr Farms, AltaDena, Barbe's, Barber's, Berkeley Farms, Borden, Broughton Foods Company, Brown's Dairy, Celta, Country Delite, Country Fresh, Creamland (a affiliated member of Quality Chekd dairies), Dairy Ease, Dairy Fresh, Dean Foods Ultra, Gandy's, Garelick Farms, Hygeia, Ideal Dairy, Jilbert's Dairy, Lehigh Valley Dairies, Liberty Dairy, Louis Trauth, Mayfield Dairy, McArthur Dairy, Meadow Brook, Meadow Gold, Model Dairy, Oak Farms, PET Evaporated Milk, Price's, Purity, Reiter, Robinson Dairy, Schenkel's, Schepps, Shenandoah's Pride, Swiss Farms, T.G. Lee, Tuscan Dairy Farms, and Verifine. [citation needed]

Dean Foods licenses the Land O'Lakes brand, which markets creamers and fluid dairy products.[11]

The Dean Foods Corporation owns other division companies across the United States that could be found in the listed located states of: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North & South Carolina, North & South Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Dean Foods has 100 facilities located in 35 American states as well as five manufacturing plants in the countries of Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.[12]

Controversy

In 2001, the company was sued by seven former employers. The employees alleged that the company did not protect them from harassment by fellow workers in the workplace. The alleged harassment activity included the posting of swastikas and KKK graffiti as well as rope nooses and Confederate flags. The incidents are said to have taken place between 1993 to 2000. The case was settled in May 2003 when plaintiffs agreed to a $3.3 million, out of court, settlement.[13]

In 2003 two shareholders filed lawsuits against Dean Foods and Horizon Organic Holding Corp. alleging that Dean paid too little in their agreement to acquire the company. The lawsuits, which seek class-action status, also allege neither company met their legal obligation to satisfy the interests of the Horizon Organic shareholders. Executives at Dean Foods said the lawsuits were without merit. Dean Foods settled with the shareholders in May 2007.[13]

In May 12, 2008 Cornucopia filed another complaint with the USDA declaring that Deans Foods restrained an abundant amount of their cows to an unhygienic feed yard in Snelling, California; federal organic regulations require such animals to be obtained in an organic environment containing access to pasture and fresh grass. Allegations from the federal agency were dismissed.[14]

The Dean Foods' facilities in Colorado and Texas milk approximately 20,000 cows. These operations have been investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a result of complaints filed by Cornucopia representing the family-scale farming community.[14]

In 2009, the company was criticized and accused of being a monopolistic broker.[15]

In the fall of 2009 the Pioneer Press reported that the Cornucopia Institute had made complaints to the U.S. Department of Agriculture accusing Silk producer Dean Foods and its WhiteWave Foods division, of shifting their products away from organics without properly notifying retailers or consumers.[16][17] According to the Star Telegram and other news sources, Silk brand soy milk was made using organic soybeans until early 2009 when Dean Foods switched to conventional soybeans while maintaining the same UPC barcodes and prices on the Silk products while replacing the word “organic” with “natural” on the Silk product packaging.[18]

In April of 2009, Foremost Farms USA, a cooperative of over 2,000 dairy farmers in several mid-western states, sold its Wisconsin milk processing plants to Dean Foods.[19] On January 22, 2010, the Justice Department along with the state attorney general offices of Wisconsin and Michigan filed a law suit and complaint that alleges the purchase created a monopolizing provider. [20] According to a press statement released that same day, Dean Foods announced it was contesting the complaint. [21]

See also

Template:Companies portal

Notes

  1. ^ a b Businessweek.com
  2. ^ Businessweek.com
  3. ^ ""About Us." Dean Foods. Retrieved on August 2, 2009.
  4. ^ Reuters.com
  5. ^ a b c www.FundingUniverse.com
  6. ^ Dean Foods Annual Report
  7. ^ Hethcock, Bill. "Dean Foods to relocate corporate office." Dallas Business Journal. Monday June 8, 2009. Retrieved on August 2, 2009.
  8. ^ Report on acquisition of Jilbert's Dairy by Dean Foods
  9. ^ Wells' Dairy to sell milk plant to Dean Foods - December 22, 2007
  10. ^ Dallas Business Journal, Deans Foods Buys Alpro, July 6 2009,[1]
  11. ^ Quarterly Report. Yahoo Finance. May 10, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
  12. ^ Dallas Business Journal, Deans Foods Buys Alpro, July 6 2009,[2]
  13. ^ a b www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper
  14. ^ a b www.galegroup.com
  15. ^ [Independent Farmers Feel Squeezed By Milk Cartel] by John Burnett. All Things Considered, National Public Radio. 20 August 2009.
  16. ^ Twin Cities.com Pioneer Press, "Watchdog charges Target"
  17. ^ Cornucopia Institute web site
  18. ^ Star Telegram, Grocers Irked to Find Out Soy Milk Not Organic
  19. ^ Barrett, Rick. ""Dean Foods acquires Waukesha, De Pere milk-processing plants." Journal Sentinel. April 2, 2009. Retrieved on February 16, 2010.
  20. ^ Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Dean Foods Company, US Department of Justice web site
  21. ^ Dean Foods to Vigorously Contest Justice Department Complaint, DeanFoods.com
  • Official web site [4]
  • Stock info [5]
  • Coop America article [6]
  • Company history [7]
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