Sweeteners Used by the Dairy Industry: Their Competitive Position in the United States

Excerpts from the report Summary: Manufacturers of sweetened dairy products used about 4.7 percent of the total quantity of sugar, corn sirup, and dextrose delivered to consumers in the United States in 1961. Smaller quantities of noncaloric sweeteners (principally saccharin and sucaryl) and sorbitol were used in producing various dietetic dairy products. The principal dairy products for which sweeteners are important are ice cream, other frozen desserts, and sweetened condensed milk. The production of frozen desserts, including ice cream, has been increasing in the United States since 1952, but the output of sweetened condensed milk has declined. The manufacture of ice cream tends to be concentrated near centers of population because of the expense of transporting it long distances. Plants producing sweetened condensed milk are mostly situated in areas of heavy milk production, since it is less expensive to transport the manufactured product than fresh milk. From 1952 to 1961, the use of sweeteners (sugar, dextrose, and corn sirup) in dairy products has increased at an average rate of about 18,000 tons, or 4.7 percent a year. The use of corn sirup in sweetened dairy products increased from 1952 through 1961 at an average rate of about 5,000 tons, 12.5 percent per year, as compared with 14,000 tons or 4.0 percent, for sugar. The use of dextrose declined at an average rate of about 6.7 percent a year.