When global dairy export is discussed, the conversation often revolves around value and quality. More often than not, it is the availability of the product and its ability to meet regulatory and customer needs that determine an international sale. During the September 15 Hoard’s Dairyman DairyLivestream, Tropical Foods’ William Lynskey discussed the intricacies of these cultural and customer needs.

“To have success in today’s market, you need that quality and value, but then you need to meet the compliance requirements in many countries around the globe so you’re not so limited, and you need to meet very specific customer needs,” he explained.

These needs can range from translating labels to meeting specific shelf life requirements or a number of other business specific demands.

“The first thing that we try to distinguish is if the request coming from the customer fits under a customer need or a regulatory need,” Lynskey shared. “They are two different things, and sometimes those wires get crossed.

“Obviously, we want to do as much as we can, but we don’t want to do things that make it economically unfeasible,” he continued.

Relabeling needed

One of the most common customer and regulatory needs converges on the label of products leaving the U.S. for foreign customers.

“We relabel upwards of one-quarter million products every single week going through our facility here in Miami,” Lynskey detailed. “We are unpacking, putting translated stickers on it, repacking, and doing custom jet coating on packaging.”

If the relabeling is the result of a country’s regulatory standards, Lynskey shared that they often already have the processes in place to handle relabeling. If the request is a customer need instead, Lynskey’s company studies the viability of doing the relabeling.

“If it is not regulatory, but it’s a preference, need, or internal policy of the customer, we study it and look at the feasibility of doing it, the resources it would take, and the cost to doing it,” Lynskey said. “For the most part, unless a request is just completely in leftfield, we have a very high success rate working with customers to deliver product that meets the need internally – meeting internal requirements – and obviously, meets the regulatory requirements.”

To watch the recording of the September 15 DairyLivestream, go to the link above. The program recording is now also available as an audio-only podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and downloadable from the Hoard’s Dairyman website.

An ongoing series of events

The next broadcast of DairyLivestream will be on Wednesday, October 20 at 11 a.m. CDT. Each episode is designed for panelists to answer over 30 minutes of audience questions. If you haven’t joined a DairyLivestream broadcast yet, register here for free. Registering once registers you for all future events.