JM Smucker Sells Off Milk Assets

According to a Reuters report, JM Smucker—an umbrella company that owns Smucker’s, Jif, Folgers, and Dunkin Donuts—announced it is selling Eagle Family Foods Co., its US canned dairy asset, which sells sweetened condensed and evaporated milk under the brands Eagle and Magnolia. The company’s disinvestment in the dairy industry is because milk is “outside of [their] strategic direction and scope.” Milk lost its appeal as a health food due to various studies confirming that it is not connected to bone strength, and—when consumed in large amounts—may even pose a risk of hip fracture. Even though the US government continues to subsidize the dairy industry, milk has experienced a steady decline in sales despite low prices while the alternative milk market is soaring.