Sealtest Dairy is a
Good Humor-Breyers brand for
dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located ...
products. Formerly a division of
National Dairy Products Corporation (precursor to
Kraft Foods
The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015.
A merger with Heinz, arr ...
) of
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent De ...
, it produced
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modul ...
,
cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
,
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as s ...
, and
lemonade
Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage.
There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using le ...
. The Sealtest brand was also later used by various companies in Canada under license (now held by
Agropur).
History
Sealtest had milk and ice cream plants across the midwestern and northeastern part of the United States, with large operations in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...
,
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...
,
La Crosse, Wisconsin
La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...
,
Huntington, Indiana
Huntington, known as the "Lime City", is the largest city in and the county seat of Huntington County, Indiana, United States. It is in Huntington and Union townships. It is also part of Fort Wayne, Indiana's metropolitan area. The population wa ...
,
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...
,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sin ...
,
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Its
Mid-South operations were based in
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...
.
The Milwaukee operation was purchased from a family-owned dairy operation, Luick Dairy, in the late 1940s or after. The Sealtest brand was originally a franchise, much like the 'Quality Chekd' dairy brand - local milk bottlers bought the rights to the Sealtest name in their market areas. Luick and presumably all the other franchisees were bought up by National Dairy Co.
Sealtest Dairy Company was founded and operated by Vernon F. Hovey. After his death, the company was turned over to his two sons. They ran the business in the state of New York, before selling the business.
Sealtest was one of the brands
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
urged people to boycott in the last speech he delivered before
his assassination, "
":
The Sealtest brand was ultimately acquired from Kraft (along with
Breyers
Breyers is a brand of ice cream started in 1866 by William A. Breyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
In 1866, William A. Breyer began to produce and sell iced cream in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, first from his home, and later via hor ...
) in 1993 by
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, ...
, which retains the underlying rights to the brand. Sealtest milk products are currently produced and packaged by Milkco, Inc. of
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous ...
, a subsidiary of
Ingles
Ingles Markets, Inc. (stylized as ingles) is an American supermarket chain based in Black Mountain, North Carolina. As of September 2021, the company operates 198 supermarkets in the Southeastern United States. The company is listed on the NASD ...
.
[Milkco, Inc.](_blank)
Retrieved Apr. 16, 2015. The brand name is licensed from the
Good Humor-Breyers subsidiary of Unilever. All Sealtest ice cream products have been discontinued.
[Daily Press - ''Sealtest Brand Of Ice Cream Discontinued'' by Pernell Watson and Elizabeth Joines (February 17, 1999)](_blank)
Retrieved Apr. 16, 2015.
Sealtest also sponsored an
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as s ...
store at the
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park, previously known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by The W ...
at
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake, Florida, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando ...
in
Florida
Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...
named Sealtest Ice Cream Parlor and Sealtest Ice Cream Wagon.
Canadian influence
In Canada, the Sealtest brand name arrived in 1961 when Dominion Dairies Limited came under the control of National Dairy Products (later Kraft). In 1981,
Ault Foods of
Toronto, Ontario acquired Dominion Dairies, and with it the licensing rights to the Sealtest brand name. At the time, the Sealtest name was used on
dairy products
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in ...
including milk and the ''Parlour'' brand of ice cream, primarily in Ontario and Quebec. The Sealtest plant in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anc ...
took over operations of
Silverwood Dairy Silverwood Dairy was a London, Ontario, Canada, dairy company that operated in the early 20th century and was later acquired as a brand name by Ault Foods.
History
Founding owner and early years
Silverwood Dairy was founded by Albert Edward Si ...
, another local dairy, in the 1980s.
Ault was broken up in 1996 and 1997, with rights to ice cream products including the Sealtest Parlour line being acquired by
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, sinc ...
, Ontario fluid milk products purchased by
Agropur (and ultimately absorbed into its
Natrel division), and the remainder of the company (including Quebec fluid milk products) acquired by
Parmalat
Parmalat S.p.A. is a dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961.
Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk using ultr ...
.
[ Republished by Ecological Agriculture Projects, McGill University.]
See also
*
Parmalat Canada
**
Beatrice Foods Canada
Beatrice Foods Canada Ltd. is a dairy unit of Lactalis Canada based in Toronto. The Canadian unit of Beatrice Foods was founded in 1969 and separated from its American parent firm, Beatrice Foods in 1978. The Beatrice trademark in Canada is owned ...
**
Ault Foods
**
Silverwood Dairy Silverwood Dairy was a London, Ontario, Canada, dairy company that operated in the early 20th century and was later acquired as a brand name by Ault Foods.
History
Founding owner and early years
Silverwood Dairy was founded by Albert Edward Si ...
References
External links
Sealtest CanadaSealtest USA - Milkco
{{Unilever
Unilever brands
Dairy products companies of Canada