Dairylea is a popular brand of
processed cheese
Processed cheese (also known as process cheese, cheese food, prepared cheese, cheese product, or plastic cheese) is a food product made from cheese and unfermented dairy ingredients mixed with emulsifiers. Additional ingredients, such as vegeta ...
products produced by
Mondelēz International
Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding and beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26 billion and operates in ...
and available in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. As of 2017, it is also available in Australia.
Background
Dairylea is usually in the form of a thick, spreadable soft cheese-flavoured paste. It became famous for the slogans "Kids will eat it
until the cows come home" and "Kids will do anything for the taste of Dairylea" and a series of adverts on UK television showing children trading toys and other items of value, or doing dares for Dairylea Triangles.
Manufacture
For many years, Dairylea has been made at
Mondelez International
Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...
's Namur production site south of
Rhisnes (suburb),
La Bruyère, north of
Namur
Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.
Namu ...
, the centre of
Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
(the south of Belgium). The plant also makes
Philadelphia cream cheese
Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a brand of cream cheese. It is one of the best selling brands of cream cheese worldwide, first produced in 1872 and is currently owned by Kraft Heinz.
Origin
Despite its name, Philadelphia Cream Cheese was invented ...
, and is near the
A15 motorway, accessed via the
N4. The company also had a processed cheese factory in
Anderlecht
Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...
in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
Products
Dairylea spread is packaged in a plastic tub. Dairylea triangles are packaged in a cardboard 'wheel' and opening it reveals the foil-wrapped soft cheese product portions. Dairylea is also available in these formats:
* Dairylea Slices; single slices of processed cheese (much like
Kraft Singles
Kraft Singles is a brand of processed cheese product manufactured and sold by Kraft Foods, introduced in 1950. Kraft individually wrapped "slices" are not really slices off a block, but formed separately in manufacturing. In the US, Kraft Single ...
)
* Dairylea Strip Cheese; strips of processed cheese packaged in a single serving block, visually similar to
string cheese
String cheese is any of several different types of cheese where the manufacturing process aligns the proteins in the cheese, which makes it stringy.
When mozzarella is heated to 60 °C (140 °F) and then stretched, the milk proteins ...
* Dairylea Dunkers; snacks consisting of cheese spread dip and
breadsticks
Breadsticks, also known as grissini, grissino or dipping sticks, (''ghërsin'' in ) are generally pencil-sized sticks of crisp, dry baked bread that originated in Piedmont, a region of Italy. There is also a soft-baked breadstick version popul ...
,
tortilla chips
A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, vege ...
,
Ritz Crackers
Ritz Crackers is a brand of snack cracker introduced by Nabisco in 1934. The original style crackers are disc-shaped, lightly salted, and approximately in diameter.. Each cracker has seven perforations and a finely scalloped edge. Today, the R ...
or jumbo tubes (much like The Laughing Cow Cheez Dippers)
* Dairylea
Lunchables
Lunchables is a brand of food and snacks manufactured by Kraft Heinz in Chicago, Illinois and marketed under the Oscar Mayer brand. They were initially introduced in Seattle in 1988 before being released nationally in 1989. Many Lunchables produc ...
Stackers; lunchbox staple of crackers, processed cheese and
ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
or
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
slices. Briefly discontinued under the Dairylea brand, it has since returned.
* Dairylea Snackers; as with Lunchables but without meat, and containing mini
Oreos
Oreo () (stylized as OREO) is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet creme filling. It was introduced by Nabisco on March 6, 1912, and through a series of corporate acquisitions, mergers and splits ...
or mini
chocolate chip cookies
* Dairylea Filled Crackers;
Discontinued formats of Dairylea include:
* Dairylea Rippers
* Dairylea Double Dunkers; as with Dairylea Dunkers but with two dips, either pizza sauce or salsa, and the dunkers were pizza-flavoured crackers and tortilla chips respectively
* Dairylea Dunkers Fromage Frais; strawberry flavoured fromage frais with biscuits
* Dairylea Tri-Bites; wax-sealed processed cheese triangles, similar to
Babybel
Mini Babybel () is a brand of small snack cheese products that are individually packaged and available in various flavours. It is a product of Le Groupe Bel (), a company with roots in the Jura region of France, started by Jules Bel in 1865. ...
* Dairylea Lunchables Pizza (reintroduced in 2016 as "Dairylea Lunchables Stackers Pepperoni Pizza" with a different recipe)
* Dairylea Lunchables Double Cheese stackers
* Dairylea Lunchables Hotdogs, Chicken Burgers, Pitta Pouches, Subs and Wraps
* Dairylea Lunchables Fun Packs; a complete lunch consisting of one variant of Lunchables, a
Capri-Sun
Capri-Sun (, ) is a brand of juice concentrate drinks based in Germany and Switzerland. Invented by Rudolf Wild, it was introduced in West Germany in 1969 by his company as Capri-Sonne (a name retired in favor of the English name in 2017). ...
pouch (later replaced with orange juice) and a treat item of mini
Daim
DAIM (, like the coin ''dime''; born 1971 as Mirko Reisser) is a German graffiti artist who lives and works in Hamburg. He is particularly known for his large-size, 3D-style graffiti works. This has become known as his trademark. For his technica ...
bars, mini
Milka
Milka is a brand of chocolate confectionery, originally made in Switzerland in 1901 by Suchard. It has then been produced in Lörrach, Germany for the past 100 years. Since 2012 it has been owned by US-based company Mondelez International, when ...
bars or a mini roll (later replaced with a strawberry yogurt pouch)
Dairylea also comes in both its original form and a 'Dairylea Light' product marketed as 7% fat. Kraft implies that the product is credited with getting children more interested in cheese. It is also branded as Susanna in Italy.
History
Dairylea triangles were first introduced in 1950.
In the early 21st century, Dairylea Lunchables were advertised as being "full of good stuff", though the product contained high amounts of salt and saturated fats. Despite a 2007 reformulation that reduced salt content by 9% and saturated fat content by 34%, the claim "full of good stuff" was banned by the UK's
Advertising Standards Authority. Kraft meanwhile stated that the salt content in Lunchables had been reduced by a third between 2005 and 2007.
Sponsorship
In the late 1990s, Dairylea Dunkers sponsored the
1999–2000 British Basketball League season, in the
British Basketball League
The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
.
See also
*
List of spreads
This is a list of spreads. A spread is a food that is literally spread, generally with a knife, onto food items such as bread or crackers. Spreads are added to food to enhance the flavor or texture of the food, which may be considered bland witho ...
References
External links
*
{{Processed cheese
Kraft Foods brands
Mondelez International brands
Namur (province)
Processed cheese