Morningstar Foods Inc., a subsidiary of Dallas-based Suiza Foods Corporation (NYSE: SZA), and Hershey Foods Corp. (NYSE: HSY) today announced a strategic alliance in which Morningstar Foods will be the first company to manufacture, sell and distribute Hershey brand name dairy products nationally.

Hershey®’s Milks On Store Shelves This September

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“We are thrilled to be working with Hershey to develop new national products for the dairy aisle,” said Bing Graffunder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Morningstar Foods. “We’re especially pleased that our first effort together — the national launch of three Hershey’s Milk flavors – – will appear in supermarkets and convenience stores throughout the country beginning in September.”

“We believe that working with Morningstar to distribute the milks nationally is a great way to kick off our relationship and we think consumers will be delighted with the flavors as well as the new packaging,” said Dorothy Pharmer, Licensing Manager, Hershey Foods Corporation.

Working Together to Give Consumers Great Taste and Nutrition and Improved Packaging

All three flavors of the Hershey’s Milks are calcium-fortified and are the only nationally-available milks that provide consumers with 67% more calcium than regular milk, along with great taste in reduced fat or fat free formulations. Hershey Foods put considerable effort into improving the chocolate base formulation for the two flavors of chocolate milk. According to Global Research Partners*, that conducted a mall-intercept blind taste test of chocolate milks, Hershey’s Milks were preferred by adults and children (12- 17) to those flavored milks of a leading national competitor.

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Morningstar Foods will offer the new milks in updated and redesigned gable top packaging with convenient plastic pouring spouts. All three milks will be available in the following sizes: Pints (Hershey’s Fat Free Chocolate, 2% Chocolate, 2% Strawberry); Quarts (2% Chocolate, 2% Strawberry) and Half Gallon (Hershey’s Fat Free Chocolate, 2% Chocolate).

A regional rollout will begin in September, reaching nationwide distribution in January 2001. The milks will be competitively priced in comparison to other national flavored milks.

Morningstar Foods Inc. is a subsidiary of Suiza Foods Corporation, the nation’s leading dairy processor and distributor, producing a full line of company-branded and customer-branded products.

Hershey Foods Corporation is the leading North American manufacturer of quality chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery and chocolate-related grocery products and has a variety of international operations.

Global Research Partners, based in Dallas, conducted a mall intercept, blind taste test of flavored milks with 240 respondents (adults and children ages 12-17) in June 2000 and found that the overall taste appeal of Hershey’s was significantly better at 90% confidence level to a leading national competitor.