MOO-ville takes over ice cream supply at MSU Dairy Store

THURSDAY, Dec. 16 — Nearly all of the ice cream being served at the MSU Dairy Store this week was outsourced from MOO-ville Creamery because of some recent hiccups tied to the usual production flow at the on-campus dairy plant, university officials confirmed this week.

Of about 20 ice cream flavors being served at the store today, only “Spartan Swirl” and “Izzo’s Malted Madness” were produced at the dairy plant. The rest was made by MOO-ville Creamery in Nashville, Michigan, according to a manager who was working at the store this afternoon.

“After being shut down for more than a year, it takes some time to get the MSU Dairy plant back up and running. In the meantime, we are serving both remaining inventory produced in MSU facilities in 2020 along with ice cream produced by our partners,” an MSU spokeswoman said.

“We look forward to making MSU Dairy Store ice cream in our facilities as soon as the plant is back in the swing of things, but in the meantime we are grateful for our partnership that allow the MSU Dairy Store to continue making delicious ice cream by Spartans, for Spartans.”

The first building containing a plant dedicated to dairy manufacturing was built on MSU’s campus in 1913. In the late '80s, the university received a $5.5 million grant to renovate Anthony Hall into the Dairy Foods Complex. In addition to ice cream, the dairy plant also produces a variety of cheese and other cultured products that are sold at various MSU-branded retailers.

Dairy operations were “paused'' last September because of economic disruptions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. The store reopened ahead of the fall semester this year — though its actual dairy manufacturing operations have now been quietly idled for longer than a year. The only in-house ice cream being served at the counter today was from a batch produced in 2020. 

An MSU spokeswoman didn’t respond to questions about what factors were causing the dairy plant disruptions or provide an estimate how long it would take for dairy production to resume.

For now, however, it appears that Spartans are still in good hands. MOO-Ville Creamery was recently recognized by the North American Ice Cream Association for its flavorful chocolate ice cream at the association’s annual Conecon last month in Orlando, Florida, MLive reports.