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By Jennifer Yousfi

Although meat-and-dairy prices are expected to zoom even higher from their current record levels, this slice of the commodities boom won’t be a slam-dunk profit play for investors: Many food producers are watching the revenue gains they’re reaping from the rising market prices get wiped out by even bigger spikes in commodity-related expenses.

Dean Foods Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food and beverage company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Dairy Group and WhiteWave Foods. The Dairy Group segment engages in the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of various branded and private label dairy case products, including half-and-half, whipping cream, dairy coffee creamers, and ice cream mix; ice cream and ice cream novelties; yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, and dairy-based dips; fruit juice, fruit-flavored drinks, ice tea, and water; and butter, cheese, eggs, and milk shakes. This se

photo credit: Zesmerelda

This article is a reprint of my February 25, 2008 RealMoney column

What is wrong with Dean Foods (DF)? After all with everyone from Starbucks (SBUX) to Hershey’s (HSY) getting hurt by rising milk costs, I would expect the “largest processor and distributor of milk and various other dairy products in the United States” to be living in the land of milk and honey.

Yet somehow, Dean has managed to get itself on the wrong side of every dairy-related position (so much for Peter Lynch’s invest in what you know theory.) For example, the company describes the current dairy en