Media reports about global food inflation have come fast and furious in recent weeks. And while there certainly are reasons to be concerned that continued price hikes will cause budding dairy consumers in emerging markets to temper their buying habits, there is also evidence that the developing world has come to accept that dairy in the diet doesn’t come on the cheap.

In late November, more than two years after China issued a blanket recall of all domestically manufactured dairy products in an attempt to choke off its melamine scandal, Chinese authorities found yet another batch of products—this time a corn-flavored dairy beverage—with excessive levels of melamine.

There’s a general pattern to how cultures new to dairy take up the products—a learning curve of acceptance. It goes something like this: milk powder to fluid milk to yogurt to cheese. China is nearing the cheese stage.

In late 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed new, preliminary rules for supplementary foods designed to treat and prevent moderate malnutrition. Those guidelines suggest that roughly one-third of the protein in food aid products (making up 8-10 percent of the product by weight) should be animal-derived. WHO’s recommendation opened the door for U.S. dairy suppliers to a whole new business channel of substantial size.

Global demographics are shifting, and central to that shift is the expansion of the world’s middle class.

Earlier this year, for the first time, Burger King’s 38 Taiwanese stores began using U.S. cheese on their menus. The debut (on two combo meals and six a la carte burgers) was accompanied by a major promotion for the chain’s made-to-order “Big” burgers.