I recently was hired for a position as a production supervisor for a facility that manufactures fluid milk (including chocolate), fruit juices, sour cream, assorted dips and eggnog (seasonal). I am looking to update my reference library in the areas of production and QC testing for such products.
What reference books might you suggest?

Suggest latest version of:

1. Standard methods for Examination of Dairy Products (Marschall et.al.)
2. Applied Dairy Microbiology Second Edition edited by Elmer H. Marth and James L. Steele
3. DAIRY TECHNOLOGY Principles of Milk Properties and Processes by P. Walstra et al.
4. Milk and Dairy Product Technology Edited by Edgar Spreer

Can you recommend a book to learn more about cheese, more about cheese from a worldwide cuisine perspective, less about manufacturing and food science? I guess I am looking for an encyclopedia of sorts, with a little bit of everything.

You might try "Cheeses of the World" foreword by Patrick Rance. It gives descriptions and history of about 200 varieties of cheese.

We are looking for innovative ways to get rid of returned/outdated products that come back to us from the stores (milk, sour cream, dips, orange juice etc.) Currently, we have a hog farmer who picks this up. In the past we have put the products in a landfill when the hog farmer hasn't been able to utilize the waste. We have offered the returns to farmers (for free) to spread over their fields but we have had no customers. Have you folks done anything with this type of waste or know of a dairy that is getting creative with their returns?

Contact your local regional dairy inspector to get some suggestions on how to effectively deal with returns.

What can be done to minimize foaming on a filler line of skim and 1% milk? The foam must be related to the amount of butterfat since we only get this on low fat/no fat milk.

There are automatic defoaming devices built into fillers. You should contact your filler representative for some guidance. Also suggest you look at design of your system (proper slope of pipelines) and no leaks in lines (good gaskets) so that their is not a lot of excessive air being incorporated in the lines.