Yogurt is New York state's official snack, but food plant workers getting pink slips anyway

An upstate New York yogurt company says it's laying off more than 30 workers, an announcement made just as yogurt became the state's official snack.

Local media report that Bogota, Colombia-based Alpina Foods said Wednesday it will lay off 32 employees at its plant in the town of Batavia, between Rochester and Buffalo.

Company officials say they're cutting the workforce in response to the early end of one of its principal contracts. Alpina reported having about 50 full-time workers and another 40 part-timers at the two-year-old plant last year.

The company says it remains committed to western New York.

The announcement came around the same time Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that makes yogurt the state snack, and on the same day a yogurt and dairy summit was being held in Ithaca.