Dairy industry group working to stop purchase limits on milk

If your local grocery store still has a limit on how much milk a customer can buy, the state’s Department of Agriculture wants to know about it.

Despite the covid-19 pandemic disrupting the local dairy supply chain, agriculture officials announced the American Dairy Association North East is working to stop retailers from limiting milk sales.

Anyone who sees a store limiting milk sales in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and northeast Virginia is asked to take a photo, note the location, date and time and email the dairy association’s Beth Meyer at bmeyer@milk4u.org.

In spite of reports of empty dairy aisles, some Pennsylvania dairy farmers have found themselves with no option other than to dump excess milk, agriculture officials told the Tribune-Review last week.

Department officials said it was because dairy consumption levels are nowhere near their typical levels, primarily due to the statewide school closure.

“In the U.S., nearly 8% of all fluid milk is consumed in schools,” agriculture officials note.

Restaurants and institutions typically buy large plastic bags of milk for dispensers or one-serving cartons, and individual consumers buy gallons and half gallons. Dairy companies have production lines dedicated to creating those specific products, and “production lines are unable to easily switch to filling such different containers. Sometimes the shift must be to a different plant entirely,” said agriculture officials.

Between early panic buying, farmers’ limited storage space and a sizable drop in dairy products exported from the U.S., the higher rate of milk production that arrives with spring weather can’t be properly stored long enough, agriculture officials said.

In response, Pennsylvania legislators are encouraging residents to continue buying milk, and also to look for the plant code number 42 on milk containers, which indicates that it is milk from a Pennsylvania dairy farm.