Is Milk Local?

Dairy milk remains a consistently local food.

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: Yes. Even as food supply chains have become longer and more complicated, the majority of milk and dairy products in our region are sourced from family farms in New England or Eastern New York.

While some dairy farms in our region bottle and sell their own milk directly, the majority of family farms belong to a co-op and have their milk picked up daily or every other day and it’s sent to a nearby processor. There, it is pooled together with milk from other dairy farms in the region and is pasteurized. The milk is then packaged and distributed for stores, schools, and other businesses as fluid milk or is turned into other dairy products we love like cheese, butter, ice cream, and yogurt.

From Farm to You

If just being pasteurized and packaged as fluid milk, the whole process from farm to store occurs in just about 48 hours. Talk about farm fresh!

How can I tell if the milk or dairy product I purchased from a grocery store was processed in New England, New York, or in my specific state?

Each container of milk is identified by a 5-digit code. The code includes a 2-digit state code followed by a 3-digit processing plant code.

Visit www.whereismymilkfrom.com and enter your code. You can also find this code on other dairy products like yogurt, coffee creamer, cottage cheese, ice cream, and more.

2-Digit Codes for States in the Northeast:

 

New England Code
Connecticut 09
Massachusetts 25
New Hampshire 33
Vermont 50
Rhode Island 44
Maine 23

 

Other States Code
New York 36
Pennsylvania 42
New Jersey 34

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