With all the disruptions in our lives lately, people have been asking great questions about the dairy supply chain. When you grab that gallon off the shelf, how much work went into getting it there?
Short answer: A lot.
Long answer: Let's time travel back two days ago to see where that gallon got its start.
Cows on our local dairy farms are eating, relaxing, and getting milked.
Their milk is collected in a large tank and waits to be picked up by the milk truck.
The milk truck arrives, and the driver takes a sample of the milk for testing at the processing and bottling plant. Each tanker load of milk must test negative for antibiotics or contaminants before it can be processed.
After the testing, milk is unloaded into big silos, processed and pasteurized, and bottled.
Once in the familiar gallon jug, the milk is then loaded back up and delivered to the grocery store.
The entire process from the farm to the store takes less than 48 hours!
