Have you ever gone to the grocery store and wondered what the numbers on your milk jug mean? You have the sell by date, but then you have a random series of numbers. However, these numbers are not as random as they may seem. They actually tell you where your milk is from. The first two numbers, which range from 0-56, tell you the state of origin, and the series after the dash (which can be made up of only numbers, or letters and numbers) tell you dairy that it came from.
For example this gallon of milk:
36 means it came from NY, and 8185 means that it came from Garelick Farms LLC which is located here in Rensselaer County.
The image below shows the codes used for each state:
New York is 36, Massachusetts is 25, Vermont is 50, and Pennsylvania is 42.
The link below takes you to the site: Where is my Milk From? This website allows you to type in the code (usually found at the top of your dairy products) and it tells you exactly where the product is from.
Now that you understand the code, you can see how far your milk is traveling before it gets to you; that’s awesome!
Got Milk?
-Kayela
