Learn Where Your Milk Comes From

There is lots to love about milk. Milk is a simple, delicious, and affordable source of complete protein. With 8 grams of complete protein per serving, milk helps you build muscle, stay active, and recover. We often share that the milk you enjoy is a truly local product, too.

Now, you don’t have to take our word for it and wonder which direction your milk came from. If you are curious about where the milk you drink comes from—if it is from your hometown or that town with the good ice cream stand you can never remember the name of—there is now a way for you to find out.

It’s easy to discover how local your milk is. The secret lies in the code on your milk carton. But you don’t have to decode it yourself. All you need to do is go online.

Simply grab the milk from the fridge and look for a printed code, likely near the lid or on the label. Submit that code at whereismymilkfrom.com. That’s it! The code will pull the city and state and you will see how close the plant is that packaged your milk.

Wait, the plant? Don’t worry if you were hoping this trick would let you know if your milk is produced locally. Milk is often on store shelves within 48 hours of leaving the farm, so the plant location is a good indicator of how close that dairy farm is to you.

And that information should make you feel good about where your milk is coming from. At the plant, the milk is pasteurized to kill any bacteria that may be present. The milk is then homogenized—or vigorously shaken to keep the butterfat from sitting atop the milk. The milk is quality control tested, bottled, and shipped to grocery stores. It takes about two days for the milk to get from the cow to the store, and it’s tested multiple times so it’s fresh and safe, ready to be enjoyed by you and your family.

So enjoy that tall glass of milk as you learn more about where it comes from.