With all the controversy over hormones and antibiotics in milk, whether or not organic milk is really organic, and if your milk is from cloned or genetically modified cows, it’s becoming easier to just pass on dairy. However, what about those dishes that just need cheese for that finishing touch, or creamer for coffee, or yogurt (oh I LOVE yogurt) and what childhood summer day isn’t complete without ice cream? Clearly, my Indiana roots have ingrained a love for milk/dairy in me.
There has to be a better way than putting small family dairy farms out of business by boycotting dairy altogether, right? Yes! Now, thanks to the ingenious website, Where is My Milk From? you can use the dairy code listed by the expiration date and search the online database to find exactly what farm your milk, cheese, yogurt, etc., came from. Enter the code by the expiration date, for example 06-01 (the code on my organic half and half), and the site does the rest, in my case it brings up H. P. Hood LLC in Sacramento, California.
When you enter your milk code, it will bring up the name of the dairy as well as a map. I just wrote them an email suggesting they include a link to the dairy’s website if available. On the site, you can also search for local dairy farms if you want to support local farmers or take your family on an educational farm trip. My grandparents had a dairy farm – very cool field trip idea, but always check with the farm owner to set up a time to check it out. Buying local or at least from small, family owned dairies is the best way to beat industrial farms. Check it out, sit with your kids and make a game out of seeing where your dairy products come from. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do this for all our food, not just milk?! Go ahead, ask Where is my Milk From?
For more information on antibiotics, hormones and milk from cloned cows check out the article, Milk it Does a Body Good?
