Dairy plant producing milk with a longer shelf life
US - A century-old Roxbury milk-processing plant is using technology to produce ultrapure milk that has an extended shelf life, according to Cyrus Schwartz, president of Mountainside Farms.
11 September 2006
1 minute read
Schwartz said the Mountainside Farms factory, on state Route 30 between Roxbury and Grand Gorge, is more than 100 years old, but to survive in a time when most small, privately owned milk plants have been sold and consolidated into big concerns, it was necessary to develop value-added products.
Demand has grown for organic milk, Schwartz said, but a lot of people don’t want to have to pay the premium price, so Mountainside Farms is using technology developed in Canada to produce milk that is free of hormones and antibiotics.
"Our customers have been telling us that they want access to many of the qualities that organic milk provides, but didn’t want to pay the $4 to $5 charge per half gallon," Schwartz said. "UltraPure gives them many of the same health benefits at a cost that’s closer to that of conventional milk."
Mountainside Farms tests all of its milk for the presence of the six antibiotics most commonly used on dairy cows, surpassing the mandatory testing required by state and federal regulations by 20 percent, Schwartz said.
Source: The Daily Star
