Now that SB 201 is no longer in play, what is happening at the dairies?

At this time, the dairies appear to be under more scrutiny and closer to degrades in more products than at any other point this year. On October 6, one dairy’s raw cream reached 3 out of 5 fails on the coliform test and was degraded. Hence, no new raw cream from this dairy will be delivered to stores this week, or until they get a good test back. This dairy’s raw milk is currently at 2 out of 4 fails. In the last few weeks, this same dairy has also seen more inspectors more often at their site scrutinizing their operations and mandating costly changes that have nothing to do with milk production and have not been an issue for 8 years.

Similarly, the other dairy reached 3 out of 5 fails on its raw nonfat milk and was also degraded on October 6, so will not be shipped until a test is passed. Their raw whole milk has 1 fail, so needs 2 more to be degraded. This dairy cannot afford to be dumping milk for days at a time.

It is obvious that the dairies cannot operate indefinitely under these conditions, and that we will begin to see disruptions in product supply more often. They are losing tens of thousands of dollars as they try their best to pass these meaningless and inaccurate tests and keep milk available to us in stores. Meanwhile, good milk is being wasted. One dairy spent close to 1 million dollars last year on a new facility and stands to lose this investment along with their own home.