Making the choice to buy local milk is important for your health, your family’s health, your local community and the commonwealth. Pennsylvania-produced milk and dairy products can be found in grocery stores, markets and local restaurants. There are two ways to know if the milk you purchase is Pennsylvania dairy.
PA Preferred
The surest way to know your milk is 100% Pennsylvania is to look for the PA Preferred logo. PA Preferred is a state branding campaign to ensure consumers they’re supporting agribusinesses from their home state. Processors distributing milk with the PA Preferred logo on the final product are required to source 100% of their dairy from Pennsylvania farmers.
Plant Code 42
If you can’t find the PA Preferred logo on milk in your grocery store dairy case, look for the plant code. Milk with a plant code beginning with “42” means the milk is processed in Pennsylvania and sourced predominately from Pennsylvania dairy farms.
Plant codes are usually printed near the top of the container or on the lid, sometimes they’re printed right on the label. The first, and most important, part of the code will always be two numbers (between 01 and 56 – this identifies the state where the milk was processed. Pennsylvania’s magic number is 42!