Celebrate! - Fun Food Facts

Milk Day

Milk Day commemorates what many think was the first time milk deliveries in glass bottles began in the United States. Alexander Campbell of the New York Dairy Company professed to the New York State Senate that his company was the first to make these deliveries in 1878.

The females of all mammal species can by definition produce milk, but cow milk dominates commercial production. In 2011, FAO estimates 85% of all milk worldwide was produced from cows. Aside from cattle, many kinds of livestock provide milk used by humans for dairy products. These animals include buffalo, goat, sheep, camel, donkey, horse, reindeer and yak.

In the Middle Ages, milk was called the virtuous white liquor because alcoholic beverages were more reliable than water. In 1863, French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization, a method of killing harmful bacteria in beverages and food products and in 1884, American Doctor Hervey Thatcher of New York City, developed the first modern glass milk bottle, called 'Thatcher's Common Sense Milk Jar,' which was sealed with a waxed paper disk. Later, in 1932, plastic-coated paper milk cartons were introduced commercially as a consequence of their invention by Victor W. Farris.

Milk is processed into a variety of dairy products such as cream, butter, yogurt, kefir, ice cream and cheese. Modern industrial processes use milk to produce casein, whey protein, lactose, condensed milk, powdered milk and many other food-additive and industrial products.