Milk bottled in Vermont is printed with the number 50!
If you desire to support Vermont dairy farmers by purchasing more Vermont milk, one way to do so is to find milk that is bottled in Vermont. Our state is home to large dairy co-ops who ship your local farmers milk to a number of milk bottlers and processors in the New England area. However, much of it goes to bottlers in Vermont, which means if you can find "50" at your local grocery, you are likely supporting Vermont dairy farmers by purchasing that milk.
The code is printed on the bottle or container, near the top. The code can often also be found printed on the product label in some cases. It contains a "use-by" date, a time and day bottled, and most importantly, the state code and bottling plant code, seperated by a hyphen. This code allows the seller and buyer to know when their milk was bottled, when it likely should be consumed by, and what bottling plant in what state processed the milk. This is all knowledge you can use to support your Vermont dairy farmer!
If you're interested in learning more about dairy codes, please visit the US Food & Drug Administration rules and code breakdown.
To identify other state codes and bottling plants across the country, visit http://whereismymilkfrom.com/# . This site allows you to enter the code on the bottle and identify exactly where it was bottled.
