# What Type of Factory Makes Milk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373 "2012-09-21T10:22:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Will\_Smirk\_for\_Food](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bc8723/32.png) [@Will\_Smirk\_for\_Food](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Smirk_for_Food)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/81 "2012-09-30T04:08:39Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Is revloting when you picket a minister’s house? I’m not sure about Revloting, but I think Revolting is when you jump start a car battery. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/82 "2012-09-30T06:11:52Z")
> [@Huvudtvatt](#): > > Is this a Whoosh? > > The milk comes from animals called “cows”. They live at places called “Farms”. The owner of the farm (“Farmer”) sells the milk to a “Dairy” or “Milk processing plant” where it is processed and packaged. (Sometimes these plants are owned by farmers’ collectives). The plastic-coated paper boxes was an invention by the company Tetra-pak. > [@gazpacho](#): > > Do you have a cite for Tetra inventing the milk carton. I see competing things on the internet saying the US style milk carton being invented by in the US in 1906 by G. W, Maxwell or in 1915 by John Van Wormer. > > The US style Milk carton looks different from the four sided carton that I think of as a tetra-pak. Wiki seems to think that the four sided tetra pak was invented around 1950. It’s probably a U.S./Europe thing. (The umlaut is a dead giveaway.) In Europe, milk is processed and packaged differently so that it is shelf stable and doesn’t need to be refrigerated until after it’s opened. I’m not sure all European milk is sold that way, but I believe it’s much more common than in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/83 "2012-09-30T13:18:42Z")
Where in the world is Magnesia, and what makes their milk so special? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/84 "2012-09-30T14:47:16Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > The last time I had a hamburger, it was made from this pinkish stuff called “ground beef” (turns brown when cooked), which presumably comes from beef. > > PS: When I was little, I once called hamburger “ham **booger** ”, which sounds unappetizing to say the least. What’s a beef? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/85 "2012-09-30T14:52:39Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > They take full-size hot dogs and turn 'em down on a lathe. And then they throw all the little blankets in the wash. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/86 "2012-09-30T15:38:15Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It’s probably a U.S./Europe thing. (The umlaut is a dead giveaway.) In Europe, milk is processed and packaged differently so that it is shelf stable and doesn’t need to be refrigerated until after it’s opened. > > I’m not sure all European milk is sold that way, but I believe it’s much more common than in the U.S. It’s called UHT (ultra high temperature) milk, and its popularity varies widely across Europe. As a general rule, [hotter countries use more UHT milk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing#Popularity) because refrigeration is more expensive (and in some cases, less available or reliable). I had assumed there was a bit of a cultural factor- UHT milk is a tiny fraction of the UK milk market, possibly because Britons consume more milk (in tea and coffee) than most Europeans- but it turns out British per capita milk consumption [isn’t actually higher](http://chartsbin.com/view/1491). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/87 "2012-09-30T22:37:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s called UHT (ultra high temperature) milk, and its popularity varies widely across Europe. As a general rule, [hotter countries use more UHT milk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing#Popularity) because refrigeration is more expensive (and in some cases, less available or reliable). > > I had assumed there was a bit of a cultural factor- UHT milk is a tiny fraction of the UK milk market, possibly because Britons consume more milk (in tea and coffee) than most Europeans- but it turns out British per capita milk consumption [isn’t actually higher](http://chartsbin.com/view/1491). I was kind of going from three relevant memories: 1. I used to see Parmalat sponsorship on the Brabham Formula One cars for years, and wondered what they did. 2. I went to Germany for three months once. I don’t remember the big, chilled dairy section in the grocery store that’s so typical in the U.S. 3. I used to work for someone from Great Britain, and he put Parmalat milk in his coffee. I have seen UHT milk in the States, but never tried it. Something about room temperature milk kinda turns me off to it. When drinking it, the colder, the better. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/88 "2012-09-30T23:25:51Z")
Yeah, Parmalat is the biggest UHT milk producer. I assume Germany, like the UK, has home delivery for milk. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/89 "2012-10-01T01:40:53Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I dunno about them “cows” and “milk” stuff, …but, man, what I wanna know is where they make chickens. > There’s something wrong with the factory where they make the whole chickens—The individual parts are pretty nicely packaged and well manufactured. But if you buy a new, complete unit it comes with all kinds of extra , yukky stuff inside. > I don’t get it—it must cost the factory more to make all that stuff, and then somehow insert it inside the chicken . Why bother? I’ll start a new thread on this; the topic has interested me for a long time. I hope you and others contribute. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/90 "2012-10-01T06:31:02Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > The idea that milk comes from farms is bullshit. I’ve been to a farm. I never once saw any milk carton plants. On dairy farms, you get both cow shit AND bullshit! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/91 "2012-10-01T07:11:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > They don’t? I thought pineapples grew on pine trees. > [@tdn](#): > > No, that’s where we get Pine-sol. (Just noticed the above-quoted items today.) Also, cinnamon comes from pine trees! I just discovered that a few years ago. Around December (I guess that’s when pine cones are in season), all the supermarkets around here sell cinnamon pine cones. Maybe they’ve always had them, but I just recently noticed. Who knew that cinnamon comes from pine cones? (And I think, if you cross a cow with a chicken and feed the babies cinnamon pine cones, they will produce egg-nog.) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/92 "2012-10-01T09:44:45Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > (The umlaut is a dead giveaway.) In this case it’s a ligature rather than an Umlaut. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > In Europe, milk is processed and packaged differently so that it is shelf stable and doesn’t need to be refrigerated until after it’s opened. Not in my part of Europe, I’ve only seen it in North Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/93 "2012-10-01T10:42:20Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yeah, Parmalat is the biggest UHT milk producer. I assume Germany, like the UK, has home delivery for milk. Wait, they still have milkmen in the UK? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/94 "2012-10-01T13:49:33Z")
Yeah, though it’s not as prevalent as it used to be. [QUOTE=Senegoid] Also, cinnamon comes from pine trees! I just discovered that a few years ago. Around December (I guess that’s when pine cones are in season), all the supermarkets around here sell cinnamon pine cones. Maybe they’ve always had them, but I just recently noticed. Who knew that cinnamon comes from pine cones? [/QUOTE] I hate to break it to you because you seem _really_ excited about this, but… cinnamon pine cones are just cinnamon scented pine cones. Cinnamon comes from the bark of a type of laurel tree called (imaginatively enough) [cinnamomum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamomum). ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/95 "2012-10-01T14:50:57Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yeah, though it’s not as prevalent as it used to be. > > I hate to break it to you because you seem _really_ excited about this, but… cinnamon pine cones are just cinnamon scented pine cones. Cinnamon comes from the bark of a type of laurel tree called (imaginatively enough) [cinnamomum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamomum). umm…I hate to break it to you, but I think you’ve just been wooshed. (hint: read the next sentence in the same post, wherein he disscusses the origin of egg nog…) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/96 "2012-10-01T16:28:52Z")
:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/97 "2012-10-01T16:30:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yeah, Parmalat is the biggest UHT milk producer. I assume Germany, like the UK, has home delivery for milk. AFAIK, only inasmuch as they have home delivery from the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/98 "2012-10-01T17:27:43Z")
Well, I don’t remember any chilled milk at the grocery store in Germany, but it was 8 years ago and I wasn’t specifically looking for it. It may have been there and I’ve forgotten. Or maybe just the particular store I went to didn’t have it; it was awfully small (although I thought they were all like that in Germany). Considering some of the questions that have been answered on this board, “do they sell cold milk in German grocery stores” shouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/99 "2012-10-04T21:07:28Z")
> [@Sally\_Mander](#): > > ``` > Quote: > Originally Posted by **Kimballkid** [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/images/buttons/viewpost.gif](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15513820#post15513820) > And you know what this "cow" also produces? Hamburgers!! > > ``` > > Yep, that’s one versatile mythical beast alright. > > No, hamburgers come from McDonald’s. Wait…wait… Those German tourists I met last weekend – the ones who said they were looking for a McDonald’s – they were just aliens trying to get home? Gee. I directed them to a cheap restaurant (Jack-In-The-Box, actually)! I guess I steered them wrong. :dubious: ----G ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373/100 "2012-10-05T02:08:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > :smack: Excellent self-deprecating username/subject singularity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-factory-makes-milk/635373.md?page=4)