RE: Carton Shortages         
     
        Unfortunately, effective immediately, you may begin to experience milk shortages and/or changes to your orders. Pactiv Evergreen, which supplies cartons to Cream-O-Land Dairies and other milk processing companies across the United States, is experiencing major production issues. These production issues have depleted most of our half pint (8 oz) and 4 oz carton supply.
        Pactiv Evergreen has notified us that it will supply less than 50% of our weekly needs of cartons to meet customer demand in the eastern United States. We alerted the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late September that Pactiv Evergreen was experiencing severe production issues. In the weeks since, we have been working diligently to find solutions to meet our customers’ needs. This includes attempting to purchase cartons from Tetra Pak, the only other carton supplier in the United States. Unfortunately, Tetra Pak informed us that it is no longer accepting new customers due to the increase in demand from their existing customers. Consequently, we are actively searching for carton suppliers in other countries. However, due to federal laws regarding food safety, international suppliers may require additional time to be approved to sell cartons in the United States.                
        Starting immediately and continuing over the next few months, you may not receive the milk that was requested on your order. Due to these supply constraints, we will only be able to ship the inventory that we have available. At this time, we have prioritized the two most ordered items; cartons labeled “1%“ and “Fat Free Chocolate”, both 8 oz, half pint cartons . We are doing everything we can to ensure that schools can serve milk to every child that wants it. Additionally, larger sizes such as gallons, half gallons, and quarts are available and can be ordered to supplement possible shortages.       
        For information about the federal government’s response to the carton supply chain challenges, please see enclosed letter, dated October 25, 2023, from the United States Department of Agriculture to directors of state agencies and school food authorities that administer special nutrition programs and child nutrition programs. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience to you and your customers. We will keep you informed of any updates regarding the situation. If you have any questions regarding this issue, please do not hesitate to reach out to your sales representative.

Scott Stoner
Vice President of Operations

USDA Letter:
Child_Nutritional_Letter