Study Finds Milk Containers Under-Filled
Processors under-filled containers of milk, other dairy products and juice in more than 40% of the samples inspected in a government study that suggests consumers aren’t always getting what they pay for.
Federal and state officials say they’re troubled by the prevalence of “short-filling” uncovered in a 20-state survey, including California, conducted in April and May by four federal agencies and state officials.
Although officials didn’t point to any evidence of fraud, the investigation raises questions for U.S. dairy processors. Jerry Kozak, senior vice president of the International Dairy Foods Assn., an industry trade group, conceded that the report uncovered problems that dairy companies must address.
“Many different factors may have unintentionally contributed to the problems discovered by the survey,” Kozak said. “The dairy industry is fully committed to working with federal and state officials to rectify the situation.”
Investigators found the problem to be most severe with products delivered to schools and hospitals. Of 858 inspection lots--groups of similar products produced at the same time--almost half, 411, failed because of short-filling. Individual containers were under-filled by as much as 6%.
“The prevalence of short-filling is troubling for everyone--from consumers and school districts, who, quite reasonably, expect to get what they pay for, to competitors who haven’t skimped,” said Jodie Bernstein, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection bureau.
The report was issued jointly by the FTC, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.
The study focused primarily on milk, which accounted for more than $8 billion in revenue for processors last year. More than 45% of the lots of milk studied failed the test.
To reach their conclusions, inspectors took a random sample of packages from each lot. If the average of those samples was less than the amount stated on the package label--or if the samples varied too widely--the lot failed the inspection.
Dairy processors say short-fills often occur unintentionally because of equipment limitations and outdated quality-control techniques. For example, they said, the different densities of various kinds of milk require changes in equipment settings between production runs--changes that often aren’t made properly.
Government officials say they will follow up the study with more rigorous inspection systems and a nationwide business education program. Industry officials pledged to cooperate with that effort.
