Cass-Clay Creamery is donating nearly 25,000 cartons of shelf-stable milk to the Great Plains Food Bank, which will be distributed through its networks of food pantries, shelters and soup kitchens throughout North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota.
Cass-Clay General Manager Scott Boll says that while milk is one of the most requested items at the Food Bank and other charitable feeding programs, it can be very difficult for them to have refrigeration storage capacity for the product. Boll says regular milk has a shelf life of about 20 days, but the Giving Cow shelf-stable milk can last up to a year thanks to its high-temperature pasteurization process.
"It's a process that's called ultra high temperature, referred to as UHT, as opposed to an HTST product that you would buy at the grocery shelf. So that's how they're able to get that extended shelf life. Normally, fresh milk that's produced here in Fargo will last for 21, or dated for 21 days, where this will last for up to a year non-refrigerated. And again - it's 100 percent milk, but just the process it goes through, it's able to have that kind of shelf life."
Boll says the milk is also very popular and handy for back-pack distribution programs, and that it tastes a lot like regular milk.
Cass-Clay, in partnership with the North Dakota Grocers Association, plans to distribute 82,000 Giving Cow milk packs to the Great Plains Food Bank. Food Bank spokesperson Jared Slinde says more than 121,000 individuals throughout the region are facing hunger, with more than 40,000 of those being children.