AUSTIN, Texas — Two Central Texas school districts are reassuring parents after they learned of spoiled milk cartons in their cafeterias.
Last Thursday, March 23, Florence ISD posted on its Facebook page that its Child Nutrition Department was made aware of an issue with milk dated March 28. The district said it immediately isolated the impacted milk and replaced it with milk dated April 5.
The district said it contacted its dairy vendor and learned the situation is a widespread issue.
Elgin ISD was also impacted. In a letter to parents Tuesday morning, the district said its own Child Nutrition Services department was notified of possible prematurely spoiled milk with March 2023 expiration dates. Like Florence ISD, Elgin ISD immediately isolated cartons with March dates and replaced them with cartons featuring April dates.
In a press release, dairy vendor Hiland Dairy Foods said that its Austin operation was made aware that half pints of fat-free chocolate milk delivered to Elgin ISD had spoiled before their expiration date. Hiland said it immediately picked up all the affected milk.
The company said the milk was produced by a co-packer partner, not at a Hiland manufacturing location. Hiland immediately contacted its co-packer and, after an internal investigation, the co-packer found an issue with one of its half-pint carton-filling machines.
The co-packer determined the issue impacted the quality of the milk, reducing its shelf-life. Hiland said the co-packer immediately corrected the issue and assured that they have fixed its cause.
Hiland said that it upholds strict standards when it is processing and packaging its milk and it holds its co-packers to the same standards. The company said as part of its corrective actions, it plans to review its co-packers' ability to "produce high-quality products and adhere to effective communication procedures."
"We have yet to identify issues in cooling; however, if milk is stored above 45 degrees Fahrenheit, it will spoil prematurely," Hiland said. "We will review the proper cold chain procedures throughout the supply chain."