Containers for dairy and alternatives
For businesses packaging dairy and alternatives, with capacity, neck finish, case pack and case price published on every container.
Top picks for dairy and alternatives
32 oz Clear PET Square Grip Container$1.12 eachcase of 126
32 oz Clear PET Wide Mouth Container$1.40 eachcase of 144
8 oz Clear PET Single Wall Jar$0.48 eachcase of 480
16 oz Clear PET Single Wall Jar$0.66 eachcase of 245
250 cc White PET Packer Bottle$0.72 eachcase of 270
300 cc White HDPE Packer Bottle$0.56 eachcase of 385
8 oz Clear PET Honey Container$0.64 eachcase of 484
8.4 oz Clear PET Spice Bottle$0.51 eachcase of 285Guides
Getting started
Is this for you at allThe hardest regulated entry in this library, and the one with the shortest shelf life once you are in.What it costs to startPasteurizing equipment, refrigeration and a licensed space. The cheapest entry in this property is still not cheap.Turning a batch into a productA product is a documented pasteurization record, a culture you can reproduce, a date you can defend and a cold chain you can show.What your state allowsThe federal rule reaches interstate commerce. Raw milk inside a state is a state question with nine different answers.
The milk
Pasteurization is the law, not a choice21 CFR 1240.61 requires it for milk and milk products in final package form entering interstate commerce.Raw milk, and where it is allowedThe federal prohibition stops at the state line. Inside a state the answers range from retail sale to an outright ban.The cold chain, and the part you do not controlTemperature is a control that has to hold after the product leaves you, in vehicles and cabinets belonging to other people.Where the milk comes fromYour product inherits the herd, the season and the handling. Choose the supply before the recipe.
Culturing
What a culture actually doesIt eats lactose and makes lactic acid. The acid sets the protein and protects the product, in that order.Yogurt, and the number you already knowA pH of 4.6 or lower within 24 hours of filling. The same figure that defines an acidified food.Kefir, and what live means on a labelNo standard of identity, a mixed culture that keeps working, and a container that has to cope with gas.Cheese spread, cultured butter and the 60 day ruleSpreadable dairy is a different container problem, and unpasteurized cheese has a specific carve-out with a number in it.
Plant-based
What a plant-based alternative actually isAn extraction and a suspension. It is not milk and it does not behave like milk, which matters more than the marketing suggests.Naming a plant-based product, and the draft guidanceFDA has draft guidance recommending the plant source qualify the word and a voluntary nutrient statement. It is still a draft.Why the process differs from dairyExtraction instead of collection, stabilizers instead of fat, and a solid waste stream you have to do something with.
What goes wrong
It did not setA yogurt that stayed liquid. Temperature, a tired culture, or milk that was never going to make a firm gel.It separated or wheyed offLiquid on top of a set yogurt, or sediment in a plant beverage. Two different products with two different causes.It spoiled before its dateAlmost always the cold chain, sometimes contamination after the heat step. The date was a prediction and reality tested it.Off flavorsBitter, yeasty, metallic or cardboard. Each points somewhere different, and one of them points at light.The batch is inconsistentSet, flavor or thickness varying between batches. The milk changed, or the incubation did, and only records separate them.
Bottles and tubs
Why there is no glass on this shelf165 containers qualify for this use and every one is PET or HDPE. The cold chain and daily handling decide it.Light, and why dairy containers are opaqueLight-induced oxidation gives dairy a cardboard note within days. 64 of the 165 containers here block light.Tubs and wide mouths, and where the taxonomy is wrongHalf this property is spooned, not poured. The dominant 89-400 finish on this shelf says so.Closures, tamper evidence and pressureBuyers expect a seal they break. A live product may also need a closure that can cope with gas.Sizes, and the household that buys weekly237 to 946 ml on this shelf. The right size is the one a household finishes before the date.
Selling it
Dating it honestlyThe date is a prediction about a cold chain you do not control. Establish it at a realistic temperature.Naming it, and the words that carry a standardYogurt is defined. Kefir is not. Plant-based names are the subject of a draft guidance that is still moving.Who inspects youDairy is usually its own licensing track, with its own inspection schedule and its own records.What to chargeMilk is a commodity, the equipment is capital, and the waste is continuous. Price with wastage in from the start.
