Bottles and tubs

Sizes, and the household that buys weekly

Updated October 2026

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The range we hold Match the size to the consumption rate Single serve is a different product Headspace and reseal Cost a container as a container References

Size here is a shelf-life decision disguised as a merchandising one, because a container that outlives its date in somebody’s fridge is a bad experience you paid to create.

The range we hold

The qualifying shelf runs from about 237 ml to 946 ml. That covers a single-serve pot at one end and a family container at the other, and it stops short of the larger food-service formats, which sit on a different shelf.

Match the size to the consumption rate

A household that eats a pot a day can take the large container. One that has a spoonful twice a week cannot, and will throw part of it away. Selling somebody the size they finish is better business than selling them the size with the best unit price, because this is a repeat purchase and the memory of waste stops it.

Single serve is a different product

It solves the date problem completely, it carries far more packaging per unit of product, and it reaches buyers who would never take a large container. It is also the format most likely to be bought on impulse rather than on a list.

Headspace and reseal

A large container is opened repeatedly across a week, so each use adds air and a reseal. The product in the bottom of a big container has had a very different life from the product at the top, which is another reason the date and the size are related.

Cost a container as a container

A small pot and a large one cost nearly the same to fill, label and move, so costing from a per-ounce figure makes the small one look more profitable than it is. Work out what each format has to earn separately, and include the chilled freight.

References

21 CFR 131.200, Yogurt: not less than 3.25 percent milkfat and not less than 8.25 percent milk solids not fat, with “a pH of 4.6 or lower measured on the finished product within 24 hours after filling.” law.cornell.edu

21 CFR 1240.61, Mandatory pasteurization for all milk and milk products in final package form intended for direct human consumption, which prohibits delivering such a product into interstate commerce unless it has been pasteurized or is made from pasteurized dairy ingredients. law.cornell.edu

Written from federal regulation and FDA guidance, not from a laboratory. Pasteurization of milk and milk products in final package form for interstate commerce is a federal requirement, and what your state permits inside its own borders is a separate question. Anything here is a starting point for a conversation with your state department of agriculture, not a determination that you comply.