Milk carton shortage impacts schools across New York, could last into 2024

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Milk carton shortage impacts schools across New York, could last into 2024

Abigail Connolly, 4 hours ago

A milk carton shortage is impacting school districts nationwide, including those in central New York, making it difficult for districts to serve milk to students.

A shortage of pint-sized milk cartons is making it difficult for school districts to serve milk to students. Patrick Penfield, professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University, said this issue started when paper factories started to go out of business due to COVID-19.

“During COVID, a lot of the schools weren’t in session and so there really wasn’t any need for milk cartons,” Penfield said. “So that was one part of the supply chain and then the actual carton producers started to go out of business and started to close down facilities.”

Central New York State Sen. John Mannion called on the state education department to ensure students have access to milk in schools. The education department released guidance this week on serving milk in schools including pouring milk from larger containers into individual cups, offering one type of milk instead of a variety, with a last resort of not offering fluid milk altogether.

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