A variety of Organic Valley products over a green background

The Story Behind Our Package.

You found us! That web address on the bottom of your package brought you here, and we’re glad it did. If you’re interested in learning more about our packaging, you came to the right place. The short version: it’s filled with the organic food you love, from the 1,500+ small organic family farms that produce it. We’re here to tell you more about how we prioritize both quality and safety to ensure your food is safe, fresh and protected when it’s on its way to you.

Food Safety and Freshness First.

Dairy is a wonderful thing, but it’s also a sensitive one. It’s perishable. It’s affected by light, temperature, and time. So when we choose packaging, we start with a fundamental question: what will keep this food safe and tasting its freshest, from our farms to your fridge? Every material decision flows from there.

Woman's hand reaching into a grocery store cooler for a half gallon of Organic Valley Whole Milk surrounded by other varieties of Organic Valley milk

The safety and quality of your food drives every packaging decision we make.

A Package Has a Big Job to Do.
That package in your hand is working harder than it looks. It has to shield a perishable organic product from light and air, hold up through shipping and handling, keep a tight seal from filling line to breakfast table, and lock in the fresh-from-the-pasture taste our farmers work sunup to sundown for.
Our cows spend more than 120 days each year plus anytime weather allows grazing on pasture, compared to most cows in the US that rarely go outside, and our average herd is below 70 cows, small enough that our farmers know their animals by name and personality. A lot of care goes into every drop.
What Touches Your Food Matters to Us, Too.
We know many of you have questions about packaging materials, and we welcome them. Here’s where we stand:
We comply with all applicable state and federal packaging regulations, and we work closely with our packaging suppliers as safety standards continue to evolve.
From Our Family Farms to Your Family Table
Behind every package are 1,500+ small organic family farms, owned and run by the farmers themselves since seven of them got together in 1988 and decided there had to be a better way. Same rigorous USDA Certified Organic standards. Same pasture-raised care, with no antibiotics, no artificial growth hormones, and no GMOs used on our farms. Same cooperative, owned by farmers, not shareholders. Organic, not organic-ish.
Thanks for caring enough to look closer. That curiosity is exactly what we love about the folks who choose Organic Valley.

We’re Not Done. We Never Are.

Caring for the land is in our cooperative’s bones. Our farmers rotate pastures, plant trees, and protect pollinators while producing wholesome organic food. By farming organically, we estimate our farms have kept over 540 million pounds of agrochemicals off the land since 1988. That’s the kind of long-haul thinking we bring to everything we do. Packaging is part of that same commitment. There’s always more to learn, and we’re committed to moving forward with the same persistence our farmers show season after season.

4 kids laying down in a field of flowers

Recycling rules are local. Here's how to find yours.

Recycling in this country happens town by town. What your community accepts in the bin can be different from what the community next door accepts, and those guidelines change as local programs grow. So when it comes to an empty package, your local waste hauler or city website is the best source for what to do where you live. We also recommend using localized directories like Earth911 and RecycleNation to find nearby drop-off locations for specific items. A few habits help any recycling program run better: give food and drink containers a quick rinse, keep recycling loose in the bin, and when in doubt, check locally.