The mystery behind milk in Canada

Canadians have heard many jokes and stereotypes about our beloved country, like our bills look like Monopoly money, and we say 'aboot' instead of 'about' (which we don't). Every Canadian is born with hockey skates, and the list goes on.

One thing that has baffled non-Canadian residents is that our milk comes in some parts of Canada come in bags, that's right, bags. While it may seem strange to those living outside "The Great White North," it's completely normal to Canadians.

So, when and why did Canada start selling milk in bags? I will get to that in a moment, but before we answer those questions, we should look at the history of milk.

According to historians, humans started consuming milk around 8,000 BCE in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. And over the years, humans have changed the way we consume and produce milk and other milk products.

There is a name that you may have heard, Louis Pasteur. He was a French Chemist and Microbiologist during the late 1800s'. His most notable works include fermentation and pasteurization.

Fermentation is the process that creates beer and other forms of alcohol using bacteria and other organisms. Pasteurization is responsible for removing harmful bacterias from certain liquids, such as milk.

Pasteurization uses a high-heat process, about 100°C (212°F), to kill any potential bacteria and diseases in the milk, making it safe to drink. And without pasteurization, stores cannot sell milk in stores.

Before we could buy milk in stores, those families who didn't live on a farm would have their milk delivered right to their doorsteps. These families would contact local farms to purchase their milk which a milkman would then deliver.

When this delivery process first started, the milkman would carry the milk in a container, and once he arrived at the home, the family would use whatever they had on hand to collect their milk.

It wasn't until 1878 when milk was delivered in glass bottles, making it easier to track how much milk a family was using. Now because there were no refrigerators during this time, milk was delivered daily and stored in a milk box.

A milk box was an insulated box located on the front porch of a home, and each morning the milkman would replace empty bottles with filled ones.

By the time the 1900s' came around, the milkman's concept became a thing of the past as access to vehicles and fridges became popular.

Now you can purchase milk from grocery stores, gas stations and even local farms.

So, when did Canada start placing their milk in bags? The answer, the late 1960s and the reason for it? In the 1970s' Canada changed from the imperial system to the metric system.

This change meant that farmers had to shift the way they packaged their milk products. The milk industry started experimenting with this change by using plastic bags, and during this process, they found out that going from glass bottles to plastic bags was an easy and cheap adjustment.

For example, a one qt bag of milk (imperial) is equivalent to 1.3L(Metric). Therefore, three qt bags equals 4L bags of milk.

Not every province in Canada uses milk bags; a few Western Provinces stopped using milk bags once plastic became cheaper. But not only were the bottles cheaper to produce, but they were also sturdier when compared to their bagged counterparts.

However, you can still find bags of milk in Ontario because, until 2018, retailers had to implement a recycling or deposit policy for plastic bottles. They did not need this policy when selling milk in bags.

Plastic milk containers are available for purchase in Ontario, but most Ontario milk consumers prefer to purchase their milk products in plastic bags.

So, there you have it, the not-so-secret mystery behind Canada's bags of milk.