Milk pulled on claims of early spoiling

Food Lion pulled hundreds of quart-size cartons of milk at more than 1,200 stores Thursday after some customers complained that the milk had spoiled prematurely.

Half-gallon and gallon containers were unaffected.

At this point, both Food Lion and its supplier, Marva Maid Dairy of Newport News, Va., said they are not sure what might be causing the milk to spoil early.

"We've got our lab going through," said Danny Lovell, division manager for Marva Maid. "We'll find out. But until we do, nobody wants to give out false information."

Marva Maid supplies milk for other major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Walgreens and 7-Eleven, but Lovell said only Food Lion brand milk is affected.

The number of products pulled from shelves is small, Lovell said. No exact count was available Friday, but Lovell said 90 percent of milk sales are one-gallon bottles, which were unaffected.

"Some stores only take a case of quarts a week," he said.

Rafael Auras, an assistant professor at Michigan State University's School of Packaging, said the fact that only cartons were pulled from shelves probably indicates a problem with the production or processing of the cartons, rather than with the milk.

"The only question here is, what was the failure when you packaged the milk in the paper containers?" he said.

Despite concerns about the milk, Food Lion did not issue a formal recall to alert consumers. On Friday, there were no signs in the store at the Mini City shopping center on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh telling consumers the milk had been pulled.

Company spokeswoman Karen Peterson said no announcement was necessary because there have been no reported illnesses.

"Food Lion took this action based on customer complaints," she said. "We would issue a press release if there were a food safety issue."

The Food and Drug Administration cannot order a recall, according to the agency's Web site. If a company's products are found to be defective or harmful and the company refuses to voluntarily issue a recall, the FDA can take legal action for the seizure of available product.

Still, consumers who purchased the milk felt the lack of notification was unfair on the part of the Salisbury-based chain.

"People are probably drinking the stuff," said Carthage resident Barbara Fowler, who purchased a carton of the affected milk a week ago. "At this point, I don't want any more milk of any kind."