A bill to push a change in the way Montanans sell milk in the state was run by legislators at the capitol today.

"It's basically a change for foreign consumers. We want to give them a little more information as to actually how long that particular gallon of milk that's on your grocery shelves will last," Representative Greg Hertz said. "In 1980, the Department of Livestock placed a rule that basically said you must sell milk within 12 days of pasteurization. Currently, we are operating under that rule, and if you don't sell that milk, as a retailer you just have to pour that milk out and throw it away."

Hertz said to replace the cost of one gallon, a retailer may have to sell up to 10 gallons of milk to make up the difference.

"There's a lot of consumers out there who also look at the date on the milk, you know maybe two or three days afterwards, and they decide to pour it down the drain too and that milk is perfectly good," Hertz said. "The hearing is at 3 p.m. Once we have the hearing, then more information gets out to other legislators. In fact, after this hearing, the bill will hopefully be hitting the House floor maybe at the end of next week and people will start to pick up on it."

Hertz said Montana is one of the few states across the country with some of the highest milk prices. Helena in particular had prices reported at around $4.00 per gallon. Couer d’Alene, Idaho is reported as one city with low milk prices at $2.19 per gallon.

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