Lewes Dairy’s history tied to the Brittingham family
Once you drink it, you are hooked. Lewes Dairy milk is like no other.
There is a good reason people like it, says Archie “Chip” Brittingham Jr., president, who has worked for the family business most of his life.
“It’s a good, fresh product, and we work hard to keep it that way,” he said.
| Raw milk is heated, cooled before you drink |
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Raw milk is routinely collected from three Sussex County dairies. Once the milk has been tested to ensure that it contains no antibiotics, it is cooled and stored in large holding tanks. To begin the process, Lewes Dairy uses a centrifugal cream separator to produce its rich, heavy cream, which is sold to many local restaurants and grocery stores. Then the raw milk is heated to a temperature of 172 degrees for 19 seconds to kill any organisms without altering the fresh taste, a process called pasteurization. Next, it is homogenized to break up the fat globules into very fine particles and then bottled.
Bottled milk products are stored in a cooler at 35 degrees until they are loaded onto refrigerated trailers for early morning delivery throughout the Delmarva Peninsula. |
Instead of passing through several hands, Lewes Dairy milk is delivered directly from the Pilottown Road dairy to area stores. Raw milk is processed within 24 hours or less.
“Lewes Dairy milk is very fresh,” said plant manager Phil Fields. “We never really take a day off. The cows don’t quit, so we don’t quit.”
It’s one of two dairies operating in the state and the only one in southern Delaware. Throughout the early- to mid-1900s, Brittingham said, there were as many as 100 dairies operating on the Delmarva Peninsula.
The dairy dates back to the days of horse-drawn carts with milk delivered or picked up directly at the Brittinghams’ Lewes farm. A fourth generation is now working at the family-run business
The day starts early at Lewes Dairy – long before the sun comes up. The crew usually arrives between 3 and 4 a.m. to start the day’s orders.
The dairy produces whole, 2 percent, 1 percent, chocolate and skim milk, half-and- half, cream, fruit drinks and eggnog in the winter in a variety of size containers, ranging from gallon to pint plastic jugs. Lewes Dairy employs 21 people who produce 30,000 gallons of milk each week purchased from three Sussex County dairy farmers.
What is produced each day is written in pencil on a long tally sheet the day before, just like it’s been done for decades. There is no need for computers or fancy software packages.
At times, the operation is not a smooth one as the line is switched from gallon to quart bottles. It takes employees a few runs to work out the kinks, but they always keep the line moving. “We don’t cry over split milk here,” Fields said.
Testing is a daily part of the work, Fields said. The Delaware Division of Health monitors tight regulations.
Lewes Dairy products find their way out of the immediate area; chefs from as far away as Washington, D.C., swear by Lewes Dairy cream.
Walking into the dairy is like taking a step back in time. Although upgrades and expansions have taken place since the current dairy opened in July 1946, one still gets a sense of yesteryear. Most of the assembly-line operation has remained the same for decades.
From the early days, the dairy has gone from using horse-drawn mules to refrigerated tractor-trailers, ushered in the use of electricity and been on the forefront of modern processes in the dairy industry.
Brittingham said people complain about the price of milk, but it doesn’t come close to the increases of other items. When it was 75 cents a gallon, the cost of a haircut was also 75 cents, he said. With milk at $3.50 a gallon, haircuts are $12 and above.
Government regulations require a mountain of paperwork and record keeping, he said. The company’s books are audited quarterly by federal officials to ensure farmers are paid the government-regulated price. The dairy is also obligated to pay about $2,000 a month to help promote the milk industry through a federal program.
“Food production is a complex business, and it’s a struggle,” he said.
