Dean Foods declares bankruptcy

Americans are moo-ving on from milk. The country’s biggest dairy company filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday. Dallas-based Dean Foods said it may sell its business to the Dairy Farmers of America, a farmer-owned marketing cooperative.

What made Dean Foods go bankrupt? The company blamed its failure on the 40 percent drop in milk consumption in the United States since 1975. Americans have shifted to other beverages and milk alternatives, often driven by health concerns. Over the past year, U.S. sales of oat milk rose 636 percent while cow’s milk dropped 2.4 percent, according to Nielsen. Dean Foods derived 67 percent of its sales from milk last year.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read this report about state battles over the small-scale sale of unpasteurized milk.