Action line 81211 - Milk

  • Published
  • By Anonymous
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Complaint: 

I went to the commissary on the Dec. 12 for milk only to find that any milk I purchased was expiring that day. Additionally, I was told that there will be no more milk delivered until the 16th. 

As a father of two, milk plays a vital nutritional role at my house and I count on it to provide several vitamins and minerals essential for my children's bone and brain development. 

While milk does undergo processes like pasteurization to remove harmful bacteria, it does not remove them all. The molds and bacteria that thrive in milk over time can cause infections resulting in fever, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. A risk that any parent would not want to take when our children are involved. 

While I cannot suggest or imply I know anything about the ordering and delivery processes here at Incirlik, I hope that there is a way to provide us and our children fresh and unexpired milk. 

I do have one suggestion though; could there be more of the organic milk available in the commissary? Not only does it taste better, but it seems the shelf life of the organic milk is longer. The organic milk is more expensive, however, it is extremely popular and is always is the first to sell out. Families on WIC take advantage of this opportunity and a larger supply would be advantageous. 

I appreciate your time and hope that there is a solution available for us.

Response: 

We all struggle with the availability and shelf life of milk delivered to the commissary...its just a physical limitation of where we live and how long it takes to truck milk to us from Germany. The specific timeframe you are talking about was during the Turkish holiday of Bayrami. During that period there are no deliveries as most of Turkey shut down for nine days. 

A very suitable alternative is the non-refrigerated milk which the commissary also carries. This milk is good as well and lasts a long time. It is a very good substitute when our milk is not available...I used it myself during the timeframe you mentioned above. 

I definitely agree with you on the organic milk, it is my favorite also and it is always out of stock as fast as it is put on the shelves. I have discussed with the commissary manager and he has increased our ordering for more organic milk due to its popularity. We hope to see an increase on our shelves in the New Year. 

Thanks for the call.