A Milk Carton’s Journey
Have you ever opened a cold carton of milk at lunchtime? That milk traveled a long way before reaching your tray. It began on a dairy farm.
Every day, farmers take care of dairy cows. Special machines gently collect the fresh milk from the cows. The milk flows through clean tubes straight into a large, cold metal tank. Keeping the milk cold right away helps it stay fresh.
Next, an insulated tanker truck drives to the farm. It pumps the cold milk inside and carries it to a bottling plant. At the plant, the milk goes through an important step called pasteurization. Huge metal machines quickly heat the milk up to make it safe to drink. Then, the machines rapidly cool it down again. After that, machines pour the safe milk into paper cartons and seal the tops tight.
Finally, workers load the sealed cartons into refrigerated delivery trucks. These cold trucks roll down highways to grocery stores and schools. A cafeteria worker places the cartons into a cooler, ready for lunch.
At lunchtime, you take a cold carton from the cooler. From the farm tank to the school cafeteria, careful workers have helped this milk stay fresh.
- dairy:
- Having to do with milk or foods made from milk.
- insulated:
- Covered or wrapped to keep heat or cold from escaping.
- pasteurization:
- A process of heating and cooling a liquid to make it safe to drink.
- cartons:
- Small boxes made of waxed paper or cardboard used to hold food or drinks.
- refrigerated:
- Kept cold by a cooling machine.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1Where does the milk's journey begin?
- 2How is the milk taken from the cows on the farm?
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About this explanatory article passage for 2nd Grade
“A Milk Carton’s Journey” is a explanatory article reading passage about dairy production sequence, written for 2nd Grade. It takes about 1 minute to read (198 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.