c/o Millport Dairy
Due to regulations affecting the sale of eggs outdoors, a popular Amish dairy farm and longtime farmers market vendor based on Lancaster, Pennsylvania will soon shift its Upper West Side operations towards the retail market.
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Millport Dairy is expected to open at 2583 Broadway (between 97th and 98th streets) on May 1, and it will stop selling at the farmers markets … at least during the warmer months. The space was previously home to Tower West Cleaners.
Owner John King said they plan to sell many of the same products customers are familiar with from the farmers markets, including farm fresh free-range eggs, cheese, butter, pasteurized milk, yogurt, pickles, pickled beets, peppers and beans, smoked pork and beef and baked goods. While they sell raw milk at the farm, it can’t be brought across state lines, Mr. King told ILTUWS.
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The store will be primarily overseen by longtime Millport farmer John Stoltzfoos, who has been making the roughly 300-mile round-trip journey from rural Pennsylvania to NYC and back to sell at the markets four days a week.
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Millport has been an NYC farmers market vendor for more than 15 years, with tables at several throughout the city: 97th and Columbus Ave., 114th and Broadway near Columbia University, the Union Square market and the market at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. But now it’s time to move inside, Mr. King said. Federal USDA rules require eggs sold at farmers markets to be kept below 45 degrees. The regulation reads: [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=”16″] “Eggs: Shell eggs packed for the consumers are to be stored under refrigeration at a temperature of 45 degrees F° or below at all times while selling at the market. Shell eggs must be intact and free of cracks. Eggs must be from the farmer’s own fowl. Egg cartons must be properly labeled in accordance with the state regulations where the eggs are produced. No resale of another farmer’s eggs is allowed.”
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The regulation is not new, but Mr. King tells us enforcement efforts have been increased this year. He said he doesn’t have a refrigerated truck or the ability to keep his eggs that cold when it’s warm out.
“There’s just no way we can keep our eggs that cold. And everyone knows it. No one can,” Mr. King said.
He said staff at GrowNYC, which runs the Greenmarket farmers markets he’s participated in, suggested keeping cartons of eggs packed in ice in a cooler, as other farmers do, but Mr. King said the ice would melt and no one wants to buy soggy cardboard cartons of eggs. Like other farmers, he argued that the temperature requirement is unnecessary for farm fresh eggs. Unlike commercial eggs, farm fresh ones retain their natural ‘bloom’—a protective thin layer on the shell that prevents bacteria from penetrating the egg. Farm eggs, he and others say, do not need to be refrigerated. Commercial supermarket eggs do, because they are washed, which eliminates the protective bloom.
Mr. King said he thought about getting a refrigeration truck but was told by Greenmarket staff that if the noise from the truck bothered neighbors they would not be able to use it. He also said there’s no room for a truck.
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The matter led Mr. King and Mr. Stoltzfoos to conclude that participating in the markets is no longer feasible during warm weather, and they began to look for retail space instead.
Keeping eggs in coolers had always been acceptable, until now, Mr. Stoltzfoos said. “That’s why we’re going indoors,” adding they may still do the farmers markets in the winter and early spring when it’s still cold out.
GrowNYC did not return phone calls seeking comment.
In addition to being farm fresh, Millport Dairy’s eggs are GMO-free and come from “happy chickens” who run outside in pastures, live a good life and eat a natural diet supplemented with a special feed, Mr. King said. The eggs have a rich yellow yolk, richer than most others, he added. “I don’t think anyone in NYC has an egg like ours.”
The pickled vegetables are all grown at their Pennsylvania farms – Millport Dairy owns several – and canned by Mr. King’s daughter.
They have a roadside stand in Pennsylvania but the new store on Broadway is the first indoor retail venture for Millport Dairy, Mr. King told us.
John is a legend and his eggs are the best ever and a great value. His raw milk cheese is excellent as well, and don’t miss the pickled stuffed peppers/
With all the abuse the Amish do to animals I would NEVER be a patron there and neither would animal lovers that know about their treatment of animals
I agree. My cousin obtained a beautiful hurt defective dog years ago off an Amish care truck, Dog had broken leg and feet and was sickly. Thank God, my cousin spent money in a vet’s office to make this adorable dog well that was also undernourished. I used to enjoy visiting Amish communities in PA and spending the weekend but my feelings changed after seeing the abused animals being given away free by Amish. How can you care so much about a chicken and be indifferent about a dog/cat?
I totally agree. There is a complete disconnect between their peaceful message and benevolent facade and their disgraceful conduct towards other species. They don’t simply give away hurt and abused animals; their old, overworked, worn-out-to-death draft horses are regularly dumped at kill auctions like New Holland in Lancaster County, PA. These are the very same horses who help source what is found at these Amish markets.
One instance does not make a rule. You speak of animal cruelty? Yet you buy “food” from factory farms and major corporations that treat animal welfare like we treat prisoners. You point a finger as do so many of my fellow humans. But you are a victim of the mentacide that has been trained into people via the “education” system since the 1890s. I am only pointing out for posterity the gross hypocrisy of your thinking that is merely a carbon copy of this popular mentality. You speak of peace and pay taxes to fund illegal wars. The examples are endless, so I will be succinct. There’s a standard of self evaluation that has been lost to word salad and the substituting of a false cause in place of the actuality. So, maybe don’t talk trash when you’re standing in the landfill.
What a great addition to the neighborhood! This PA native is thrilled.
WHY?
Wow. Tar all members of a group with the same brush much? I’m thrilled they’ll be brick and mortar, even temporarily. Be nice if NY could get over themselves when it comes to regulating “Real foods.” Most of the world doesn’t refrigerate eggs for the reason above. And raw milk makes better cheese.
Eggs in the US are washed free of protective coating. That’s why eggs here must be refrigerated and in other places not. A little info answers many questions… Try it.
The “reason above” I mentioned was the reason given in the article. Try reading closer before you comment.
I thought Amish didn’t drive yet this says he does 300 miles round trip four times each week. That’s a lot for a horse and buggy!
Sure, because every Jewish person doesn’t eat shellfish or bacon or drive or watch TV on the Sabbath and every Catholic person keeps meatless Fridays, etc.
Glad to hear this. It seems most news of supermarket openings are in the 90s areas or in the 60s. How about us in the 70s and 80s? When Westside Market left the areas we were left with less options besides Pioneer, Fairway, Citarella and Zabar’s,
You didn’t mention either Trader Joe’s or Morton Williams, the latter being a ShopRite affiliate like Fairway these days. It goes a long way towards explaining ridiculously high prices and below par quality at Fairway and Morton Williams. Whole Foods and Target round out the 60s. H Mart and Westside Market are still going strong on either side of 110th Street and Broadway. Oh, and for the BEST made-in-store baba ganoush, tabouli and hummus, there’s long-lived, little Samad Gourmet on Broadway, a couple of storefronts north of the CItibank on the northwest corner of 111th Street. I think Samad is better than Sahadi’s.
Top notch comment and advice!
OhMyGawd I wish people could be a lot less judgmental! The people behind the counter on the day I popped in, Amish or not, were pleasant and welcoming. I love their non-pretentious sign even if it is temporary and I hope the shop will develop a loyal following, maybe even sprout a little community in the neighborhood.