Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies fame explained the origins of milk bags in Canada during an appearance on the new Prime Video series The Tom Green Farm. The conversation, which took place while the Canadian stars rode a side-by-side ATV across Green's farm, turned to a grocery giant prominent in Eastern Canada.
From Jug to Bag: A History of Milk Packaging
Page recalled the plastic jugs of milk that were once common: "Somebody would return it and they would have put gas in it, and you'd get this faint smell of gas in your milk bottle." Green swore in exclamation, agreeing with the observation.
Green theorized that this must be why Canada moved to milk bags, a format that nobody in the world understands. Page continued, "That's certainly why we had the milk bags at our house. My parents wouldn't get the refillable things, because they were nervous there had been gas or something in there. This way we just had those clean bags of milk." Green agreed, noting the bags are sealed and trustworthy.
The Science Behind the Switch
According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, the advent of plastic used in milk bags by DuPont in the 1960s allowed dairies to phase out breakable bottles. Reusable jugs were also in use, but the gradual adoption of the Metric system in the 1970s and '80s pushed many Canadian producers to thin polyethylene bags. Changing their volume was much easier, and putting three 1 1/3-litre bags together gave customers between an American and a British gallon of milk—perfectly Canadian.
The encyclopedia corroborates that part of the appeal stemmed from the fact that "some people would reportedly use the jugs to store toxic substances, like weed killer or gasoline" before returning them. This safety concern made sealed bags more appealing.
Milk Bags Today
Page also noted how efficient the bags are to roll up and trash, while Green reminisced about an early TV gag where he popped milk bags and sprayed them all over co-host Glenn Humplik. The relaxation of some rules on the metric system and the development of harder plastics led to the milk bag's demise in some provinces, but the two-litre carton is gaining in popularity. However, the milk bag remains the most popular and cost-effective format in Ontario, especially when used with a proper jug and Snippet.
