Some Maritime grocery stores facing lactose-free milk shortage

Many Maritime dairy coolers are low on lactose-free milk.

Some Maritime dairy coolers are noticeably low on a certain product: lactose-free milk.

“It’s hard to pinpoint the exact reason,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Dalhousie University Agri-Food Analytics Lab

He notes there haven’t been any plant closures or winter storms to disrupt shipments, or diseases affecting production.

“Some of the potential reasons why we’re seeing shortages is that since Jan. 1, there are new rules related to vitamin D and dairy,” he said.

Those rules increase the amount of vitamin D in some Canadian dairy products to compensate for the shortage many people have, especially in the winter when sunlight is limited.

The demand for lactose-free milk isn’t as high as other dairy products.

“My guess is that some of the verticals, some of the skews like lactose-free milk, they haven’t been able to adapt quickly or as quickly as with other skews or other categories specifically,” Charlebois said.

Sour cream can also be hard to find, but Charlebois says that is easily explained.

“There was a plant closure in the fall in Amqui, Quebec, which actually produces sour cream,” he said. “We’re still expecting some shortages here and there which would explain probably why some people are having a hard time finding sour cream in our region right now.”

The federal government established the new rules around vitamin D content in cow’s milk, goat’s milk and margarine in 2022.