A surprising number of American adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows
Instead, they reported it comes from brown cows.
The organization surveyed 1,000 adults in all 50 states about their use and knowledge of dairy products. Forty-eight percent of respondents also didn't know how chocolate milk is made.
The percentage of misinformed adults about chocolate milk may seen high, but as The Washington Post's Caitlin Dewey notes, it may be more surprising that this figure is not higher. Many Americans are essentially agriculturally illiterate, especially if they do not grow up in agricultural communities. They might not understand how food is grown and what it takes to get to grocery stores.
The way that most agricultural products today are marketed to shoppers doesn't help either. In the grocery store, meat, dairy, greens, and grains are usually packaged in plastic wrap, cartons, and boxes. It doesn't look much like the original plant or animal.
Unless consumers Google the information or learn it in a classroom, it can be easy to disassociate between the milk in their glasses and the cows it took to produce it.