It’s that time of year again, when the cooler weather rolls in and folks like to treat themselves to the season’s annual staples like pumpkin pie, hot cocoa and, of course, eggnog — a timeless favorite.
About our eggnog
Our Publix Eggnog has a traditional, rich flavor balanced perfectly with a touch of nutmeg. This seasonal delight is only produced Oct. 1 through the end of the year. We offer 3 varieties of eggnog: full fat (6%), low-fat (2%) and an organic eggnog (6%).
How we make it
The 1st step is the batching stage when all the ingredients are gathered, measured and mixed in either 3,000- or 6,000-gallon tanks (photo below), depending on whether it’s a quart- or half-gallon-size batch. An eggnog base is pumped into the mix tank where sugar, raw milk and cream are added and all mixed together.
After this, butterfat and solids are tested (photo below). Once the mixture meets exact specifications, the eggnog moves on to the next step — pasteurization.
Pasteurization helps ensure food safety standards and also helps milk stay fresh longer. The eggnog is transferred from the mix tank to the pasteurizer, where it’s heated to 292 F for 2 seconds to meet sterilization requirements. After it’s pasteurized, the eggnog is cooled below 40 F before being transferred to a 10,000-gallon aseptic holding tank.
Then, the mixture moves on to bottling. The eggnog is transferred from the aseptic holding tank to the filler machine where the eggnog is then dispensed into cartons. During this process, a filler operator performs temperature checks to make sure the eggnog stays cold. Another check is performed to ensure the correct volume of product is in each carton and they’re marked with the correct code and expiration date. At the same time, a high-speed camera looks at every carton to ensure it’s being packaged correctly. As the eggnog is packaged, the quality assurance department takes samples every 2 hours to ensure solids and butterfat are the correct consistency.
The final step is shipping. Once the eggnog cartons are filled, they move down a conveyor belt (photo below) to a case packer and are packaged into cardboard cases.
A robotic palletizing process moves the cardboard cases onto pallets (photo below), and then they’re shrink-wrapped and loaded into a temperature-controlled trailer to make their way to Publix distribution centers.
The eggnog stays at the distribution centers for 4 days while additional quality testing is completed. After the quality hold, stores are then able to order it from the distribution centers.
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About the dairy plant
Publix has dairy plants in Lakeland and Deerfield Beach, Florida, and Atlanta. Our eggnog was first bottled in our Lakeland dairy plant on Oct. 2, 1981. The eggnog production was moved to the Atlanta dairy plant in 2017 when extended shelf life (ESL) operations were introduced.
The Atlanta dairy plant opened in 1995. An expansion of 50,000 square feet in 2017 enlarged the plant to a total of 265,000 square feet. It employs 275 associates and has 9 production lines. While the other 2 Publix dairy plants produce many of the same items, several categories only come from the Atlanta plant, including half & half, coffee creamers, whipping cream and more.
Watch how we make our eggnog.
