A United States federal grand jury has indicted nine dairy farmers and three truck drivers on charges of tampering with milk in an effort to reap bigger profits.
The indictment alleges that between 1993 and 1996 some of the farmers added a mixture of salt and water to the milk to increase its weight and that others paid the drivers to exaggerate the amount of milk in their trucks.
The farmers subsequently sold the milk to Fairdale Farms, a dairy processing plant based in Bennington, Vermont, which paid the suppliers on a weight basis.