Getting creamed

Retail milk prices began shooting up over the weekend to as much as $4.19 a gallon as supermarkets and convenience stores began passing on to consumers an increase in the farm price of raw milk.

Stop & Shop Supermarkets, the region's largest chain, increased the price of its store-brand milk by 50 cents to $3.65 a gallon. The chain was charging $4.19 a gallon for Hood milk, while Garelick milk was on sale for $2.99 a gallon.

"Look at that, $4.19 for the Hood milk," said Carla Lorena of Dorchester, standing in front of the dairy case at the Stop & Shop in Quincy. "This is getting ridiculous."

Most other supermarket chains also raised their prices over the weekend, but not by as much. Some said they had deals in place with suppliers to keep the price down temporarily.

The price increases are the result of a 52-cent-a-gallon increase in the price of raw milk that is working its way through the dairy distribution system. Federal regulators raised the price dairy farmers receive for their milk by 52 cents as of Saturday. Dairy processors traditionally pass such increases on to retailers, who must decide whether to pass all or only a portion of the increase on to their consumers.

John DeJesus, the president and chief executive of the 11-store Foodmaster chain, said he had been charging $2.49 to $2.69 for his different grades of store-brand milk and decided after the rise in raw milk prices to raise his price to $2.99 a gallon. He said his store-brand milk, which is manufactured by Garelick Farms, costs him $2.86 a gallon.

DeJesus said he expected milk consumption to decline because of the price increase, and he warned that farmers might have won a price increase only to see demand for their product fall off. But several consumers interviewed yesterday said they would continue to buy milk, only seek out the lowest-priced milk available.

Beliza Moriarty of Dorchester, with two children in tow, was reaching for the Hood milk at the Star Market in Dorchester yesterday when she noticed the price of $3.99 a gallon. "That's way up," she said, quickly moving down the aisle to the Shaw's store-brand milk, which was on sale for $2.69.

Shelf labels indicated the sale price of the Shaw's store-brand milk was 50 cents below its regular price of $3.19 a gallon. That would indicate Shaw's, which owns Star, didn't increase the regular price of its store-brand milk in response to the increase in the farm price. Shaw's officials could not be reached to comment.

William Gillmeister, an agricultural economist at the state Department of Agriculture Resources, held out hope that the Shaw's pricing strategy may force Stop & Shop to lower its prices.

"If Shaw's doesn't react the way Stop & Shop did, then Stop & Shop may have to rethink what it's doing," he said.

The Market Basket chain also kept its prices down, offering two gallons of either its store-brand, Hood, or Garelick milks for $5. Officials said they had deals in place with suppliers to keep prices down for at least two weeks, but after that they said their prices would probably have to rise.

Dennis Lane, the owner of the 7-Eleven in Quincy, said he's charging $2.49 for 1 percent milk, but $2.99 to $3.19 for the other grades. "I haven't seen milk go crazy like this in a long, long time," he said.

With customers in sticker-shock over the price of milk, Stop & Shop posted signs at its Quincy store saying it was doing everything possible to keep its prices reasonable.

"Never before have we experienced such a large increase at one time," the signs said.

Stop & Shop attributed the price spike to a ban on cattle imports from Canada because of Mad Cow fears, farmers thinning their herds, and strong consumer demand for cheese because of the popularity of the low-carb Atkins and South Beach diets.

The supermarket chain warned that products made from raw milk, including cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and ice cream, "will also see the same price increases. Unfortunately, prices are expected to remain high through the summer and early fall with possible relief around the holidays."

Jian Chen of Quincy read the sign and decided not to buy milk yesterday. "It's too high," she said.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.