This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

A Madison, Wisconsin (D) ordinance barred the sale of pasteurized milk unless it had been processed and bottled at an approved pasteurization plant within five miles of the central square of Madison. Within that five-mile area were five processing plants, only three of which did business in Madison. Raw milk production in the county where Madison is located was 10 times Madison's requirements. Dean Milk (P) was based in Illinois and bought its milk from farms in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, and pasteurized it at its two Illinois plants, 65 and 85 miles from Madison. Dean Milk was denied a license to sell its products in Madison solely because its plants were more than five miles away. Dean Milk's farms and plants were licensed and inspected by Chicago public health authorities. The highest state court rejected Dean Milk's commerce clause attack.

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