New York (CNN Business) Dean Foods, America's largest milk producer, is filing for bankruptcy.

Dean Foods DF The 94-year-old company has struggled in recent years because Americans are drinking less cows milk. 2019 has been particularly brutal: the company's sales tumbled 7% in the first half of the year, and profit fell 14%.stock has lost 80% this year.

The company, which produces some of the country's most recognizable milk and dairy products, including TruMoo, Dairy Pure and Land O' Lakes milks, has blamed its struggles on the "accelerated decline in the conventional white milk category." Dean Foods also processes and distributes some milk for Organic Valley through a joint venture.

Dean Foods owns a number of recognizable brands, including Dairy Pure.

The company is saddled with debt and has been unable to fund all of its workers' pensions. So on Tuesday, Dean Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to keep the business operating, reorganize its debt and help fund the pensions while it looks to sell the company.

Dean Foods said in a statement that it is working with the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative on a potential deal, in which the cooperative would buy almost all of the company.

Read More