Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffit eating her curds and the toxic by-product of Greek yogurt.

The production of the smooth, creamy and protein-packed breakfast food that has made brands like Fage and Chobani household names creates massive amounts of a toxic by-product called acid whey.

For every four ounces of milk used in the production of Greek yogurt, only one ounce becomes creamy goodness while the other three ounces become acid whey, according to a report published on the website of Modern Farmer.

The thin and runny liquid — which looks like watered down milk — is roughly as acidic as orange juice and can’t just be poured into the ground, creating a waste disposal nightmare for the yogurt industry.

Not only would such a disposal method be illegal, it would also have the potential to turn a waterway into a “dead sea” that cannot support life in much the same way that cheese whey killed tens of thousands of fish in recent years.

In 2011 alone New York state produced roughly 66 million gallons of acid whey. To put that in perspective, oil supertankers hold 132 million gallons of oil.

The problem facing the $2-billion Greek yogurt market is that nobody has figured out a good way to get rid of acid whey.

The options that have been explored so far include feeding the stuff to cows or turning it into proteins that can be used in baby formula or body building supplements.

Unfortunately, each of these acid whey disposal ideas have a downside. For example, cows can only drink so much acid whey before they develop stomach problems. Likewise, while cheese companies have figured out how to turn acid whey’s cousin sweet whey into infant formula, a similar process hasn’t been invented yet for the acidic kind.

Because of the downsides, an inexpensive and reliable form of acid whey disposal has become the Holy Grail for Greek yogurt companies.

“If we can figure out how to handle acid whey, we’ll become a hero,” a Greek yogurt maker said recently at New York’s Yogurt Summit.