The latest milk item to roll out from Kemps’ product line isn’t for sale at retail stores. Instead, the St. Paul-based dairy company is giving it away to food shelves and anti-hunger backpack programs — a half-pint of ultra-pasteurized, single-serve 2 percent milk with a shelf life of up to 12 months.

Dubbed “The Giving Cow,” the decorated milk boxes are about the size of a juice box and designed to stand on their own on food shelves, with no refrigeration necessary until opened. They’re also intended to fill an important need — milk is one of the most in-demand items for food banks, but it typically has a shelf life of 20 days from processing.

Most food programs don’t have the refrigeration capacity to store large quantities of milk, and many give away less than a gallon per customer annually, according to Kemps officials.

Through the Giving Cow Project, Kemps plans to donate up to 500,000 milk boxes to food shelves and backpack programs across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.

In Minnesota and western Wisconsin, distribution is being conducted hand in hand with Cub Foods and Second Harvest Heartland, a St. Paul-based hunger relief organization.