What's up? The price of milk, apparently

Milk. It's one of those things we rarely give much thought to — but then we read about how rising milk prices are driving the cost of all dairy-based products up. In fact, according to an expert at the Department of Agriculture, the price of milk-based ingredients used in cheese, ice cream and pizza has gone up by as much as 60 percent in the past year, which means those products end up costing consumers more. And when we have to pay more for the ice cream that keeps us from having heat stroke on one of our charming Southeast Texas summer days, well, we're not too happy.

"Big deal," you may be thinking. "It's not really making that much of a difference, is it?" Well, yeah, it is: According to The Dallas Morning News, Pizza Hut recently increased the price of its cheese pizza to match that of a single-topping pizza, in part because of rising cheese prices. And this week, Morgan Keegan lowered the rating of Chuck E. Cheese parent company CEC Entertainment Inc. to "market perform" from "outperform" because of concerns over the cost of cheese. Nationwide, ice cream parlors are also adding to their prices: "They are going up," Lynda Utterback, executive director of the National Ice Cream Retailers Association, told the Morning News. "A lot of stores increased prices before they opened for the season."

There are a few reasons for the increased milk prices, including a drought in Australia, decreased production in Europe and a more lucrative market for U.S. dairy producers to ship their products overseas instead of selling them here. "Unfortunately, there is not a lot for us to do," CEC Entertainment CFO Chris Morris said. "The only thing we can do is work with our operators to control waste." Maybe they should start with the creepy rat?