October Food Champions Challenge :What milk do you buy?

i use soy milk products…garry

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My belief is that milk is milk, and why would you buy milk that has had part of the goodness removed (ie low fat versions). I only buy supermarket brand full cream milk. I am not convinced that the substantial extra cost of “branded” milk is passed on to the farmer (ie I do not trust the supermarkets to do the right thing).

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From my understanding most milk has the milk fat solids (cream/butterfat) removed when processed and then added back in to make a uniform product in each style eg skim ≤ 1%, low fat ≈ 2% , full cream ≈ 4%. The definition of Full Cream as an example in Australia is 4% fat but each bottle will show 3.6% (they are allowed a 10% discrepancy), in the USA Full Cream has 3.25% and in the UK is 3.5%. No Cow is that accurate in their milk fat content in their milk. With Milk fat content ranging mostly between these two points 4.7-5.9% (there are lower and higher levels) this is the majority and as can be seen is different to what we term full cream, breeds also tend to vary the level as does the feed they eat.

Norco’s Finest Full Cream Milk (as distinct from their normal Full Cream) & you may notice the fat value is closer to majority value above ie 4.7-5.9%.


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and to add confusion to the use of the term Full Cream (maybe they get away with it by calling it Organic Full Cream???)


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My post 43 in this topic links to a relevant discussion on same, and @phb’s post 55 in this topic has a link to the Choice article about that.

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Those that are Co-Ops or are private brands eg Maleny Milk tend to give much more back to the farmers. Large commercial brands eg Pauls, Dairy Farmers tend to give much more back to the business and their shareholders. Home brands are for the retail business to make their cut of the milk business and thus in the end benefit their shareholders.

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Food,animal & human, use by dates

Hi!

Brand(s) of milk I buy: Sungold / Great Ocean Road
Types of milk: Low Fat (red label) or No Fat (blue label)
Why? I have an intolerance to higher fat milks. I like Sungold milk’s taste. It’s from the south-west coast of Vic. I support Warrnambool workers. And I cook with it and mainly have it in coffee. I’ll buy a local cream and butter if I am making a meal for others. (Inglenook Dairy stuff is local for me!)

(“Just drink powdered milk!” said a paediatrician when I was small. No thank you. Bleh.)I am new on the choice forums!

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Welcome to the Forum @noodle
Thank you for your input!

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I can only tolerate A2 milk, fresh goes off in 3 days :frowning: Long life A2 - sporadically available!
More likely available in full fat. Frustrating, as l do enjoy a cup of tea or two.

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Paul’s Physical Skim and Paul’s lactose free skim because of the extra calcium. We don’t consume much dairy and as older people need more per day. Paul’s because our local corner store Foodworks carries it. Realise that is not the best brand for farmers. At least supporting local store. Don’t like full cream milk much at all.

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I am in NSW and buy Made By Cow when available. A bit expensive but it is the longest lasting fresh milk you can buy - it is a cold pressed raw milk . It is also very creamy (5.1%) and not homogenised.
When I cannot get that I buy Farm House Gold Organic. It is full cream (4.1%) and very creamy so good for coffee.
I know these brands, especially Made By Cow are a bit expensive but I hope they are as good as I think.

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Whether high pressure pasteurisation leaves the milk raw is a question of definition. Some proponents of “raw” milk will tell you that one of the benefits of non pasteurisation is that it is still “alive”, which HPP milk is not. Also HPP denatures some enzymes so if they are are part of being “raw” that is lost. Made by cow describe the product as ‘cold pressed’. It sure is pressed; they say 6 times the deepest part of the ocean which is about 660 MPa. That amount of compression will raise the temperature of milk some 15-20 C. This is not unprocessed.

I like the idea of creamy milk but I can’t see how being non homogenised is a benefit. Why is this a good thing in your view?

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Whilst on the subject of milk, the diary industry is suggesting that the national school milk program be revived.

Sound like a great idea. Good for the kids and good for the dairy farmers.

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It is highly processed and looks like the NSW Food Authority has questioned the claims that it is raw milk, which is isn’t

https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/agribusiness/dairy/coldpressed-raw-milk-highly-processed-says-nsw-food-authority/news-story/8c8beb5f13a6e5d21df6382a2748d0a5

It appears the use of raw milk is more about puffery, than being real raw milk.

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I certainly don’t have any “fond” memories of it! The milk was delivered, left outside the classrooms with no refrigeration - by the time morning recess came around, it tasted terrible - especially in Summer. If we were really lucky, we might be able to bring ‘flavouring’ straws from home, to cover up the horrible taste…

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Is there any evidence of the proportion of children today whose diet is inadequate such that daily milk would be a significant benefit?

My recollection of the original scheme is that it was it started in the post-war an era when malnutrition was much more common than today and that it was stopped in the 1970 because there was no longer a need for it.

And yes back in the day it wasn’t refrigerated and the smell of the little dears throwing up sour milk was quite something. We are looking at some pretty expensive fridges to keep enough for every pupil on top of the cost of supply. I don’t doubt the industry is keen.

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Being non homogenised just means it is processed less. It may not have any influence on the quality at all but reminds me more of the milk I got growing up.

I know that it is not raw either. That is just a marketing blurb - borderline in terms of what should be legal to write in my opinion. It is illegal to sell raw milk in Australia.
The major reason I buy it is how long it lasts. About a month when bought fresh.

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It’s easy to argue that milk is a good food (excepting those who are lactose intolerant).

Promoting it during early schooling is one suggestion that could be used to help swing the trend away from all those sugary drinks. There is also an increasing number of school age children with poor choices or little in the lunch box.

Whether school milk is the best way to address some of these concerns, it all seems a little bit of a drift off topic.

When it comes to ‘fresh milk’ straight from the cow, our grand parents and extended family of farmers considered fresh as straight from the cow or goat. Come lunch time the jug collected for breakfast was no longer fresh! They understood the storage risks of untreated milk as well as anyone. The babies milk was always scalded before use too!

Thankfully we now have pasteurisation and refrigeration.
Fresh milk is all but a marketing … dream.

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… for human consumption. It is sold for “other purposes” such as skin treatment, apparently some people drink their bath.

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We buy generic full cream milk at $3.66/3litres. I’ll stock up on UHT generic full cream $0.79/litre for yoghurt making and powered full cream for bread making.
We have a small local dairy who provide milk to the public at the farm gate and in local shops. Unfortunately it has clots of fat that don’t float to the top, so if you’re unlucky you get a tablespoon of fat dissolving in your tea, and we stopped buying it.

I went on Almond Milk during a Uni study on the effect of certain foods on menopausal symptoms, but wasn’t convinced. It seemed very little nut, too much sugar and very expensive water. Several farming friends we visit no longer use cows milk, so we bring a little jug for our tea/coffee to save them opening a mini UHT just for us.

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