Is Homogenized milk good? Or an example of a profit focused food industry?

Fresh healthy milk? Dreamstime.com

Nearly all the milk available is pasteurised and homogenized. This increases shelf life and the manufacture of a standard product but ruins the natural quality of milk. How many other food products will suffer the same fate in a profit focused food industry?

Many believe our standard milk is now unpalatable to many and is why some children suffer from eczema.

Homogenization breaks the fat into smaller sizes so it no longer separates, allowing the sale of non-separating milk at any fat specification.

This is accomplished by mixing massive amounts of harvested milk to create a constant, then forcing the milk at high pressure through small holes.

These effects the fat and makes the globules so small, that some say, the globules often pass straight through our gut wall. The same people want homogenisation banned. Unfortunately nothing can be proved, although kids getting eczema could be a factor?

Wikip Homogenizing Valve

Pasteurisation heats milk to kill bad bugs and make milk ‘safe’, the trouble is delicate proteins, enzymes, immune factors, hormones, vitamins, mineral availability- all undergo definite changes during the heating process.

When pasteurised milk goes off it is rancid when raw milk goes off it can be made in to yoghurt or cheese.

Unfortunately raw milk is very difficult to find as legislation only allows dairy farmers to sell their own raw milk. As the number of dairy farmers has halved in the last 15 years and those that do sell raw milk have to be tested for TB every year, instead of 5 years, very few take the trouble to sell locally.

I am afraid this is typical of a food industry dominated by profit focused supermarkets wanting a standard ‘safe’ product with a long shelf life.

It really annoys me that that the vast majority of consumers do not know what has happend to milk, and if surveyed would probably say they like the long shelf, and, if over 40, the way the fat does not separate to the top of the bottle like it did when they were young.

Many other products have followed the same path with more to follow. Perhaps in 10 years time fresh milk will be replaced by ‘long life’, and supermarkets will replace the meat and veg aisles with salty ready meals?

If you want to stop this trend use our local food map to find your local producers and, dairy, if you are lucky enough to still have one.

And ask questions. At BigBarn we are passionate about getting people out the supermarket and trading with local farmers and producers. Trade and communication increases knowledge and encourages those producers to grow a wider range of products. A virtuous circle to a better, local, food industry.

Or to buy raw milk online you can buy raw milk online in our MarketPlace

For more information on raw milk click here and for your comments type below.