Why organic milk that is UHT processed is unhealthy and certainly not a better choice than regular supermarket milk despite the sky-high prices and misleading marketing which leads consumers to believe it is healthy.
Fact: Organic milk companies are pulling the wool over the eyes of the consumer to boost profits.
By marketing their UHT milk as certified USDA Organic, an ever-increasing consumer base willingly buys it. The prices are roughly double the price per gallon of regular, pasteurized store milk. The sad truth is that ultrapasteurized (UHT) organic milk is just as unhealthy as regular, pasteurized store milk.
I’ve often thought if I HAD to choose between them, which milk would I select as being better: regular pasteurized milk from the store or ultrapasteurized organic milk? That’s a toughie. Neither choice is optimal as there is no clear winner.
Both are highly processed milks, both contribute to poor health and chronic illness in general.
Pasteurized Store Milk. Clearly Not Good for You
On the one hand, you have regular, pasteurized store milk that comes from sick, confined cows that are injected with hormones and other drugs. The cows are fed unnatural, GMO, pesticide, and antibiotic laced feed with no access to fresh air or green grass. These poor animals stand on cement floors their entire lives. No surprise that they usually die within about a year and half. Incidentally, the true lifespan for a healthy dairy cow should approach 15 years.
Milk from these confined cows NEEDS to be pasteurized. It is nasty stuff loaded with pus and pathogens because of the filth and chronic mastitis the cows endure.
Ultrapasteurized Organic Milk. Still Bad for You!
On the other hand, you have ultrapasteurized, organic milk. A consumer with only partial knowledge of how milk is processed is easily lured into buying this milk. On the surface, it seems so much healthier. After all, the cows don’t get any antibiotics, steroids or hormones, right? It’s certified USDA Organic. Doesn’t that mean something?
While the cows producing organic milk may not be subjected to the drugs and antibiotics used on conventional dairy operations, the milk coming from an organic-industrial complex is even more highly processed. For example, ultrapasteurized (UHT) organic milk must be subjected to a temperature of 280F for at least 2 seconds.
This compares with standard pasteurization temperature of about 161F. Such a high temperature results in a product that has extended shelf life. UHT milk can remain unrefrigerated for up to 6 months in aseptic packaging.
I find it outrageous that Organic Valley and Horizon frequently display their aseptically packaged, organic dairy in the refrigerated section of the health food store!
Turns out that consumers (particularly those in the US) are much more likely to be duped into buying organic milk if it is displayed in the refrigerated section. Buying organic milk unrefrigerated on the shelf goes against intuition and just doesn’t seem very natural, does it?
Moms buy individually sized aseptic packages of Organic Valley milk and put them in their children’s lunchboxes with ice packs! If they only knew that this milk is so dead that it doesn’t even require refrigeration they might rethink their choice of beverage.
Auto-Immune Disorder Link
Why is ultrapasteurization so bad? The high temperatures used to ultrapasteurize organic milk damage the fragile milk proteins totally and completely. The same thing happens when sweetened condensed milk is manufactured too.
When this happens, the enzymes the body produces to digest these proteins do not work as they no longer “fit together” like puzzle pieces. The undigested proteins then make their way into the bloodstream due to “leaky gut” syndrome, which nearly all Westerners suffer from to some degree. At that point, the body identifies them as foreign proteins and mounts an immune response.
This translates into symptoms better known as allergies, asthma, eczema, and other symptoms of autoimmune disorders! Ultrapasteurized milk is so completely sterilized that sometimes it cannot even be cultured into homemade kefir or yogurt.
This stuff is dead, dead, dead folks.
There is no way that it can be considered healthy even if it is labeled USDA organic.
The enhanced immune response that occurs from drinking ultrapasteurized milk has the potential to lead to milk and dairy allergies pretty quickly. I remember when my first child was nursing, I drank a lot of Organic Valley ultrapasteurized milk.
My son spit up so badly during that time that there was some concern that he had a reflux disorder. Remarkably but not surprisingly, when I stopped drinking the Organic Valley milk, his reflux problem resolved. No treatment was required.
I have no doubt that if I had continued drinking this milk and had weaned my son onto it that he would undoubtedly have a milk allergy today. Fortunately, I wised up in time to get off that poison!
Trading Drug/Pesticide Residues for Estrogen Mimickers
While a consumer may be reducing his/her exposure to antibiotic and pesticide residues by choosing Organic Valley milk, this is by no means a guarantee to less chemical exposure. Processors of organic milk frequently heat the milk to the required 270F AFTER the milk is in the aseptic package or plastic jug! Another option, just as bad, is to fill the package or jug with boiling hot milk that has not yet cooled down!
This releases high levels of endocrine-disrupting phthalates (the notorious BPA as well as several others) used in the packaging into the milk! Most everyone now knows never to heat food in a microwave with plastic wrap on top for this very reason. It’s a shame more people aren’t aware of the tremendous endocrine-disrupting potential of drinking ultrapasteurized, organic milk!
What to Drink Instead of UHT Organic Milk
As you can see, it is an extremely hard decision to pick which milk is more unhealthy: regular pasteurized store milk or ultrapasteurized organic milk.
Better not to have to make the decision at all! Seek out fresh raw grassfed milk straight from the cow (or goat) from a farmer in your local area. And, if you are fortunate enough to have a source for this type of health-giving milk, don’t run out and buy a half-gallon of ultrapasteurized organic milk if you temporarily run out of the fresh from the farm variety. In those situations, it is best to simply go without. The risks from consuming UHT organic milk even on occasion are simply too enormous to ignore.
Another option is to make healthy milk substitutes like this recipe for coconut milk tonic or homemade sprouted oat milk until the next local dairy delivery.
More Information
101 Uses for Raw Soured Milk
Tips for Freezing Milk and other Dairy Products
A1 and A2 Milk: Do Cow Genetics Even Matter?
I am very displeased with the very dogmatic attitudes presented here towards milk. The author is basically saying that raw milk is the only tolerable milk, which is simply not true. Many people can tolerate UHT and ultrapasturized milk way better than raw milk, let alone regular pasteurized milk. Many people can tolerate raw milk better than pasteurized milk. The point of my argument is to tell the author to stop being so dogmatic and manipulating viewers. We are all bioindividually different, and some people (including myself) are very sensitive to bacteria, which in the case of milk, varies seasonally, and depends on what the cow is eating. People like me tolerate UHT/ultrapasteurized way better than raw. Am I saying that UHT is the only way? NO, because I am not being dogmatic as the author is and making blanket statements about food and people. I tried raw milk only for two years, and my acne and allergies were still present, despite what all the “milk experts” were saying about how raw milk would cure allergies, etc… That’s a very idiotic claim, and people reading and listening to nutrition advice should take it all with a grain of salt. Its our responsibility as consumers to follow advice responsibly.
No one is stating that everyone’s allergies disappear with raw milk. There have been many cases where that’s true, but it’s not true 100% of the time. I suppose it has to do with the root cause of a person’s allergies, their age, etc. etc. etc.
Also, I’m not sure people’s bodies tolerate UHT and UP milk better than raw milk. Warped protein enzymes and other missing elements from pasteurized milk can absolutely create a lack of lactase in a person’s digestive system (which is why my wife that absolutely cannot drink pasteurized milk can drink a huge glass of raw milk every day), creating intolerence. It may not be for everyone, but raw milk is certainly a source that can only better the balance within that system.
I have many allergies and don’t tolerate cow dairy. We cannot legally buy raw milk in Virginia so I haven’t tried it. I do tolerate goat milk if it is UHT or if it is pasteurized AND then heated to a simmer..
One author (with a PhD) claims that milk contains bacteria even after pasteurization and should be cooked. I don’t know if this is the issue or it is simply a matter of breaking down the proteins via processing so that they don’t cause bloating.
Linja,
An unstated fact about this is that the FDA rules are that only a percentage, not all, of a batch needs to be pasteurized to qualify. This is to limit, not totally eradicatebacteria. Thus, yes, there may be some, but unless it’s a lot our systems are fine with that, and ruining it with more heat is not a good answer.
I’m curious to hear what you mean exactly by stating you tolerate pasteurized better than raw. Were you just disappointed that it didn’t help your allergies or you actually had adverse reactions? I’ve never heard of anyone not tolerating it raw so I’m interested to hear…
Organic Valley treated us very badly. We joined them in 2000 and sold milk. We are a very small farm and have a tiny yard that slopes toward an old-fashioned bank barn (barn built into the side of a hill). According to OV propaganda, we are among the types of farm they support and give life to–they continue to brag about this to this day. We milked 20 cows.
In about 2004, they started sending in very LARGE tanker semis to our farm. These semis were a disaster for us. They are enormously heavy and yet because of how they are constructed, have very poor (zero, almost) traction in mud and snow while working on sloping ground. They caused me personally, a great deal of hard work and extreme frustration that was non-existent when smaller trucks with traction were used. The semis ended up doing thousands of dollars in damage to our farm. I complained vehemently about this to Organic Valley and they cancelled our contract, rather than admit to the harm done to us and/or work to correct the problem. We were devastated and forced out of the dairy ‘business’ in 2009 as a result. Maybe many people think small farmers have no right to exist anymore, but I would disagree, I believe we NEED many more small farms. Organic Valley used us. They continue to peddle themselves as family farmer’s friends as part of their promotional gimmickry. It is a lie.
I have continued, since this disaster, to attempt to collect some sort of compensation from them, but in all correspondence they ignore me.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I despise Organic Valley and George Siemon, their CEO.
nedlud
Nedlud,
Thank you for sharing your story. There seems to be greed in all industries, including the “organic” industry where conscious (perhaps semi-conscious) consumers are trying to do the right thing for their bodies and the land. I hope that you have in the end found resolve in your circumstance and that hopefully if it is in your path to continue to be a much valued farmer perhaps small scale for those that will appreciate and value your service. I wish that small farmers were honoured in America the way that service people from the military are so revered. To me that would show that the country has it’s priorities in balance (no disrespect to anyone intended), but a commitment to growing sustainable healthy food is the only way we are going to secure the future of all on this planet. I will now have to discontinue Organic Valley from my options.
This is very interesting but very discouraging….my son (3) has a severe dairy allergy, as well as asthma and eczema. Right now he get’s nothing but breastmilk, but once he weans, I will not be able to give him raw milk. I live in Canada and our milk is pretty different than the States: it is illegal to use growth hormone in cows here, so our milk is hormone free, and my organic milk is just pasteurized, rather than ultra-pasteurized, which is the good news. 🙂 However, it is also illegal to buy or sell unpasteurized milk here.
I agree with everything you said here but I would like to point out that your claim that UHT milk cannot be cultured into yogurt is not true. I have done it many times (before I knew better) using both freeze-dried cultures and existing yogurt (several different kinds, so different bacteria were being used). I have even made yogurt out of reconstituted powdered milk.
Hi Sarah,
I recently found your site and am trying to incorporate a lot of your ideas into my family’s diet. Thank you!!! I have a question for you. My friend who is a homeopath told me that I should not consider raw cow’s milk as an option because cows have been tampered with so much and even if the cow in question doesn’t get any antibiotics or growth hormones, it’s parents probably did. She also said that over 80% of US cows have bovine AIDS and that the molecules in cow’s milk are too large for our system. She said that goats milk is a better alternative because no one tampers with goats and the molecules in goat’s milk are the right size for our systems. Also, when I told my aunt that we were trying raw milk she was alarmed and told me that the reason for pasteurization was because of TB. Do you know if farms that sell raw cow’s milk have to test for TB or bovine AIDS? Any information you have would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to sort out what is the best for my family!!! I’m very confused! Thank you so much for your time!!!!
I’m very late to this discussion but…
I’m surprised that in so many places the OV milk is ultra pasteurized. Until a couple of months ago we were buying Organic Vally non-homogenized low temp pasteurized whole milk. It was our compromise as we didn’t have a source for raw milk. Then a couple of months ago our local source of the OV non-homogenized stopped carrying it and said that OV was discontinuing it. Since then we’ve been using regular OV which, at least in our area, isn’t ultra pasteurized but still isn’t raw milk. We’re lucky that our OV milk comes from dairies we actually drive by on a regular basis. It’s bottled in Portland which is about 60miles away but we at least know that the cows are outside eating grass most of the time. We did finally find a source for raw milk and will start being able to get a gallon a week from them. We’re really excited! You couldn’t pay me to go back to conventional milk.
Sarah what is you’re opinion on almond or soy milk as an alternative?
Oh Sarah….I’m always searching for answers on your blog. My newborn is exclusively breastfeeding and she is 8 weeks old. She is having some reflux issues which I thought was rare with breastfeeding. I DO drink a glass of chocolate milk a day (as a treat for myself). I didn’t realize there is an autoimmune response with the ultra pasteurized milk 🙁 I quit drinking raw milk when I was pregnant because I was so scared something would happen :-/ If I start again, can my newborn get sick if I ingest a bug from the milk?
Thank you as always Sarah 🙂
xoxo
My husband works for Organic Valley, and this thought came over me very recently. Im making my bread and butter from milk I wont even feed to my children! The farmers arent the problem, it s the government making the good raw milk they produce illegal. thats lame!