Lloyd Metzger, director of the Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center and Alfred Chair of the Dairy Department at South Dakota State, outlined the process: Milk is received at the processing facilities and is tested for off-flavors and antibiotics. Several tanker trunks worth (from multiple different farms) get combined and placed in holding silos. Then the milk goes through a cream separator to create two products: cream and skim milk. At this point, various percentages of cream are added back into the skim milk in order to create whole and low fat milk. Milk is then homogenized, which is the process of passing it at high speeds through very small holes to create a uniform texture and prevent the cream from separating and rising to the top. It’s then pasteurized, or heated to at least 145 degrees. In some states, non-fat milk solids are added to the milk in order to thicken it and give it a better mouth feel. Then synthetic vitamins A and D are added.

When all is said and done, the product is a far cry from the milk that actually comes out of a cow. And, depending on whom you ask, each step along the way might carry its own risks.

grist.org, 13.09.11.

wowwowwow.

I’m pretty glad I don’t drink milk, but then I guess we’ll have to wait on some report on how soy milk is made. (I’m not lactose-intolerant—I just prefer the taste of soy milk.)

but if I were to buy milk, I’d get it from the farmers’ market. like the delicious regular and chocolate milk I tried at the Portland Farmers’ Market last weekend—the milk was fresh squeezed from only the day before!

Fair Oaks Dairy, a family owned dairy in North Indiana. flickr photo.

4. Milk often contains unwanted ingredients. Under current industrial methods, cow’s milk is often a toxic bovine brew of man-made ingredients like bio-engineered hormones, antibiotics (55% of U.S. antibiotics are fed to livestock), and pesticides—all of which are bad for us and the environment. For example, unintentional pesticide poisonings kill an estimated 355,000 people globally each year. In addition the drugs pumped into livestock often re-visit us in our water supply.

8 reasons you should stop drinking milk now. planet green, 29.09.09.

number 4 is probably the reason that most concerns me.
I just don’t want antibiotics and pesticides that are meant for animals in my human body. 
same reason why I normally opt for organic foods. 

I already do not consume milk. 
No, I’m not one of those typical lactose-intolerant asians.
But once when I was small I had some bad allergic reaction and my grandparents drove me to the hospital.
Actually I have horrible memory of my early years (my permanent memory didn’t seemto really get going ‘til I was 12) and am not even sure if that illness was caused my milk.  
Anyhow, after that, I never drank milk. I had my cereal dry until I discovered soymilk three or so years later. 
I’ll only drink regular cow milk if I’m a guest at someone’s place and it’s part of the meal.

Yoghurt I like to eat.
Back in the States I buy one-serving size yoghurts that are around $1, and preferably from companies/farms that don’t inject antibiotics into their cows.
Here I’m being Berlin-billig (cheap) and get that on-sale 45eurocents yogurt.
yeah probably not good.