Why certified organic milk brands such as Horizon and Organic Valley are toxic despite glowing marketing claims, which falsely lead consumers to believe this type of milk is a healthier alternative to regular supermarket milk.
Fact: Organic milk companies such as Horizon and Organic Valley are pulling the wool over the eyes of consumers.
By marketing their ultrapasteurized (UHT) milk as certified USDA Organic, a willing consumer base buys it, thinking it is a better choice than regular pasteurized supermarket 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 supermarket milk or ultrapasteurized certified organic milk? That’s a toughie. Neither choice is optimal as there is no clear winner.
Both are highly processed milks, and both contribute to poor health and chronic illness in general.
Pasteurized vs Ultrapasteurized Milk
Let’s first consider regular supermarket milk.
The dairy cows producing this type of milk are injected with hormones and other drugs.
They consume unnatural, GMO, pesticide, and antibiotic-laced feed with no access to fresh air or green grass.
To add insult to injury, these abused animals stand on cement floors their entire lives. No surprise that they usually die within about 18 months. Incidentally, the true lifespan for a healthy dairy cow should approach 15 years.
Milk from confined cows NEEDS to be pasteurized. It is dirty, nasty stuff loaded with pus and pathogens because of the filth and chronic mastitis the cows endure.
Now let’s consider certified organic (UHT) 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 the Organic Industrial Complex is even more highly processed.
For example, ultrapasteurized (UHT) organic milk is subjected to the insanely high temperature of 275–302°F/ 135–150°C for 1–10 seconds (most commonly 2–5 seconds).
This is waaaay over the boiling point!
For reference, the boiling point of milk is 212.4–212.9°F/ 100.2–100.5°C.
Excessively high UHT processing, far above the boiling point, results in a destroyed product (it isn’t really even food anymore), but dairy corporations love it because it has a much extended shelf life compared to regular pasteurization.
The dirty little secret is that certified organic UHT milk can actually remain unrefrigerated for up to 6 months when packaged in aseptic cartons!
Yet, it is placed in the refrigerated section nonetheless because US consumers won’t readily buy cartons of milk from an unrefrigerated shelf. It goes against intuition and just doesn’t seem very natural, does it?
I don’t know about you, but I find this practice outrageous!
To show the disconnect, consider that Moms often buy individually sized aseptic packages of organically certified milk and put them in their children’s lunchboxes….with ice packs that aren’t even needed!
If they only knew that this milk is so dead that it doesn’t require refrigeration, then they might rethink their choice of beverage.
Auto-Immune Disorders
Why is ultrapasteurization so bad?
The high temperature (far above boiling point) necessary to ultrapasteurize organic milk greatly damages the fragile milk proteins. The same thing happens when sweetened condensed milk is manufactured too.
This violent industrial process results in a “food” that the body no longer recognizes when it is consumed.
The enzymes produced during digestion do not “fit together” like puzzle pieces with the milk proteins destroyed by UHT processing.
These 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 such as allergies, asthma, eczema, reflux, bloating, and other symptoms of autoimmunity.
People who drink this type of certified organic milk often think they have a “milk allergy”. In reality, they have an allergy to the processing, not the milk itself!
Ultrapasteurized milk is so completely sterilized that sometimes it is difficult to culture into homemade kefir or 24 hour yogurt.
In short, ultrapasteurized milk is dead, dead, DEAD.
There is no way that it can be considered healthy, even if it is labeled USDA organic and comes from grassfed cows.
I remember when my first child was nursing, I drank a lot of Organic Valley ultrapasteurized milk.
My baby 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 completely resolved. No treatment was required.
I have no doubt that if I had continued drinking this milk while nursing and he drank it as a toddler, that a likely “milk allergy” would be the result today.
Fortunately, I wised up in time to get off the industrialized poison otherwise known as certified organic milk!
Pick Your Poison
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 boil the milk to the required 275–302°F/ 135–150°C after the milk is in the plastic or plastic-lined aseptic carton packaging.
Another method (just as toxic), is to fill the package or jug with sterilized hot milk that has not yet cooled down!
Either of these industrialized processes release high levels of endocrine-disrupting phthalates from the plastic or plastic lining 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 all forms of pasteurized milk, even certified organic that is falsely perceived as safer.
Never Buy Certified Organic Milk from the Store!
As you can see, it is an extremely hard decision to pick which milk is more unhealthy: regular pasteurized store milk or certified organic milk.
It is best 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 truly healthy 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 certified 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 have provided your blog to Organic Valley and have asked them to respond. The only organic milk that would be considered unhealthy and dead would be the ones sold in juice boxes. The other types of organic milk that needs refrigeration, just as regular milk does, is much healthier to consume. Completely raw milk from healthy cows would be optimal and many stores are allowing local small farms to provide this option. The milk containers simply have a “warning”. Odd isn’t it? The good for your milk gets a warning! But to the blog….the first opening sentence is a blanket statement painting all organic milk with the same paint brush as the milk that can live on a shelf.
That is a good point! Unfortunately, regular pasteurized organic milk is allergenic and not to be consumed either by those in the know. It’s just a little less damaging than the shelf stable organic milk in aseptic cartons. Why not consume raw, grassfed milk? Any processed milk is not healthy organic or not!
I have used Horizon milk to make milk kefir. In fact, it makes it so quickly, I can’t drink it fast enough. I imagine it would also make yogurt. It would be great if I had easy access to raw milk, but I don’t and I refuse to buy “standard” milk. I’m not totally defending Horizon…I believe the USDA and the FDA are responsible for the corruption of ALL our food sources.
This article has really opened my eyes. I’ve recently been looking into making kefir. Everything I’ve read says you need to use organic non uht milk. I figured my milk was fine but low and behold it’s uht. I never really knew what that meant, but it makes sense. This is why organic milk is easier and easier to come by. Not sure now what I’ll do as I live on Long Island and I don’t know of any dairy farms nearby. Thanks for the info.
Nowhere in her article did she say that Dairy Cows die within a year and a half Pam. You have completely taken things out of context in so saying. She stated: “On the one hand you have regular, pasteurized store milk that comes from sick, confined cows that are injected with hormones and other drugs. They are fed unnatural, GMO, pesticide and antibiotic laced feed with no access to fresh green grass. These cows stand on cement floors their entire lives and usually die within about a year and half. Incidentally, the true lifespan for a healthy dairy cow should approach 15 years.”
Dairy cows do not die at a year and a half. They are often sent to slaughter/feed lots between 6-8 years old. Also, I have two jugs in my fridge right now. One conventional and one organic, both are pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized. I agree that the ultra-pasteurized denatures the milk even more than pasteurization and is to be avoided. Your article is a mess of completely wrong mixed with incorrect blanket assumptions. Here’s what it should say. Convention and ultra-pasteurized is the cheapest and worst options. Organic and regular pasteurization is the middle of the road option available in most grocery stores. Fresh from a farm milk is best but costs 3-4X conventional. If you live in a state that allows the sale of fresh milk in your stores, you are blessed. Most states have freedom robbing regulations or a gestapo ban on fresh milk. I mean come on, you can’t tell me raw oysters are safer than fresh milk.
Hi all- My DD is a year old with a milk allergy…I breastfed but had to cut out dairy consumption. I am concerned about what milk or best alternative to give. I’ve read alot of your responses and have done research and am not really interested in soy. Please help. She is small in weight department. Suggestions.
So, there is very little, if any scientific evidence that this so-called “leaky gut syndrome” exists. Scientists have noted some naturally occurring permeability in the digestive tract, but not one legitimate study has ever found that the human body “mounts an immune response” to this permeability, let alone that this response is manifested through common allergies or eczema. “Leaky gut syndrome” is most likely just what it sounds like: a buzz term developed by alternative medicine practitioners looking to sell supplements. Making incredibly broad, scientifically unfounded statements like “all Westerners suffer from leaky gut syndrome to some degree” sounds highly suspect. Now, you show me several different scientific studies by reputable research teams proving your claims and demonstrating how all this works, then I might change my mind.
Ryan,
You couldn’t be more wrong. What you need, however, is to do your own research. That way you will be sure no one is simply duping you. Try entering “paleo” diet, books, method, etc. in a search. Good luck and good health.
Although non-dairy milks (except for soy) are good for you, they should be homemade with nothing other than the almond, quinoa, etc. and water. Commercially-produced non-dairy milks are all ultra-processed and contain all sorts of other ingredients to make them palatable to the average consumer. Carageenan, for example, is added as a thickener to most all non-dairy milk. Although it is supposed to be something natural, that doesn’t make it good for you. Not everyone tolerates having this particular ingredient in their digestive tract. In fact, it can either cause or aggravate IBS something fierce. For those who believe that drinking the ‘breast’ milk from another mammal is unnatural, then ingesting carageenan (which was never a part of the human food supply until non-dairy milk started being produced commercially) should not be something acceptable either.
What about “flash pasteurized”??? Is this better? We have a milk delivery service that offers this — tastes GREAT.
I’ve tried raw milk and it doesn’t taste good at all 🙁
You may want to try the raw milk again. When I first had it I thought it tasted weird also but that was because it was springtime when they eat the new greens that are kind of bitter. So part of it is that and a bit of it is adjusting your taste buds. Although the rest of the year the flavor really isn’t that different to me from regular milk. Just be sure of course to shake it up, and keep in mind the milk will be creamier because it has more cream than store-bought, as I’m sure you know. Perhaps Sarah can clarify but from what I understand flash-pasteurized is better though of course not as good by far as raw milk. If we’re in a bind, and out of raw milk, sometimes I purchase Kalona grassfed milk from the store which is flash pasteurized.
I buy Organic Valley grass fed milk…but lately, i don’t even see any cream on top or anywhere??? So I feel like I”m drinking skim milk.
You won’t see any cream on top of OV milk because it is ultrapasteurized and homogenized. It also primarily comes from holstein cows which produce very little cream. Best to get raw milk from jersey or guernsey cows that produce lots of cream!
what about half and half???