This article was inspired by many others containing misinformation about milk safety that have recently been sent to the public in print, on radio, in social media and even in paid ads that usually solicit funds. My wife — who has milked and cared for thousands of cows from birth to death since arriving at our farm 50 years ago — became extremely upset when she listened to one of these disclosures on radio.
Milk has been the worlds most nearly perfect food for thousands of years. Yaks, camels, sheep, goats, water buffalo, cows and other animals have been milked since caveman times and even during times of drought, winter and other times when milk was in very short supply, milk was saved for the children. I have a picture of six different breeds of cows with the caption under it, “Mothers of the human race.”
Milk can be found in the cooler in grocery stores in many forms. Homogenized is 96.75 per cent fat free, 2 per cent is 98 per cent fat free, 1 per cent is 99 per cent fat free, skim is 100 per cent fat free.
Ultra filtered is processed through a special filter which filters out bacteria and unwanted somatic cells rather than pasteurize the milk. This is similar to a process that the armed forces use to make unsafe water found in some countries safe to drink. Lactose free milk has the lactose filtered out. UHT milk or coffee creamers are pasteurized at ultra high temperature and can be kept unrefrigerated for a longer period of time without spoiling.

Buttermilk used to be a byproduct left over from turning cream into butter. Now most buttermilk is made in the milk plants with dairy products, but many keep the recipe a secret. Chocolate milk is also made in the milk plants from dairy products and coco, but again each plant has their own recipe and hence the difference in taste from brand to brand.
Cream is separated from the milk in the plant and then skim milk is then added back to arrive at the percent of cream desired.
Organic milk is milk from cows that eat only organically grown feed and not treated with antibiotics. Organic farms cannot use regular chemicals to clean dairy equipment but may use peroxide as a cleaner and treat sick cows without use of antibiotics.
Many dairy farms still save and drink nonpasteurized raw milk from their own cows. My grandfather stated that “a farmer who would not allow his own family to drink his milk should not be allowed to sell milk for others to drink either.”
Many non-dairy milk substitutes can be found close to the dairy case at the grocery store. These drinks camouflaged in cartons that resemble milk cartons can be made from soybeans, peas, almonds, and other products. Please check the manufacturing process of these products before bringing them home to your family.
So how does the milk get from the cow to your table? Before the cow is even milked she has to be free from sickness and not been treated with any drug for a specified period of time, as different drugs have different withdrawal times ranging from a few days to months depending on the medication. These withdrawal times are both written on the prescription and confirmed by a veterinarian. Even if the cow has been treated for a sore foot, her milk cannot be shipped. All cows have their udders washed and disinfected with approved udder wash before milking. The cow’s milk spigots are then dried off and a little milk is checked from each teat before attaching the milking machine. Milk is filtered and chilled as it is transferred directly to the bulk milk tank. Milk is kept very cold at below four degrees in the milk tank.
All Canadian dairy farms are required to have a working, approved time and temperature recorder (TTR) which monitors the temperature that milk is kept at in the tank at all times. The TTR also monitors, records and saves the times and temperatures of wash water in the milk tank when it is washed after each milk pickup.
The milk truck driver checks each tank of milk for smell, temperature, and takes a sample of the milk before loading the milk. This milk sample goes to the milk plant with the trucker where each load of milk is tested for antibiotics before it is unloaded. If any load tests positive for antibiotics then the samples from each farm is tested to find out which farm has antibiotic residue in the milk.
If a farm is found to be the source of the antibiotics, then that farm is charged for that entire load of milk, charged for the disposal of the milk, fined for antibiotics in the milk and that farm’s milk must pass an antibiotic free before it is picked up again. Many dairy farms now have test kits that can check for antibiotics in milk on the farm before allowing a cow’s milk to get into the tank or from the farm tank into the milk truck.
Milk from every dairy farm is sampled and tested in a government approved lab for presence of bacteria, added water and somatic cells as well as fat, protein and other milk solids. Farms receive monthly quality bonuses if no antibiotics or added water is found and very low and strict standards are maintained for both bacteria and somatic cells in the milk. These standards are much higher than those required in the US and many other countries.
Every dairy farm is inspected by the same health department that inspects restaurants and other food manufacturers. Every dairy farm in Canada must comply with Canadian Quality Milk standards and is inspected a minimum of once each year. Under CQM requirements each dairy farm must record every drug purchased and every animal treated; where the drugs are kept, and the person in charge of CQM must be trained and approved.
Even before Louis Pasteur discovered pasteurization, all dairy farms in Canada had to have their milk cows tested yearly for brucellosis. Any cow whose test was questionable had to be retested and pass the next test or else be eliminated with other cows that tested positive for brucellosis. By the late 1950s brucellosis had been completely eradicated from Canada. Many countries could never make that declaration. The yearly test that had been done by a government veterinarian was then stopped and farmers were assured that any further incidence of brucellosis could be detected in milk samples.
Pasteurization kills most bacteria and provided further assurance that it would not be passed on. Pasteurization also destroys the enzyme in milk to help digest lactose. Lactose enzyme pills are available over the counter that allow many lactose intolerant people to again enjoy dairy products.
Keep your milk cold and enjoy it.

Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon
on land that has been in
his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com