Organic Milk - Is Organic Milk Worth the Price?

Organic milk is popular right now, but is it really worth the higher price?

Is Organic Milk More Humane?

Many people switch to organic milk because they believe the cows are treated better on organic dairy farms than the cows on conventional dairy farms.

Government standards for organic milk do mandate certain standards of treatment, including a certain amount of access to the outdoors. However, there are many loopholes in the current laws governing organic milk production, so the actual standard of care varies widely from one organic dairy farm to another.

Some farms do the minimum possible to meet the organic standards, and may even treat their animals worse than well-run conventional farms. Other farms are virtual cow paradises.

In general, the highest standard of care is found on farms that keep their cows mostly or entirely on pasture. Look for the term "grassfed" on the label.

The Cornucopia Institute maintains a very useful Organic Dairy Report that rates a number of common organic dairy farms on the care they give their animals.

Organic dairy farms are never allowed to use rBGH to increase milk production. rBGH is associated with increased risk of health problems such as mastitis in treated cows.

Is Organic Milk Healthier?

For most consumers, however, the biggest issue is whether organic milk is healthier.

This is a controversial issues. Studies have been inconclusive about whether the antibiotics and growth hormones routinely fed to many conventionally raised dairy cows affect the quality of the milk or the health of the consumer. Personally, however, I believe it is better to be safe than sorry, especially because routine feeding of antibiotics to farm animals such as dairy cows is contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistant diseases such as MRSA.

On the health issue, grassfed dairy products again come out on top. Although there may not be a significant difference in nutritional quality between milk from a conventionally raised dairy cow and an organically raised cow on a farm that uses mainly conventional practices, the difference in nutritional quality between conventionally produced milk and milk from cows fed exclusively grass is substantial.

Milk from grassfed cows has been found to have higher levels of cancer-fighting CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), vitamin E, vitamin A, beta-carotene, and omega-3 fatty acids than butter from cows with limited access to pasture. Other grassfed dairy products, such as butter and cheese, also share these benefits, though to varying degrees depending on the type of processing. In particular, studies have found that levels of CLA are four times higher in grassfed cheese than conventional cheese.

For these reasons, I believe the extra cost of organic milk, and especially of grassfed milk, is worth it.