J Lunis wrote:
> Marco McClean wrote:
>> J Lunis wrote:
>>> I posted this (I think) looonng ago but have recently been hearing
>>> this again. I can find no reference to it in the FAQs.
>>>
>>> There are not enough cows in the US to produce all the milk/butter,
>>> etc. in this country. Dairy farmers are diluting/substituting the
>>> milk with 'something' and the government is ignoring it.
>>>
>>> Sadly, no one remembers where they saw/heard it nor do they no any
>>> numbers that sup****t the information(?). Has anyone hear heard
>>> this or a variant?
>>
>> Uh, here:
>>
http://scribalterror.blogs.com/scribal_terror/2008/09/frothy-snails.html
>>
>> --
>>
>> Frothy snails
>>
>> The adulteration of London milk and cream in the nineteenth century
>> (and before) is presented in gruesome detail by John Timbs in
>> Curiosities of London (1855):
>>
>> The adulteration of milk is a pestilential practice. The
>> substances usually employed are water, flour, starch, chalk, and the
>> brains of sheep, oxen, or cows; the brains have been detected with a
>> microscope, shewing the nerve-tubes, their natural size being only
>> about 1500dth of an inch in diameter ; they are rubbed with warm
>> water into an emulsion, and then added to the milk, or in larger
>> pro****tion to London cream. This is a vile fraud im****ted from
>> Paris. In Smollett's time (see Humphrey Clinker) London milk was
>> described as chalk and water, with beaten snails for froth; the
>> milkmen of our day have added treacle, salt, whiting, sugar-of-lead,
>> annatto, size, &c. : the sugar-of-lead is most pernicious, being
>> formed into carbonate of lead, which is held in suspension, a little
>> giving a great bulk of water a milky appearance. A never-failing
>> pump, or “cow with the iron tail," is indispensable to a Dairy
>> establishment, to balance the statistics of demand and supply.
>
> Interesting article. Not the most appetizing practice I have read.
> My question was the concerning the rumor of current (2008) practice by
> dairy farmers. Any info on that?
Are you referring to to the addition of 'permeate'?
Here in Australia, one of the "Current Affairs" shows tried to beat up the
addition of permeate into milk as a scandal, how hte consumers we being
ripped off, the milk being "watered down" to increase profits. All
shock-jock sort of stuff.
Unfortunately, the show didn't describe what 'permeate' was and why it was
added to milk.
Permeate is what is left when the protein and fat are removed from the
milk.
It is not an artifical substance any more than cream is artificial - both
derive from milk and both are extracted using various chemical and
mechanical means.
Since most modern countries have standards for milk, dictating the minimum
amount of things like protein, fat and lactose in them to be considered
'whole milk', and cow's milk has a seasonal variation in the level of such
things as protein, fat and lactose, the milk is adjusted by the addition
of
permeate (as well as its opposite, retentate) as necessary to keep within
specification. This results in us consumers having a consistant quality of
milk year round rather than having variable quality of milk depending on
the
season.
I don't know where you are, but here we have 'generic' brands of milk as
well as 'brand name' milk. The reason why generic brands of milk
occasionally taste 'less creamy' than name brands is - not surprisingly -
because they are. The 'generic' milk still has to stick within the
Australian specifications of 'whole milk' but they don't concern
themselves
so much with keeping the product *very* consistant. So therefore, if the
cream (fat) content is lower than 'usual' but still within the Australian
specifications, the 'generic' brand will still be ****pped out, whilst the
'brand' name may receive an addition of cream so that it meets the *brand
name* standards which are higher than the Australian specification. For
example, the specification for whole milk in Australia says that it has to
contain 32g or more of fat per kilo, but <brand name> milk might
internally
decide that their milk will have a minimum of 35g and a maximum of 38g of
fat per kilo. Generic brand may only state that they will have a minimum
of
32g and not worry about what the maximum might be. Notice how no-one is
making a great fuss about the addition of cream to an 'underspecification'
milk, but its the same principle.
If we paid for milk in terms of percentage fat, the beat-up would make
sense. We here in Australia don't. Skim milk costs if anything more than
regular milk, because it costs more to process than whole milk. The
beat-up
started smelling suspiciously like a paid advertisement for 'A2' brand
milk
to me.
What permeate is and how its used:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/newsroom/factsheets/factsheets2008/milkpermeateapril2003903.cfm
The alleged scandal:
http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=455784
Yowie
--
"because its more fun to be evil" - Jarppi, _The Dudesons_
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