Differences between our Milk and the Milk from Supermarkets
Ever wondered how long it takes for milk to go from the cow to the supermarket shelf?
The journey of Supermarket Milk:
On the vast majority of British dairy farms, milk is collected in tankers and transported for hundreds of miles all over the country and stored in containers, before even beginning to be processed.
Once at a processing plant the milk is pasteurised to kill any harmful bacteria. It is then ‘standardised’ which means all of the butterfat (cream) is removed and then added back, in controlled amounts to form the whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk types. The cream is then discarded or used for other things. What a shame to lose all the original cream from your milk!
The next process is ’homogenisation’ in which the milk is forced through a machine to break up all the fat particles to make them the same size. In this form they uniformly spread through the milk and do not rise to the top to form the cream layer.
Next the milk is packaged in plastic cartons. An inert gas is then injected into the tops of the cartons to enable a longer shelf life
Once packaged the milk is then transported back out around the country and arrives in the supermarkets, potentially up to two weeks after leaving the cow (sometimes the supermarkets just up the road from the farm - what a long journey!), plus most milk in a supermarket typically then has a week or more shelf life added to it!
All the natural wholesome vitamins and minerals present in milk are delicate. These are damaged and lost during the long periods of transportation and by being pumped through many pipes during the processing procedure, the fat in the milk also becomes oxidised during this time, which can affect the taste.
So the milk that gets to your fridge is a lot older (can be up to several weeks in fact) and much more processed than any milk our cows have ever produced!
Our Milk's journey:
Our milk is milked from the cow, pasteurised and reaches our vending machine ready for you to purchase, as fresh as you can get it, with all the wholesome fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals still intact. Our milk is never more than 24 hours old.
Our milk also has ZERO food miles, unless you count the journey from the parlour to our pasteurising room, across the yard!
We hope you will be able to taste the difference and enjoy it!