Tag: Unhomogenized milk

While some studies indicate that minimally processed foods offer benefits, a 2021 review found no high-quality scientific evidence supporting claims that homogenized milk is detrimental to health. With the rise of boutique dairies, many wonder: is unhomogenized milk better for you?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), outbreaks of illness linked to raw, unpasteurized milk have caused thousands of illnesses and hundreds of hospitalizations in recent decades. The safety of unhomogenized milk depends entirely on one crucial factor: whether or not it has been pasteurized.

Over a century ago, consumers routinely saw a distinct layer of cream on their milk, a phenomenon known as creaming. This separation occurs because fat is less dense than the rest of the milk, causing it to naturally rise to the surface. Thus, the creamy layer on top of milk is definitively rich in fat.

Before the 1920s, a layer of cream forming at the top of a milk bottle was completely normal. This layer is the defining characteristic of what is milk that hasn't been homogenized, a traditional dairy product that retains its natural separation of cream and milk.

Homogenization was first invented in 1899 and became the standard for most commercially available milk by the mid-20th century. This mechanical process is the key distinction in what is the difference between homogenised and unhomogenised milk, with one being treated to prevent separation and the other left in its more natural state.

While most supermarket milk is homogenized for convenience, less than 20% of the world's milk supply undergoes this process. The widespread adoption of homogenization, a mechanical process that prevents cream from separating, has raised questions among health-conscious consumers about its impact on digestion and nutrient absorption.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1998 and 2018, there were 202 outbreaks linked to drinking raw milk, which caused 2,645 illnesses. The key to knowing if cream top milk is safe to drink lies in one critical distinction: has it been pasteurized?

Homogenization is a mechanical process that prevents cream from rising to the top of milk by breaking down fat globules into smaller, evenly dispersed droplets. This means that the answer to 'Is A2 milk unhomogenized?' is not a simple 'yes' or 'no', as the A2 designation refers only to the type of beta-casein protein present, and the milk can be processed either way.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), raw or unpasteurized milk can harbor dangerous germs that can cause serious illness. This often leads to the question, is it safe to drink unhomogenized milk? The answer depends entirely on whether the milk has also been pasteurized, as pasteurization is the critical step for killing harmful bacteria, not homogenization.