If we once thought about eating something tasty, today people are more concerned about the question of what to eat or drink that is healthy. Now people have begun to understand that chemistry and life are incompatible things, so there has been great interest in organic products. Every day, a person of any age needs to consume dairy products, because thanks to them, the body is equipped with calcium, proteins and other important sources. Even before our era, people used milk for treatment. In medical science and practice, milk is also used due to its medicinal properties.

Nowadays, there is a fashion for healthy eating, so the food market has developed organic milk. Organic milk is a product of organic animal husbandry. For organic livestock farming, the necessary conditions must be established. Animals are raised according to the principle of extensive animal husbandry. The necessary area is allocated for ecological livestock farming, and animals must also have space for walking. Walking of dairy cows is no more than two per 1 hectare. Cow pastures must be cleared within the last three years. The closed area for cows should be six square meters per head, and the open area 4.5 square meters.

For organic milk production, special attention is paid to cows and their nutrition. In order to sell milk as environmentally friendly, cows must be kept for six months. When choosing cow breeds, the primary focus is on their ability to adapt to environmental conditions, so it is best to choose local cow breeds.

Video - what are organic products and how they are produced:

Organic milk producers In their business, they pay special attention to feed, which should consist of 75% environmentally friendly ingredients. The young animals are fed natural milk for 3 months. It is strictly prohibited to feed cows with antibiotics or other medications that stimulate growth or performance.

Storage of organic milk involves strict selection of raw materials and pasteurization. Instead of artificial preservatives, natural ones are used: salt, lemon juice, spices, wine vinegar. The business plan also includes the use of modern technologies, as this increases the shelf life of milk. Thanks to modern technologies, superheated steam is passed through milk for a few seconds - this method preserves all the beneficial substances in the milk. The milk is heated to a temperature of 138°C and held for three to four seconds, this method is called sterilization.

Packaging for organic milk is produced from natural raw materials – PET, which is gradually replacing PLA packaging. The shelf life of this milk is two weeks.
Producing organic products has proven to be a profitable business idea. These products are in great demand, regardless of price. By buying organic milk, which has all the beneficial properties and is environmentally friendly, you take care of your health and the health of your family!

Video - How organic milk is produced:

“Real milk, No. 1, is always 100% natural, specially selected, high quality, without milk powder, without additives or preservatives, made according to GOST R, made from top milk.” So many epithets and enticingly catchy names are painted on a package of milk under a well-known brand, which can be stored for as long as six months!

Many adults no longer care what is in the bag. He drinks and drinks. The main thing is that it is cold, and it doesn’t matter who is number one or number two. Everyone knows that this is advertising, which usually lies.

But children can sometimes be very picky. And not because of some advertising preferences, but because their body protests. The most common reason is allergies.

Field, Russian field... You are my youth, you are my will

The last time I drank real milk, and not this, in my opinion, half-percent surrogate, was as a child, when I was in the village with my grandmother in the Spassky district of the Ryazan region. Then, during the daily milking, housewives poured fresh milk into large cans, which were transported to the farm on horseback. It’s understandable - you ride in a cart, and you drink a glass or two. Nobody feels sorry. Let the child drink something fresh and steamy. And in the evening the neighbor will bring a three-liter can of milk.

This happened a long time ago - at the very beginning of the 90s. Since then, the democrats, as they called themselves, have changed the vector of development of the entire country, or more precisely, they have destroyed a huge country with its powerful economy. This also affected our collective and state farm system, built in Soviet times based on the traditional way of life of the rural population of Russia and based on the need to modernize rural production. The new masters of Russia destroyed large enterprises, in addition depriving the villages of support, and the farming class, which they were counting on, was never created.

Now, many years later, having arrived in the village, I discovered that the trees had grown, the roads along which people went to milk were overgrown with nettles, and there were practically no cows themselves. Like everything else - farm, stables, store. Only the fields remained. Huge flood fields, right up to the horizon! Only there is no harvest for them. Resourceful Muscovites bought up their shares from collective farmers by hook or by crook, privatized them, mortgaged them, resold them - and nothing else is sown there.

What about farmers, you ask? Indeed, how did the farmers settle in market Russia, on whom the reformers, citing Stolypin and the Americans, pinned their hopes?

The famous Russian scientist Sergei Georgievich Kara-Murza in the book “The manipulation continues. Strategy of Devastation” writes the following: “The attempt at the beginning of the 20th century to forcibly destroy the peasant community in Russia and turn the peasants into “free farmers” and agricultural workers served as a catalyst for the 1917 revolution.” And when “collective and state farms were destroyed, people were convinced that farms would become the main type of rural economy in the future market system...”

“...What did we have after 17 years of “farming the entire country”? In 2006, the number of farms amounted to 255.4 thousand, and the total land area of ​​their agricultural land was 21.6 million hectares. Of these lands, arable land accounted for 15 million hectares. This is about 15% of all arable land in Russia. On this land, farmers produced 6.5% of all agricultural products in Russia in 2006. They are far behind in the labor-intensive part of agriculture—livestock raising. Here they provide only 3.3% of total production. Thus, farmers provide Russians with a very small share of food, and use the arable land much worse than the half-strangled collective farms.” In addition, it turned out that half of the farmers, having received land, do not farm on it themselves, the scientist concludes.

“Why did farmers stop plowing and sowing? What's the matter? The fact is that a small farm cannot operate and compete with a large enterprise without very large budget subsidies. This was reliably established both in the Stolypin reform and by wise Americans. But the promised subsidies were not given to farmers and, apparently, they will not be given - enough time has passed to be convinced of this,” notes Sergei Kara-Murza.

Of course, we cannot return to the old collective farms, but the mistake must be corrected, we must look for new forms of connecting working peasant farms with large enterprises, and jointly modernize them, the Russian scientist concludes.

Field, Ugleche Polye... My heart will never forget you

The second time I tasted real milk was in Uglich, Yaroslavl region, on a modern farm of the AgriVolga agricultural holding. It began to be produced almost a year ago, in July 2012. Milk, of course, tastes different from the usual drinks that store shelves are filled with, and my little daughter, whose body is very picky due to allergies, really likes it. Milk is expensive because it is organic. In simple words, it is very, very high quality.

Firstly, the farm is robotic. Robots milk the milk: they scan the udder with a laser, wash it and quickly hand over the milk; at the same time, the computer diagnoses the animal and analyzes the milk. If the analysis is questionable for some reason, the milk is discarded. Then the robot washes itself, and another cow comes over.

Behind a sealed wall, just twenty meters from the cows, there is a dairy shop. The milk is processed in a pasteurization-cooling unit and bottled. Thanks to modern high-tech equipment, milk does not come into contact with air at any stage of its production, right up to packaging in bags, and therefore does not become contaminated. Moreover, each batch of products is taken to Yaroslavl for inspection.

Currently, preparations are underway for the launch of a plant for the deep processing of milk, which will produce an assortment united by a common brand - sour cream, cottage cheese, kefir, fermented baked milk, butter. The holding, together with the All-Russian Institute of Cheese and Butter Making (VNIIMS) in Uglich, has already begun producing small batches of organic cheese. Yuri Yakovlevich Sviridenko, the head of VNIIMS, suggested making cheese from this milk.

“He tasted our milk at the dairy products competition in Sochi in September 2012, where it received a gold medal, and said: I wish I could make the same ideal cheese from your ideal milk,” recalls the commercial director of the agricultural holding, Sergei Klyuchnikov.

The cheese is made by hand and matures for 45-60 days. The institute's capabilities allow it to produce no more than 800 kilograms of cheese per month. “All products have been tested by the Yaroslavl State Institute for the Quality of Raw Materials and Food Products and comply with the Technical Regulations for milk and dairy products,” continues Sergei Klyuchnikov.

AgriVolga, operating in the Uglich district of the Yaroslavl region and uniting 15 former collective and state farms (about 800 people), is a unique production of its kind, based on a powerful base with thousands of heads of cattle. Can an ordinary farmer afford such investments? Can he repay loans on time and provide a large city (or at least not a very large one) with milk?

Fortunately, we are gradually realizing the futility and absurdity of attempts by small farms to provide food to Russian megacities. Our country can only be supplied with food by large mechanized farms, such as, for example, this Yaroslavl agricultural holding. It is engaged not only in the production of high-quality natural milk and meat, but also in breeding sheep, cattle for meat and dairy purposes.

The most important thing is that the holding is engaged in organic production. The essence of such production is that animals live in natural conditions, graze in meadows, and GMOs, pesticides, growth regulators and other agrochemicals are not used in their fodder fields. The farm is conducted on ecologically clean lands far from industrial production. On farms, conditions for keeping animals are created and maintained that ensure their health and natural behavior.

The health of ecosystems and organisms is one of the principles of organic agriculture. Of course, now many of us no longer care what kind of milk is under the lid of the package with a dozen wonderful epithets. We often rely on the conscience of the manufacturer, which cannot always be relied upon. And it’s good that in our country there are modern companies that have begun to revive Russian agriculture, that give people jobs, that care not only about their profits, but also about our health. If we adults don’t care about our health anymore, then let’s think about our children. They still have to live and live.

At one time, organic milk was the preserve of the “fashionable and rich”—the cream of the middle class. But in the last few years it has become more popular and, according to recent data, one in four housewives now regularly buys organic milk. This change was also due to the reduction in prices for it in supermarkets, which made it affordable for the majority. And - this is what we will talk about today - the idea that organic milk is healthier, tastier and more nutritious than regular milk. Is it true?

Calories and fats

“Organic milk has a higher concentration of healthy polyunsaturated fats than regular milk,” according to a study conducted by scientists at Newcastle University in 2011. They believe that a cow that eats grass, hay and silage produces healthier milk than one that feeds a high percentage of grains and baked goods.

Research funded by organic milk producers at the Universities of Liverpool and Glasgow showed that organic milk has 68% more omega-3 fatty acids. It is this type of omega-3 acid that is believed to protect us from heart disease, but there is no proven research on this topic yet.

However, a liter of organic milk usually has the same fat, protein and calorie content as regular milk. And then, in 2011, Newcastle University scientists also found that some organic milk contained significantly more myristic acid and saturated fat, which they believe is associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease.

Taste

Some fans of organic milk claim that it tastes better. In a 2014 survey of 500 people by organic milk company Mintel, a third of regular customers said taste was the reason they switched to organic milk. Others argue that changes in taste can be seen in regular milk throughout the year, depending on whether the cow eats fresh grass in the summer or grains in the winter.

However, during official blind tastings, most people found it difficult to distinguish organic milk from regular milk.

Vitamins and antioxidants

The Danish Agricultural Research Institute reported that organic milk has 75% more beta-carotene, 50% more vitamin E and two to three times more lutein, antioxidants and zeaxanthin than conventional milk.

Antioxidants in milk, according to one modern theory, help reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. But although the levels of these nutrients are higher,
organic milk, it must be borne in mind that most people will receive them from their diet in any case - it is not milk that plays a leading role in it. Levels of other nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin B12, are similar for organic and conventional milk.

Children's health

Many parents who buy organic milk believe that it is good for their children. Although it is still unclear as to the actual benefits for
health, but there is some preliminary evidence that drinking organic milk may prevent allergic reactions.

A Dutch study published in the British Journal of Food found that more than 2,800 families found a 36% reduction in the incidence of eczema in children among those who consumed organic milk and cheese. However, this does not mean that organic milk helps prevent eczema in children.

Antibiotics

Excessive use of antibiotics in agriculture is now leading to the emergence of “superbugs” - bacteria that are resistant to the usual arsenal of drugs. Despite concerns about superbugs, regular animals are still regularly given antibiotics to prevent diseases such as mastitis. However, if they get into milk, then the milk of these animals does not go on sale.

Organic farmers only give antibiotics to cows after the animal gets sick, not before. This reduces the risk of developing new “superbugs.”
So, to summarize the above, organic milk has some benefits in terms of vitamins and antioxidants, and may also reduce allergic reactions in children. There was no significant difference noted in terms of nutritional and energy value, protein, fat content, and taste.

Milk is a product that we eat literally every day. When choosing it, you probably noticed that on some packages there is a mark that this is an organic product, and the price for this product is usually several times higher than for regular non-organic milk.

One of the key questions is whether we should pay more for organic milk. It's important to know exactly what we're getting when we buy organic and non-organic milk (which we'll refer to as "regular" milk in this article).

We turned to the experts to really understand the difference between organic and conventional milk.

What is organic milk?

According to established standards, organic milk must come from a cow that has not used antibiotics or hormones for reproduction or growth. It is also necessary that the animal receives a third of its nutrition while out on pasture; the rest of the cow's food must be grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides or genetically modified seeds. If a cow on an organic dairy farm needs to be treated with antibiotics, the farmer can no longer call the resulting product organic.

What is regular milk?

Regular milk is produced in the same way as organic milk. However, the living conditions of the animals from which it is obtained may not meet such strict rules as in the case of the production of an organic product.

When might antibiotics be needed?

The main reason a cow is given antibiotics is to treat the animal or prevent the development of mastitis, an infection of the mammary tissue that can occur during lactation. But organic farmers believe that mastitis is a genetic problem. Therefore, to eliminate the need to use antibiotics, organic farmers isolate cows with mastitis from the herd and do not allow them to produce offspring in order to prevent the disease from being passed on through generations.

Can antibiotics be found in regular milk?

Very often, farmers are forced to use antibiotics to treat sick cows. However, milk obtained from these animals is not sent for sale. They claim that these cows are only returned to their herd once they have been determined to be healthy and no longer have antibiotics in their system. Consumers can be confident that the milk supply is safe because it is carefully regulated and tested both at the farm and in the processing plant.

Is it possible that there are antibiotic residues in regular milk?

There are strict standards to ensure that the milk you buy in the store is safe. The product is very carefully tested for antibiotics at every stage of the delivery process - from the farm until it is transported to the processing plant, where the milk is tested again.

What hormones are used in regular milk and why?

There is one hormone that is used when raising cows on non-organic farms. It is a synthetic bovine growth hormone known as rBST. However, the practice of its use is becoming less common.

Synthetic bovine growth hormone is sometimes used by some farmers in order to be able to get more product from their animals. However, food industry experts say that this hormone has been used for more than 20 years, and its safety has been confirmed and proven by government agencies around the world.

Why are organic milk producers against the use of hormones?

In fact, there is no need to use a hormone to allow cows to produce more milk. Since in fact, farms receive an excess of this product, which is simply disposed of.

What other hormones are used on conventional dairy farms?

Reproductive hormones are commonly used on conventional dairy farms (but not on organic ones) to ensure efficient reproduction in artificial insemination of cows, which is a common practice in both conventional and organic farming. This process is very expensive, which is why farmers try to make it more efficient by giving their animals reproductive hormones.

Propagation agents used on conventional dairy farms include prostaglandin, gonadotropin (releasing hormone) and progesterone. They are hormones naturally produced by the cow during the breeding season. However, these drugs are now administered to cows at specific times to ensure a more controlled and efficient reproductive outcome.

How do organic dairy farmers breed without hormones?

Organic farmers say they also use the process of artificial insemination in their operations and also allow bulls to inseminate cows the traditional way, but they do not use hormones. They explain this by saying that their cows are healthy animals that are able to conceive and carry calves without any outside help. This is the big difference between conventional and organic farming.

The choice is yours

If you like the taste of organic milk, you will have to pay a lot. Walk into the milk section of any grocery store and you'll find that organic milk sometimes costs twice as much as conventional milk, meaning that not everyone can afford to buy milk labeled "Organic" on the package.

You must decide for yourself whether you are really willing to overpay to be sure that the product you purchased was obtained from completely healthy animals, whose bodies are free of antibiotics and have not been exposed to certain hormones.

We, city dwellers, go to stores, buy food, but have a rather superficial idea of ​​how it all works out. For a very long time I wanted to make a popular science report on the production of dairy products, and I finally realized this idea.

One hundred and eighty kilometers from the capital, in the Shatura district of the Moscow region, there is the Spartak ecological farm. I will now tell you in detail about how this farm lives, how natural products differ from organic ones, and how the products that can be found in stores under the “This Summer” brand are produced.

1. Natural and organic

In everyday life there are many designations for “healthy” production, healthy food, cosmetics: natural, farm, bio, ecological, organic. But the word “natural” or “farm” can mean something really healthy, or it can be exactly the same thing , that in those who do not hide the chemical origin. The manufacturer does not bear any responsibility for the fact that the manufacturer writes “natural”. There are a huge number of examples of supposedly natural dairy products in green packaging, which are stored for six months without refrigeration in Tetra-Pak packages. It is clear that there is only one color left from naturalness. And even if the milk is actually natural, not from powder, no one can guarantee what the cow was treated with, what she ate and what was added to the milk so that it would not turn sour a little longer, and what would end up in the body along with her milk.

Certified organic products are another matter. To meet the requirements of a certifying body and be able to claim that a product is organic, a manufacturer must meet a huge number of requirements. For example, for dairy products:

– fields where cows graze should not be fertilized with any chemicals for more than five years
– the farm should be located in an ecologically clean area, far from factories and factories
– production should not harm the environment
– cows should receive only healthy, clean nutrition, grown on the same organic fields
– cows cannot be treated with any chemicals, only homeopathy, but it is better to care for them so that they do not get sick

And several hundred more different requirements, from illumination of the barn with natural light to packaging (environmentally friendly, only glass for drinks, only paper for potatoes, and so on).

Certification

In order to rightfully be called an organic farm, it is necessary to annually confirm a special certificate. The investors of this farm chose the strict Swiss commission “bio.inspecta”. This is one of the most highly valued and difficult certifications to obtain. But it’s worth it - there aren’t many consumers, but they are demanding and are particularly fanatical about everything they eat. By the way, only products under the “This Summer” brand have a similar European certificate in Russia.

The inspector collects samples of soil, food, products and takes them to his Swiss laboratory. Observes the behavior of cows and various little things. All in order to check whether everything corresponds, whether “bio.inspecta” can guarantee that “This Summer” really meets their requirements.

If a person is concerned about what products he consumes, then he should study all this. There are many certifying bodies. Here are the main certificate logos that can be found in Russia; there are several dozen in European countries. There is one unifying European one - “Euroleaf”, it will stand next to every logo of European certification bodies.

Cowshed

I came here at the moment when the cows were returning from the pasture. They are such smart animals that they go to their place without a prompt from the shepherd. True, there is a hierarchy in the herd, and those cows that are higher in it can easily afford to chew first from their neighbor’s feeder, and only then go to their place.

This room contains about two hundred heads. It must be well lit, so that in any place where the animal stands, one can read without straining.

I really love the smell of cows. Here it is not at all poisonous, and even smells more like ground corn.

2. But cows still do not remain unattended.

3. Each cow has a passport like this. With the name, breed, age, date of insemination and calving and other notes of the farm workers. All the cows here are of the Kholmogory breed - dairy cows. Due to the fact that the Kholmogory breed was formed in the harsh conditions of the Russian North, this cattle is less susceptible to colds. In the case of organic farming, this is very important because cows cannot be treated with antibiotics.

4. At the entrance for people there are mats soaked in disinfection solution.

5. New barn under construction. Should be erected by November.

6. Food

Cows graze in the fields every day. Chemical fertilizers began to be used actively after the war all over the world, including in Russia, to guarantee the harvest, thereby ensuring food security. But it is still possible to even find land suitable for organic farming. There are not many such areas in the Moscow region. Of these, Shatursky and Volokolamsky districts are the two most environmentally friendly. The farm chose Shatursky based on a combination of various factors.

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8. After grazing, the cows are fed with heavier food - freshly harvested corn - succulent feed from ground tops and cobs.

A drinking bowl is visible on the right side of the frame. To fill this small reservoir with water, the cow presses a plastic button with its nose.

9. Corn is ground in such a beast-machine.

10. About the horns

A new barn for 600 heads is being built - the largest free-stall barn in Europe. Free housing of cows is a requirement of the certification commission, and simply the philosophy of running this type of farm.

A cow is a horned animal. Without a leash, it can easily injure a neighbor. So, so that they don’t butt each other, either on purpose or by accident, the cows are gradually dehorned. Cutting down is prohibited, because it makes the cow uncomfortable. It is allowed to cauterize at a young age with an injection of lidocaine or smear with a special ointment. True, cows can rub off the ointment by scratching against the wall. I met a couple of unicorns (-:

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12. The emergence of new generations

Cows in position are kept in a separate room. They are milked only for milk for the calves, they stand without a leash on soft straw, eat and walk. Happy motherhood, so to speak.

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14. Another bonus for cows is an automatic carder. In order for the megaruff to start spinning, it is enough to swing it. Cows know this. I knew too, so I was extremely careful (-:

15. The most colorful shot, I couldn’t resist.

16. As I wrote above, nothing is done with the material from the bull, so calves are born equally of both sexes. The bulls are not suitable for dairy production, so they are sold to the public. And they raise chicks. A young cash cow now costs 200,000 rubles on the market.

These calves were just recently born. They have already been licked by the mother cow, so they are dry. The day after birth they are transferred to a “nursery”.

17. Here is the “nursery”. Here the calves grow stronger within two weeks.

18. The calves suck on everything they come across. For example, my finger.

19. Of the five tons of milk that one cow produces per year, 300-400 liters go to the calf. They are also fed with whey and skim milk. And of course, hay and corn, as soon as they catch up to “kindergarten”.

20. After two weeks, they are transferred to a “kindergarten” from a “nursery” to be kept together.

21. Calves are shy and curious companions at the same time.

22. And then I couldn’t resist acting out. The cap could be removed.

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24. From the “kindergarten” the cow does not enter the general herd. Until insemination, she is kept separately, in a “school”. The first insemination occurs at the 15th month, and the first calving occurs at the 24th month of life. Like humans, cows carry their calves for 9 months. Only they are born more independent, unlike human children (-:

And it is after calving that the cow becomes milking. Like this!

25. Milking

Cows are milked automatically. Special milking machines are brought into the barn and connected to the udder (the top right photo of the collage shows the things that are put on the udder). Directly from there, the milk flows through a pipeline into the milk collection tank. At each stage the milk is filtered (mechanically). Milk does not see white light until production is released - everything happens in a closed loop.

After milk collection, milking equipment is taken to the washing room. It is connected to this system and water is pumped through.

26. Reservoir for collecting milk. From here it is pumped out by a milk truck and taken to the processing plant.

27. Factory

The plant is a five-minute drive from the barn. The milk truck pumps the milk into tanks for processing, and then it is thoroughly washed from the inside.

28. Here it is, the reverse side of the flushing system.

29. Incoming milk and finished products are checked in a simple laboratory. A cunning laboratory is needed where there is chemistry.

30. Processing shop. Here the milk is pasteurized and kefir or baked milk is made. I haven’t drunk the last one in a million years, I got into it and became a fan.

31. And this is the curd shop. Baths in which cottage cheese remains.

32. In these drum machines, excess liquid is separated from the curd. Ice water flows through the tubes to aid the process. Ice water is also used to quickly cool milk after pasteurization.

33. Packing cottage cheese.

34. Dispenser-dispenser, but each package is additionally weighed. The excess is removed, the missing is reported.

35. After cooking, the sour cream is kept in the cold for some time. Only after this the label is glued.

36. “This Summer” is sold in retail at Globus Gourmet, Azbuka Vkusa, Bakhetla, Spar, Scarlet Sails and Metro. And for some it is more convenient to order home delivery.

Do you see the green leaf icon? This is the same certificate.

37. Glass containers are produced at a plant in Gus-Khrustalny. It can be returned for recycling to the courier (if you regularly order it from the online store), or brought to the offline store “Bio-Market” at the address: Rublevskoye sh., 30, bldg. 1. For each bottle or jar they give 8 rubles (-:

38. An ice water generator was discovered.

39. Now we have reached the end of this story. The products are packaged and taken to stores.

40. The lifespan of milk from the moment of milking to the end of its term is only five days. Therefore, it is sold only in Moscow and the Moscow region. To sell products in other regions, it is necessary to build an organic farm there. A purely local matter.

To become an adherent of organic products (and organic can be not only food, but also cosmetics, perfumes, home care products, diapers and even clothes) or not is a matter of immersion, a very personal one. Decide how much everyone is ready to take care of themselves and the health of future generations.

41. I passed the post, your Dasha.