“It would be really nice for us to be selling a product that was approved for human consumption,” Kate says. There’s a bill in the N.C. House of Representatives to eliminate laws that prevent cow shares and make it legal to dispense (but not sell) raw milk for human consumption. Proposed in April, House Bill 792 is undergoing committee review. No action has been taken otherwise.
On the shelf Keith Collins, president of MilkCo in West Asheville, says he doesn’t understand why consumers go to such lengths for raw or minimally processed milk. “We work so hard to eradicate diseases from raw milk,” he says. “I think it’s a risk and reward. Why take the risk for no reward? It’s a big risk.” He worries that an outbreak of disease from raw milk could cast a shadow over the entire milk industry. Furthermore, milk sales in general are declining. In 2011, the USDA announced that milk sales had dropped by more than 50 percent since the early 1980s. Collins attributes the decline to the “many alternatives” customers have these days. “You’ve got almond milk. You’ve got soy milk, coconut milk,” he says. Owned by Ingles Markets, MilkCo processes and packages about 1 million gallons of milk each week and distributes it throughout the Southeast. The company also packs milk for Earthfare, US Foods and many other brands. Its milk goes to grocery stores, summer camps, hospitals and more. But in a weakening market, Collins knows he must diversify. MilkCo also packages 200,000 gallons a week of water, juice and other drinks. Collins is considering getting the equipment to make almond milk. Perhaps the most surprising detail about MilkCo? Its milk isn’t ultra-pasteurized. Nor is it vat-pasteurized like the Wholesome Country Creamery brand. Rather, it undergoes HTST pasteurization, in which it’s heated to at least 161 degrees, according to FDA standards. “Ultra-temperature can sometimes give you a cooked flavor,” Collins says. “Some people like that. Some people don’t. If you don’t have a preference, [ultra] gives you a longer shelf life.” But HTST could actually be holding MilkCo back. Collins will have to explore ultra-pasteurization to start making nut milks. “Right now, almond milk is ultrapasteurized because of the longer shelf life,” Collins says. “We’d have to investigate … how we want to go about doing that.”
How do you like your milk? While researching this story, we discovered that opinions and conclusions vary wildly when it comes to milk — raw vs. processed, homogenized vs. nonhomogenized, grassfed or not. So we’re curious: How do you like your milk? What do you think? Please send your replies to food@mountainx.com or comment online at mountainx.com/dining.
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SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
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