Letter: Milk sure tastes different nowadays

Larry L.
02/28/2010 10:11 AM

America do yourself a great service and stop believing everything you hear and read. Conincidence or not that this discussion comes after the CBS News junk reporting on antibiotics in food animals, it is wonderful that the discussion is taking place. CBS only provided what they wanted you to hear. Get the facts on antibiotic use, MRSA, resistance and food animals. Seek your information from those who have a stake in the game. Farmers and food producers, researchers and regulators. Ok, now skeptics insert "follow the money" "corporate shill" "factory farmers". The use of antibiotics in food animals is regulated and monitored. The only antibiotics used in food animal production are approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration and monitored by the Centers for Disease Control. Antibiotics are only used when livestock is sick, susceptible to disease, or an disease challenge is imminent.You maybe surprised to learn that in many cases nothing is used in the last 60 days of growth. When are detractors going to learn that there is no, absolutely no, use of growth hormones in pork production. There are none labeled, nome available for use and none used. If you believe there is-produce the evidence, produce the hormone. I am not talking about cattle production, there is no hormone use in pork production. Mr. Halverson I believe your taste buds are off.

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Lisa S.
02/24/2010 9:27 PM

As a dairy farmer in the Worthington area, I can assure you the milk you are buying at stores today is the same wholesome and nutritious product your family has purchased for years. We are strictly regulated, and beyond that, our families drink the same milk that your families do and we take great pride in our product. It may interest you to know that, should milk accidently contain something other than milk, we must not only forego payment for that milk, but we have to buy the entire truck load! Likewise, the processors who buy our milk are strictly regulated and milk is routinely sampled and tested by regulatory authorities. I think it’s great you can choose from many different kinds of milk, including organic, but it ALL meets the same safety guidelines and delivers the very same nutrition. If you want to know more, there’s a great Web site to visit, www.dairyfarmingtoday.org. Thanks for supporting us!

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alan b.
02/23/2010 7:49 PM

Were it not for preservatives, your grocery stores would not be able to provide us all with many of the foods we now have. ANtibiotics in milk and meats at the producer level are diligantly regulated, managed well by our wonderful farmers and are nothing to get all excited about. THe sdditives after the product leaves the farm is another story. Vegetables, I do believe are a problem with all of the things added to get the product "fresh" from field to our homes.

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Mark A.
02/23/2010 6:07 PM

To Nikki, the USDA and FDA have done numerous studies on this topic. Not one single study has shown that organic foods are any safer than non organic. They also put all animal antibiotics and drugs through rigorous testing, a process that can last years. All to ensure that the food we eat and the milk we drink is safe.

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Mark A.
02/23/2010 6:00 PM

Nicole, that 'miracle' is what is known as digestion and the body at work. The animals body breaks down any and all antibiotics that are given to it before it hits our plates or glasses.

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Nicole F.
Spirit Lake, IA     02/23/2010 4:36 PM

Get real. A large majority of antibiotics in the USA are given to cows, chickens and pigs. How those don't pass through the milk and eggs and meat must be some kind of miracle...or some kind of smoke screen if you believe that your food supply isn't laced with drugs You choose.

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Lisa A.
02/23/2010 4:22 PM

Mike, yeah, I think I am. Just living in denial. The idea of soy milk makes me willing to give up my Captain Crunch.

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Nicole F.
Spirit Lake, IA     02/23/2010 12:53 PM

Are you sure someone is not spiking your milk?

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Jenna P.
02/23/2010 12:36 PM

Lest we forget, American farmers produce the safest and the least expensive food the in world. American farmers, including dairy, beef, pork, poultry, vegetable, and crop farmers, care about the food they produce. Contrary to the public’s belief, our nation’s food supply is NOT laced with hormones, steroids, antiobiotics, or growth promoters to create quickly maturing animals and plants. In regards to Nikki’s comment about antibiotic’s in milk, make sure you know your facts. Milk does not contain any antibiotics. In fact, if you follow milk from the farm to the glass, you will be pleasantly surprised at the care and high standards people have taken to ensure antibiotics do not enter the nation’s food supply. In short, before milk from the farm is even permitted to enter the milk processing plant’s storage facilities, it is tested for antibiotic residue. If any antibiotics are found, the milk is not permitted into the facility, and therefore, not permitted in our food system. Finally, the only “junk” added to fluid milk are Vitamin A and D—beneficial for eyesight and bone health, respectively. Finally, remember to thank a farmer today for providing you, the consumer, with the safest food and the least expensive food in the world.

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Nikki C.
Avoca, MN     02/23/2010 11:26 AM

Organic is the only way to go, even though it costs more. A natural health practitioner told me that the government allows up to 80 different antibiotics to be present in a gallon of milk. I wonder why "super bugs" are invading?! Doctors are limiting the antibiotics they prescribe to people, but livestock get them like they are candy.

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