Let me explain why I and my fellow dairy farmers would like everyone to buy permeate free milk even though permeate is completely harmless
I wrote this post the day after some brands of milk went “Permeate Free” and low and behold it was so popular it actually trended on Google. The reason for this was consumers went shock horror when they saw the Permeate Free label on Australia’s most beloved milk brand and that advertisement on TV that made me so cranky. As it turns out most people had never heard of permeate and rushed home to Google it to find out what it was.
Nowadays food scares are a media magnate and consumers greatest fear as surveys show Australians care most about food and their health. Thanks to programs like a Current Affair who when they are chasing ratings routinely do a food scare segment and the “evil” permeate was becoming a favourite Food scare stories are so popular what we have now in the supermarket is essentially foods in the “Controversy free isles” and foods in the “Controversy isles”
Now I assure there is nothing evil about permeate, its just a milk by product. See this previous post which explains what permeate is. But in their wisdom the major milk companies decided making milk permeate free and advertising it would increase market share for their brands. Well all it has done is put Permeate Free milk front and centre of the Controversial foods isle thanks to this very misguided labelling and advertising campaign by the milk company in question.
But there is an excellent reason why you should buy it.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE everyone buy permeate free milk as the milk processors need to buy 10-15% more milk from dairy farmers. This is because previously they added 10 to 15% permeate to milk to standardise it. Permeate free means they standardise it by essentially taking some of the cream off the top. Which means Permeate Free milk is just like it comes out of the cows with some homogenisation and pasteurisation .
Read what Dr Heather Bray has to say on this here
Hear me talking to Sarina Locke from ABC National here
All this gibberish and I still don’t know exactly what Permeate is please just say exactly what it is
I can understand your confusion Tania it took me a while to figure it out too. If we look at it this way milk is made up of a number of things that include water, vitamins, minerals, lactose, fat and protein. If you put milk through a very small special type of filter the fat and protein stays behind(doesn’t pass through the filter) and they call what stays behind “retenate” The water, lactose and vitamins and minerals do pass through the filter and the combined name for everything that goes through the filter is “permeate”