Dairy in CA

[bostonsmama]

I was just in CA for a month and noticed all milk (by law, I presume) is rBST-free. I asked a "local" if it was just liquid drinking milk or all milk products, and she didn't know. I looked at her sour cream, cottage cheese (Daisy, Knudsen/Breakstone), and none of it was emblazoned with "rBST-free," and I figured if it was, it'd say it.

Side bar: Does anyone know what happened to Kraft's 2% milk cheddar cheese? It used to be their only cheese that was rBST-free, and now I don't see it at all in stores.

[chozen]

we still have it at krogers.

[BayGirl2]

Mmm, not sure if its a law or just tends to be advertised that way here. We usually buy organic milk, so it is of course. But I don't recall there being a law about it. Maybe just that the local dairy's here tend to market it that way?

I think I still see Kraft 2% cheese too.

[Melanie]

Where were you shopping? I generally only shop at TJs and they've commited to that, so I haven't noticed at regular stores since I buy Organic there (to avoid the rBST. I should read boxes more closely!).

I wonder if it has something to do with the law that was passed a few years ago for animals raised for food to be treated better.

[bostonsmama]

Where were you shopping?.

Vons, Trader Joes and a few others...they all had "rBST-free" on their house milk. That's unheard of in my home state, so that's why I buy organic milk as well. However, DH and I were talking about all the benefits of living in CA (considering a future move), and that would be one if it was so, but perhaps it's not? It's most important to me to have less hormones in my/my DD's milk, but cheese/dairy products are also $$ when organic, so I do rBGH-free when I can (Chobani and Fage are committed to this).

[Green_Tea]

Not sure if it's pertinent or not, but I live in the Northeast, and can no longer find milk that's NOT rBST free. It's not a law (as fa as I know) but it's definitely the norm.

[BayGirl2]

Vons, Trader Joes and a few others...they all had "rBST-free" on their house milk. That's unheard of in my home state, so that's why I buy organic milk as well. However, DH and I were talking about all the benefits of living in CA (considering a future move), and that would be one if it was so, but perhaps it's not? It's most important to me to have less hormones in my/my DD's milk, but cheese/dairy products are also $$ when organic, so I do rBGH-free when I can (Chobani and Fage are committed to this).

Well - I do have to say that I consider easy and broad access to a wide variety of healthy, locally grown food a huge benefit of living in CA. Its something I miss when I travel elsewhere for a long period of time. I know today its possible to get organic anywhere, but I feel like here its easier to find those things, even in mainstream stores. For example, our Costco has all kinds of whole grains and organic options and ethnic foods that are stocked based on local preferences - even differing from town to town.

[deborah_r]

Feeling really dumb now for having always made sure the milk was rBST-free and never thinking about cheese and such. Anyway, I'm in CA and noticed most of the milk is rBST-free, but after we started drinking organic I can't seem to go back to regular milk. The last time I tried some ("AltaDena" brand which I used to love) that wasn't organic, I thought it tasted strange.

[mackmama]

Side bar: Does anyone know what happened to Kraft's 2% milk cheddar cheese? It used to be their only cheese that was rBST-free, and now I don't see it at all in stores.

I buy it at Safeway.

[daisymommy]

There are no state or federal laws outlawing rBGH milk anywhere.
But the demand for natural, healthy, green products is sky high in California. It's just the nature of that state. And so, that mindset influences everything.
California really is it's own little world! (in a good way :)).

As a side note, you can still buy 2% milk Kraft cheese here. I called last year and asked why it didn't still have the label on it that said hormone free. The lady said it was still rBGH free, but they no longer labeled it as such so that if ingredients changed, they didn't need to change their packaging to reflect that (nice huh?). So from one day to the next you don't know what you are getting. That right there made me stop buying it.

[AnnieW625]

Here is what I have noticed:
Vons, Ralphs, Stater Bros., and Albertsons (also probably Save Mart, and Lucky's) all sell a house brand of non organic milk that is rBST free; however they never used to so when we moved here I started getting a dairy delivery because I have been avoiding non rBST free milk since I first heard about rBST milk 10+ yrs. ago. They might also have another cheaper brand of milk that doesn't have rBST free labels on it. With the exception of Stater Bros., Trader Joe's, and Sprouts I will not buy the house brand milk because I just don't like the taste of it because I got spoiled with the freshness of Rockview Farms dairy delivery and Rockview Farms supplies milk to Stater Bros., Trader Joe's, and Spouts (I matched plant numbers once). I have also bought Whole Foods non organic milk too as well as Altadena both of which are is also rBST free., I am sure Knudsen is too, but I don't like the taste of their milk. In nor cal I drank Crystal milk which was also rBST free, or I would buy Strauss milk.

We get our cheese from Tillamook at Costco and that is rBST free as I also think that the Kirkland brand cheeses are as well as are Joseph Farms, and the cheeses sold at Trader Joe's. I also think that the Lucerne brand at Vons is also rBST free.

[Melanie]

Vons, Trader Joes and a few others...they all had "rBST-free" on their house milk. That's unheard of in my home state, so that's why I buy organic milk as well. However, DH and I were talking about all the benefits of living in CA (considering a future move), and that would be one if it was so, but perhaps it's not? It's most important to me to have less hormones in my/my DD's milk, but cheese/dairy products are also $$ when organic, so I do rBGH-free when I can (Chobani and Fage are committed to this).

Well if you live in CA and you are mostly concerned about the rBST and less about the rest of the Organic properties, you can shop at TJs and it won't cost you more. They're awesome!

ETA: I just looked it up b/c I was curious, rBST and rBGH is the same thing. Two different ways of referring to it. And for the lurkers, it's a growth hormone injected into cows to cause them to artificially produce more milk. It can cause udder infections and thus the need for antibiotics which can then pass down into the milk. As most of us know, the world seems paranoid about what nursing mothers consume, ingest and are prescribed b/c it could harm our babies, then we drink milk from cows of unknown origin with who knows what in them.

[daisymommy]

Fwiw...it's not just the problem of udder infections and antibiotics being caused by these artificial hormones. The hormones are being implicated in causing us breast cancer, as well as other cancers.
http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/general/milk.htm

Did you know that these hormones are banned in Europe, and American produced milk cannot be sold in Europe?

[Melanie]

Yes, of course the hormones are bad for us, too!

I think food can be so much healthier in other countries. My co-worker from Iran said there is no 'organic' there b/c it's all grown that way.

[mommylamb]

Not sure if it's pertinent or not, but I live in the Northeast, and can no longer find milk that's NOT rBST free. It's not a law (as fa as I know) but it's definitely the norm.
:yeahthat: Same here in the midatlantic region. I think that consumer sentiment was such that a lot of the producers/buyers of milk products just aren't doing milk with hormones any more.

[bostonsmama]

Lucky you, mommylamb...we don't have the same luxury a few hours outside of your area. I buy organic liquid milk anyways, but it's the other stuff that's REALLY hard to find, either organic OR just rBST-free: cheese (more than mozarella & cheddar), cottage cheese, sour cream, buttermilk (non-existent to my knowledge), half n half, yogurt--although the latter is easier to find these days.

It just plain stinks. The local version of whatever the health dept/food inspectors shut down our local dairy outfit's milk delivery service a while ago b/c they sold raw milk or something and couldn't afford expensive industrial-grade machinery to keep it to their "standards."

[mommylamb]

What about Walmart? I remember seeing on one of those food documentaries that walmart was only selling milk without rBST because of demand by their consumers. I only remember because I was really impressed.

[candaceb]

I've noticed that Target's "Market Pantry" brand cheese is rBST free so that is what I've been buying lately when I can't get to Trader Joe's. Also, TJ's doesn't have block cheese that I use for DS and Target does.

[bcafe]

Organic Valley makes organic sour cream, cream cheese, cottage cheese, half &half, etc. Also, TJ's has organic sour cream that I usually buy.

[daisymommy]

Daisy and Friendship brand are both hormone free. They make both sour cream and cottage cheese.