The Free Range Gourmet Free range thoughts on the finest ingredients, cuisine, and fine dining in Hawaii.
Free Range Gourmet
Keep in touch with Hawaii's great food blogs over in the right-hand column. Podcasts too!    
Friday, February 06, 2009

Disappeared news: why milk imported into Hawaii is re-pasteurized

by Larry Geller

A story in today’s Advertiser, Local milk back in stores, brings welcome news. An important piece of information was omitted, though, and it’s one you need to know about if you buy “local” milk at your favorite supermarket.

Hidden at the very end of the story continuation is this incomplete revelation:

Most milk imported from the Mainland, while it can be characterized as being produced locally because it is repasteurized in Hawai'i, cannot be labeled with the state's "Island Fresh" origin mark unless it contains at least 90 percent local milk.

Repasteurizing, or reprocessing, adds about eight days to the age of imported Mainland milk, which can be between 25 to 30 days old by the time it reaches its shelf expiration date.

What’s omitted is that the re-pasteurization is necessary because the milk is shipped to Hawaii in unrefrigerated containers.

Yes, and this information isn’t new, though it hasn’t been an issue in the newspapers. Why? Could it be that the reporter didn’t ask why “reprocessing” is necessary?

See:

Scary Dairy -- Frightening food news for Halloween, 10/30/2005

Scary Dairy revisited - Costco and organic milk probably ok, 11/5/2005

Costco carries 1% organic milk - shipped refrigerated, 3/11/2006

So now you have the scary picture: milk is shipped to Hawaii unrefrigerated, can be a month old at its expiration date, and of course sells for far more than folks on the Continent pay for a fresher, cleaner product. Ugh.

Whatever the little microbes did in the milk stays there, though they themselves are killed by the re-pasteurization before it is sold to you. Ugh.

The article doesn’t say whether Big Island milk is shipped to Oahu refrigerated. I hope the Advertiser will look into this.

I’m also curious about whether the Big Island dairies use hormones and antibiotics, of course, but that’s another topic.



Do you want to receive an email whenever this page changes?



Powered by FeedBlitz



RSS News Feed


Receive Free Range Gourmet news via our news feed

How do you read news feeds? Click here for some information.


What's Cooking at Hawaii's Food Blogs

What's cooking at `ono kine grindz:

What's cooking at mā`ona:

What's cooking at Sonia Tastes Hawaii:

What's cooking at nattokun:

What's cooking at Big Island Grinds:

What's cooking at The Cuis-Zine:

What's cooking at The Tasty Island:



Market News

Official web pages and Tip Sheets for Saturday morning KCC Farmers' Market, Sunday morning Mililani Farmer's Market, and Thursday Night Kailua Market


Resources

Slow Food

You've read about the world-wide slow food movement. Hawaii has an active Slow Food group. Learn about or join Slow Food USA at the Slow Food USA website.

Where we're Eating

Tsukuneya
Town
Nico's at Pier 38
Da Spot
Olive Tree Cafe
It's A Beautiful Day Kafe
Taishoken
Sogongdong Restaurant


More Links

eGullet Hawaii discussion group
EatAsia
Simple Cooking
Reg Barber Coffee Tampers



Archive

12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004
01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004
03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004
08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004
10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004
01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005
02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005
03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005
05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005
06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005
09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
NonCommercial-ShareAlike


Image: will blog for food

Support Bloggers' Rights!
Support Bloggers' Rights!


Image: powered by Blogger



[Valid RSS]


Amazon.com link

 
 

To contact the webmaster:

site stats