MILWAUKEE (AP) — With buying from small, local,
family-run farms becoming more popular, the results of a new study from
Wisconsin could be surprising: It found that milk from big dairies is
cleaner than that from small ones.
Lead researcher Steve Ingham
said he did the study because he wanted to see whether there was a link
between milk quality and the size of a dairy farm. He said the results
cast doubt on the perception that big dairies can’t matcher smaller ones
in terms of quality.
"Certainly, the small-is-better blanket
statement doesn’t appear to be true," said Ingham, who started the study
when he was a food science professor at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and is now a food safety division administrator at the
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
But
a group that represents small farms said the study was irrelevant
because of the way it defined milk quality. It looked at the amount of
certain cells and bacteria in milk, which are factors agriculture
inspectors use to evaluate cows’ health and farms’ cleanliness.
Tom
Quinn, the executive director of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, said the
study ignored other aspects of quality, such as taste and nutrient
levels. It also didn’t address what he said are the real reasons smaller
farms are better.
"I don’t recall that we’ve ever claimed small
farms are better because they produce more sanitary milk," he said.
"Instead we’ve made that argument from environmental, economic and
social issues."
The study published in the August issue of the
Journal of Dairy Science used 2008 data collected by the Wisconsin
government to look at levels of cells linked to mammary disease in dairy
cows and bacteria tied to improper refrigeration or unclean equipment.
It
found milk produced at large and extra-large farms had lower levels of
both bacteria than that produced by small ones, although all the farms
met standards for grade A milk certification.
Because he used data
exclusively from Wisconsin, the nation’s second-leading milk producer
behind California, Ingham said he wasn’t sure whether the results would
apply elsewhere, especially in warmer states where bacterial growth
might be harder to prevent.
He said the perception that smaller
was better seemed to spring from the belief that small farmers have a
greater incentive to collect milk hygienically and avoid taxing their
cows with over-milking.
However, he noted, larger operators also
have an incentive to keep their herds healthy, including by removing
cows that have udder infections so they don’t infect others. Bigger
farms also keep bacterial counts down by investing in better sanitation
and refrigeration equipment, he said.
Jayme Sellen, spokeswoman
for the Dairy Business Association, which represents Wisconsin dairy
farmers, said the study just shows that all dairies produce safe milk
and consumers shouldn’t be concerned.
"The main point is that milk
is extremely high quality regardless of the size" of the dairy farm,
Sellen said. "And that’s not surprising. We have some pretty high
standards here in Wisconsin. We know our milk."
The study defined
small dairies as those with 118 cows or fewer and large ones as having
119 to 713 cows. Extra-large farms with 714 or more cows require special
permits in Wisconsin.
Overall, Wisconsin dairies tend to be
smaller, with an average of 88 cows in 2007 compared to California’s
824, according to the latest federal statistics.
Several Wisconsin
farmers argued that keeping smaller herds gives them an intimate
perspective that’s hard for bigger farms to replicate.
Darin Von
Ruden, a dairy farmer in Westby, Wis., said he knew the personalities of
his 40 cows so well that if one acted the slightest bit unusual he
could keep her milk out of the general collecting tank until he knew
what was wrong.
"That might not happen at the bigger factory farms," the 43-year-old said.
It’s
not clear how much that kind of thing matters to consumers, who often
judge milk on its taste and shelf life. And since pasteurization kills
most bacteria, consumers might not care as much about the data Ingham
analyzed.
"I don’t care about all that. Milk is milk," said Cherie
Kappus, 58, a secretary in a Milwaukee law firm. "I just check the
(expiration) date. Otherwise, it’s all the same."
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Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.