Horizons organic milk has a "USDA Organic" seal on it.  It seems
that the standards for the use of the "USDA Organic" seal helps to
curtail some of the concerns expressed in the article below.  The
standards seem quite strict.  As found on the USDA website, one of
the standards for diary cattle is "All organically raised animals
must have access to the outdoors, including access to pasture for
ruminants. They may be temporarily confined only for reasons of
health, safety, the animal's stage of production, or to protect soil
or water quality." http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexIE.htm

I checked the Homestead Creamery label on the bottle of milk
tonight, and it seems that their products are homogenized and
pasteurized, and are not labeled organic.

I do not concern myself if foods are organic or not. If products are
comparable in price and quality, I will consider the organic product
preferable.  Tonight, I bought a gallon of the Kroger brand Vitamin
D pasteurized homogenized whole milk to make kefir.  It was the
cheapest, and will do me just fine for my emotional and nutritional
needs.

--- In Kefir_making@yahoogroups.com, "lotzakdz" <lotzakdz@e...>
wrote:
no, it is not organic. From www.eatwild.com there are good reasons
to questions organic. Pastured, pastuerized, NOT HOMO D milk is
infinitly preferable to industrial, blended, to the organic via
Horizon.

The below article explains a bit. Also read her article on the
website "Super Healthy Milk"

Beyond Organic
By Jo Robinson

Organic meat, poultry, and dairy products are now available at your
supermarket, which is a change for the better. When you see the
organic label, you know the food is going to be free of pesticide
residues, synthetic hormones, genetically modified organisms, and a
long list of questionable additives. You also have the satisfaction
of knowing that raising animals organically causes less harm to the
environment. But when it comes to animal production, organic is not
enough. We need to be raising animals on their species-appropriate
diets.

Few consumers realize that many producers of "organic" or "naturally
raised" animal products, raise their animals in confinement and feed
them grain---just like the operators of conventional feedlots.
Feeding large amounts of grain to a grazing animal decreases the
nutritional value of its products whether the grain is organic or
conventionally raised. The reason is simple. Compared with grass,
grain has far fewer omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E.(1) Therefore,
grainfed animals have fewer of these important nutrients in their
meat and dairy products. Grainfeeding also interferes with the
creation of a cancer-fighting fight called conjugated linoleic acid
or CLA.(2) I A test by an independent lab determined that milk from
one of the largest organic grain-fed dairies had no more omega-3
fatty acids or CLA than milk from ordinary dairies. Similarly, meat
from organic grain-fed beef has the same nutritional profile as meat
from the largest Kansas feedlot.

The same story holds true for organic but confinement-raised
poultry. Their meat and eggs have no more omega-3s or vitamin E than
the products you find in the supermarket.(3) (Unless the birds are
given special supplements along with the grain.)

  For many consumers, food safety is an even bigger concern than
nutrition. Once again, grass feeding offers an important advantage.
It has been known for decades that grain feeding makes a cow's
digestive tract more acid. Now we know that this acidic environment
speeds the growth of potentially dangerous E. coli bacteria and,
even worse, makes the bugs more acid-resistant. Alarmingly, these
acid-resistant bacteria are much more likely to survive the
cleansing acidity of our own digestive juices and make us ill. (4)

Depriving our livestock of fresh greens and vastly increasing their
consumption of grain has jeopardized our health in ways people never
imagined. Although feeding organically raised grain reduces our
reliance on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, it does not
provide the food that nature intended us to eat.
> Kathryn Russell
> www.MajestyFarm.com
> North Garden, Virginia
>