Appearances aside, these glasses are in fact worlds apart. The milk in one derives from a wide range of dairy herds. Like dairy cows throughout the developed world, the cows that produced it feed on pastures that have been treated with synthetic insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, and with solvent-based fertilisers. Many, possibly all, have been routinely administered antibiotics, worm treatment, fertility drugs and growth hormones. They might also have been fed genetically modified food and animal products.

Full cream: Organic milk contains healthy fats. Picture: Kylie May

The milk in the other glass is the product of a single herd of organically grown and raised cows. They feed on pastures that are not treated with artificial pesticides or fertilisers and receive antibiotics only after homeopathic options have failed. During treatment, the cows do not provide milk for consumption and at no time are they given fertility drugs or fed genetically modified food or animal products.

Winning over the skeptics

Taking a closer look at the two glasses, I wonder to what degree fertility and growth products, antibiotics and agricultural chemicals show up in cow’s milk. The Internet seems to bubble with alarmist claims. Beyond the misinformation and hype, scientists generally agree that, like humans, cows excrete through their milk harmful compounds that they are fed or administered.

About 40 per cent of milk sales in Denmark are organic and the figures in the UK and the US are six per cent and three per cent respectively. As demand for organic milk increases, some farmers in the US in particular have been criticised by consumer watchdog groups for bending the rules, using high-intensity farming methods.

The weight of evidence in favour of organic milk has grown to the extent that many national food bodies, such as the UK’s notoriously sceptical Food Standards Agency, now generally acknowledge the nutritional advantages of organic over conventional milk.

The contents of the two glasses getting frostier by the moment on my kitchen bench betray none of the issues shaking up the dairy industry worldwide. They look the same, smell the same and appear to have the same consistency. Perhaps their disparate origins might be betrayed in a blind taste test.

Passing the taste test

My teenage daughter, a milk lover who has arrived in the kitchen after a thirsty day at school, is a convenient guinea pig. Does she have a preference between these two different “brands” of milk, I ask? Raising exhibit A to her mouth, she tastes the milk, rolls it around on her tongue, savours and swallows. Exhibit B gets the same initial treatment. But there is an appreciative pause mid-way through, a smacking of the lips at the end. The organic milk is declared tastier.

Lisa Togno runs an organic dairy on a lush property in south-western Australia. Since she converted the farm to organic two years ago, demand has increased from 300 litres of milk a week to more than 5500 litres. She believes consumers are wising up to unsustainable farming practices in the face of the global food crisis and environmental concerns, but “cleaner” food play a central role.

“Organic milk tastes like milk used to,” she said, adding that the only fertility treatment meted out to her herd are two horny bulls. “It’s creamy and the flavour is rich and pure.”

Glass full of antioxidants

But taste is only a part of the organic picture. One of the world’s most expensive studies on organic foods last year found that compared to conventional milk, organic milk contained up to 70 per cent more antioxidants, naturally occuring substances in plants that protect the body from free radicals, or harmful chemicals.

The four-year project, led by Newcastle University, cost 12 million pounds and prompted calls for the UK’s Food Standards Agency to concede that organic milk has a defined health benefit compared with nonorganic milk.

Richard Hampton, a spokesman for the UK’s biggest organic dairy farmers cooperative, Omsco, believes this official tick of approval is inevitable. He told Trustorganicfood.com that the agency had so far refused this request on the basis of insufficient research. “But we believe this will change in the long term as the body of evidence grows,” he said.

The co-ordinator of the Newcastle University study, Professor Carlo Leifert, said the research confirmed there were more nutritionally desirable compounds and fewer harmful ones in organic foods. “Our research is now trying to find out where the difference between organic and conventional food comes from,” he said.

Drinking good fats

In May 2008, results from a further study by Newcastle University showed that cows grazed on organic properties in the UK produced milk that contained significantly higher beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins than their conventional “high input” counterparts.

The Nafferton Ecological Farming Group study found that during the summer months, one beneficial fat in particular – conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA9 – was found in 60 per cent higher concentrations.

One of the first studies to show an actual health impact from organic food consumption was published in the peer reviewed British Journal of Nutrition in 2007. The Netherlands research, by the Louis Bolk Institute, showed that the incidence of eczema in young children was reduced by 36 per cent among those who consumed organic dairy products.

Scientists generally agree that children may be more susceptible to pesticide residues since they have a higher intake of food per unit of body weight and are less able to eliminate toxins.

Convinced of the benefits of organic milk, how can consumers be sure they are getting what they pay that little extra for?  In general they are advised to become familiar with their country’s own peak governing body for organic standards, and the consumer logos that represent this seal of approval. In the UK, the Soil Association leads the charge.

In the US, the United States Department of Agriculture sets the standards, but a visit to the Organic Consumers Association or the Organic Trade Association website is well worthwhile. By buying products marked with these logos, consumers can be sure that the milk they are buying comes from an approved source.