Milk - whats the deal?

All this complaining about milk in Switzerland is really ridiculous. I'd say about 90% of swiss people buy pasteurized milk (Vollmilch, 3.5% fat). So please stop writing that Swiss prefer UHT. Some people like their milk a little bit less fatty so they buy pasteurized fat reduced milk (Milchdrink). So if you can't find pasteurized milk with even less fat it's probably because Swiss like their milk to taste like milk and not like water.

I don't know how you've come to this conclusion, in my 20 years here in Switzerland I've only known of 1 Swiss who actually bought (and preferred) UHT milk (the guy was kind of weird anyway). By the way my X is French so I've spent a lot of time there and I'd have to ask the same question of the French, who's buying all the UHT...?!

We buy UHT at work for convenience, but everyone I know (who's expressed an opinion) prefers pasturised.

I can drink UHT in tea or coffee, but last year the company restaurant replaced pasturised with UHT in the drinks fridges which was annoying. I guess they didn't sell enough to keep pasturised fresh.

ha ha ha xxxx

sorry the ha ha is to the person who wrote for decoratation purposes !!

I buy full fat and semi in Migros

dont know names but the red is f/ fat and the blue is semi ....or that seems to be the way !!

Can i just say that the reason the shelves are packed with UHT milk is because no-one buys it. There is much less fresh milk because its what the people want

Not sure if I am 100% correct

but I did watch the BBC news 2 months ago that in the Uk they are considering stopping fresh milk production as it is harmful to the Ozone layer and all milk will be UHT by 2010 !!

God help us -I love fresh milk !

...and UHT is out on the shelves and normal milk (that everyone buys) is in coolers.

By the way, now that normal milk suddenly keeps for about 2 weeks, who in their right mind buys UHT??

Yes I heard about all this stuff three or four years ago, and we switched to Soya milk, and instead of black tea, Japanese Green tea, no milk.

When you read what is reputed to be the practises going on, as per the links here and other ones like:-

http://www.cure-guide.com/Natural_He...Milk/milk.html

http://www.mercola.com/article/milk/no_milk.htm

There are many other links on why milk is not the best thing to drink.

So the next question revolves around Calcium. What does one eat or take to have the calcium that the bones need?

yeh I noticed that fresh suddenly it seems to have longer sell by dates !!! anyone know what thats about ??

I like UHT. Do you think I should seek counselling?

I also drank some raw milk at a farm last year, which was nice. I still prefer UHT, though.

It's all milk, though, isn't it?

Or is UHT made by some industrial process involving camel bones?

yep ! main reason I buy fresh !

Ah! So it is!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uht_milk

It is a common misperception that UHT 'milk' comes from cows, like regular milk. In fact, just as with coconut 'milk', there is no bovine connection whatsoever.

UHT milk is produced in large quantities in industrial units established in desert regions such as Rajastan and Libya. There, camels are slaughtered and ground down, their bones extracted and refined, and the resulting powder mixed with sheep fat to make the beverage we call 'UHT milk'.

Many thousands of camels are cruelly and unnecessarily slaughtered in this way, so that Europeans can have a cup of tea that would be equally as refreshing made from cow 'milk'.

[This article may not meet Wikipedia's standards of factuality]

Interesting quote (from the real article to which the link leads)

"in France 95% of milk sold is UHT"

And I didn't make that one up!

If this is a serious question: green leafy vegetables such as spinach have a lot of calcium (though they're not as calcium dense as dairy products). I find the following website rather useful, but keep an eye out for serving sizes and such. I wish they'd use weights/masses instead of volume, grrr!

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname...d=45#foodchart

I understand camel bones have a lot of calcium in them, too.

one can get enough calcium from cheese and yogurt. That is if you really want to give up milk.

You have been in switzerland too long my dear, its called a fridge.

Maybe not a counsellor, but a doctor maybe as your taste buds appear to have been destroyed .

UHT = ultra high temperature = all the proteins and fat molecules are pretty much destroyed along with the bugs resulting in a flat, almost homogenised flavour (homogenised milk is worse though).

As an ex milker I can recommend warm milk, straight from the cow and onto your cornflakes. Yum.