Packaging No happy cows

Packaging cheat the consumers: The lie of the happy cow

31/03/2013

„Cows happily grazing in the field and giving fresh milk“. This picture sticks in the head of most consumers. However, the reality today is completely different: Most dairy cows are fattened in stables with concentrated feed to increase milk production. Because critical consumers know about it, many prefer milk or dairy products from so-called pasture cows. But many dairy farmers are misleading consumers and fooling with the packaging. A test of the consumer initiative Öko-Test showed poor results, especially in the large dairy companies.

Over four million cows are kept in Germany for the production of milk. While cows are kept in mass animal farms with hundreds and thousands of animals in the eastern German Länder, smaller farms with fewer than 30 cows exist in the south. „Most of the milk we drink comes from large farms“, like the consumer protection magazine „Eco test“ determined. Although the view into the supermarket shelve conveys an agricultural and often also ecological idyll, the reality is usually completely different.

Packaging misleads consumers
On the milk packages, but also on the packaging of yoghurt, cheese or butter cows are shown, the seemingly happy juicy green eat on beautiful pastures. „But the milk does not come from the cows shown“, the magazine reports in its latest issue of April. About two-thirds of dairy products, the one „Weiderind“ or lure the buyer with lush meadows, according to the Ökotester of cows, who have never or rarely seen in their lives a green pasture. In addition, only very few milk suppliers would prohibit the use of genetically modified soya in feed.

In many regions the cows in the meadows have completely disappeared in the last ten years. Nowadays the animals are sometimes crowded in the stables. Instead, grain or corn is being grown in the pastures. The corn then ends up as a durable silage in the trough, along with power feed from rapeseed meal, beet pulp and GM soy. The protein and energy-rich power food is given to the cows to deliver even more milk. It was about 15 years ago about 2000 liters per udder and year, today it is already over 7000 liters.

Animal husbandry reduces the milk quality
But the quality of the milk suffers from this animal husbandry. Because a high concentrate dose is anything but good for the cows, their digestion is based on grass raw food and not on artificial food. This not only changes the health of the animals, but also of the people. Milk from happy animals in the pasture contains significantly more unsaturated fatty acids, as the milk of dairy cows from the stables. This has not only the advantage that the butter of the pasture cows is delicately soft, but also has a nutritional significance. Omega III fatty acids protect blood vessels, lower blood pressure and diabetes risk, thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack.

This difference can be detected very quickly in the laboratory. For their nutritional study, the experts from Ökotest made this peculiarity their own. In the lab, it was possible to determine whether the cows had lived and eaten in the pasture or whether they had been fattened in the barn with concentrated feed.

34 milkweed products on the test bench
A total of 34 dairy products were analyzed in the laboratory and six of the products carried the organic label. All the dairy products examined displayed green landscapes or cows in the pastures on their packaging. Some of the goods also bore designations such as „pasture butter“, „willow luck“ or even „Animal Welfare“. All these designations did not mean that the animals really did come to the pasture regularly, as the laboratory test showed.

Bioproducts scored points over conventional dairy products. Twenty of the 28 conventional products showed in the test that the cows never or hardly ever see a meadow. In addition, the testers criticized that most companies do not prohibit their manufacturers from using GM soybeans. According to Ökotest, the manufacturer was particularly negative „Almette“ on. This praises his „Alpine cream cheese nature“ With „100 percent natural ingredients“ on. According to Ökotest, however, genetically modified soya should not have been dispensed with here. After all, the milk fat composition was sufficient, so this suggests sufficient green feed. Also the „Arlas Esrom cheese“ be noticed, although here with „only from natural ingredients“ is advertised.

Branded products with negative results
The practices of the dairy Friesland Campina were also mingled. The group advertises its products „Frico Maasdamer“ and the „Country love H-milk“ with the sales argument, the cows would get to eat a lot of green fodder. But in the laboratory this statement could not be confirmed. Also negative was the so-called pasture butter of „Mrs. Antje“ on. In this only a few typical fatty acids could be detected. Here particularly annoying: The name suggests that it is a product of willow cows. Disappointed, the food experts were also from „Meggles Alpine Butter“, the fresh Alpine milk from Weihenstephan or Müllers buttermilk. Also, the values ​​did not indicate that the cows graze regularly in a pasture.

Organic products performed well in the majority
Pleasing: Some products also did what they placatively promise. However, these products usually come from smaller manufacturers such as dairies Berchtesgadener Land or Bergader Privatkäserei. Less criticism had the Ökomagazin to suspend the organic products. These dairy products must not use genetic engineering. Although there is no obligation for dairy cows to graze the cows on pasture with milk or dairy products, most organic farmers do not give concentrated feed but grass to eat, as the study showed. Only Aldi's organic milk showed low levels of positive milk fat composition. There was not enough grass in the feed here. (Sb)