Food & Nasty Food product of the month 24 Apr 2007 12:07 pm
Nasty food product of the Month: Mayfield Buttermilk
New feature around here: each month I’ll highlight a food product that is nasty for it’s nature…it’s additives, it’s mis-labeling, it’s participation in a lie about what is good to eat.
Do I sound a little hostile today? That’s because I’m steamed about Mayfield’s “whole” milk Buttermilk and even more steamed about the company’s “liar, liar, pants-on-fire” blog about it.
First of all, let’s start with the product as it’s presented in the grocery store: Mayfield Cultured Whole Milk Buttermilk. Since converting to a Nourishing Traditions (see book link in sidebar) lifestyle, I reach for whole milk products over those with the fat lessened or removed. And, true to dairy practices in this country, it’s true that milk with the fat removed often has powdered milk added back in to make it creamy. That leads to a host of other stuff that has to be in there to stabalize the messed-with product. And, I’m of the opinion that messing with food is ONE thing….messing with it and presenting it as a WHOLE food is WRONG and MISLEADING.
Enter in Mayfield’s Buttermilk. I was in a hurry and the store was out of the kind I normally buy so I grabbed it. Around here Mayfield is “local” so it gets a certain respect (undesevered imo). Their ice cream is popular and one of only two brands my country grocery store even carries and it’s loaded with crappy additives. We go through a lot of pancakes and waffles around here so buttermilk is a weekly purchase; I knew I wasn’t buying “well” but as it was “whole” and I was in a hurry, I grabbed and didn’t read the back.
My priest’s wife is the one who alerted me to it’s list of ingredients. And here’s where steam started coming out of Tia’s ears….
“Cultured non-fat milk, cream, salt, food starch–modified, locust bean gum, mono and diglycerides, carrageenan, dextrose, sodium citrate, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3″.
Does that sound WHOLE to you?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Worse, I found this at Mayfield’s site:
“Today, we simply add pure strains of cultures to pasteurized low-fat or whole milk. We incubate the milk at 70 – 72 º F for 14 – 18 hours until the lactic acid and Buttermilk flavor develops just right. ”
LIARS!!!
“Whole” should mean whole. In this case, I’m almost positive they get away with it because when they’re done screwin’ around with it the total fat content equals what unadulterated buttermilk would contain.
I’m tellin’ ya people….don’t assume your “milk” is really just pasturized product from a cow. Don’t assume “cheese” is just cultured milk. Things need to change but until they do, it’s up to us to READ THE LABEL. And when you’re in the store, steer clear of Mayfield’s products. They lie to consumers, present a “wholesome” image that is bunk, and meanwhile we loose control over what is available to nourish our families with. I don’t feed my kids “carrageenan” and I don’t want “locust bean gum” in my MILK.
on 24 Apr 2007 at 12:41 pm 1.Brian Glass said …
I recommend culturing your own buttermilk. It’s like falling off a log.
First buy some commercial buttermilk. Pour enough in the bottom of a mason jar (or other container) to cover the bottom. Fill the jar with your regular milk and shake it up. Leave it on the counter to ferment for 24-48 hours. Shake regularly. When it looks and smells like buttermilk, it is.
on 24 Apr 2007 at 1:12 pm 2.Living Deliberately » Oh hey now!! THIS can’t get buried in the comments!! said …
[...] Glass has a Nourishing Traditions blog that he posted in reponse to my rant on Buttermilk below. GREAT BLOG BRIAN!!!! It’s goin’ in the side bar!! Love [...]
on 26 Apr 2007 at 12:33 pm 3.Nickey said …
7-up is now advertising as “all-natural”, which I can only presume means made without artificial flavoring, as it is still made with corn syrup.
There was a funny thing on 60-Minutes once… Andy Rooney (???) was commenting on the milk industry’s complaint that sales were down. He then read off the ingrediant list of cream and stated that if the milk industry wished for milk sales to go back up they might consider actually putting milk in their bottles.
on 18 Aug 2007 at 5:28 pm 4.Living Deliberately » The cryin’ shame of hospital food. said …
[...] don’t do canned veggies, meats packed in preservative-ladden juices and broths, or milk masquerading as “whole”) but all was in vain. One popsicle and he was “rejecting” again. Back to IV only and then [...]
on 31 May 2008 at 2:27 pm 5.Chimbles said …
Think of it this way… instead of just plain milk you get those extra ingredients for FREE! But on the serious note, good luck finding anything in the store that doesnt have some chemicals added to it. Be it organic or not, this is capitalism for you!
on 16 Aug 2008 at 1:43 pm 6.ejdavid said …
Sirs:
I google ‘Mayfield Buttermilk’ in order to congratulate them on the extra ‘tang’ of their product in Chtnga TN compared to what we get in the GA mountains.
I grew up in Ohio and we separated out own cow milk. Accordingly, I have little fear about what might or not be included in the industrial product. You ever sat at the back end of a cow hand milking the encrusted creature?
on 16 Aug 2008 at 7:51 pm 7.Angela said …
Perhaps that’s what is giving Mayfield Buttermilk the extra ‘tang’?
on 23 Jan 2010 at 6:33 pm 8.Vicky said …
This reminds me of Alpenrose dairy here in Portland, Oregon. They are local and therefore get a pass from a lot of people here but their dairy products are full of crap.