Why is milk white and how does it get into the carton?
The children who attended the Grüne Woche school press conference were very interested in the nutritional value of milk - but also concerned about animal welfare.
Only a few of the children who attended the school press conference organised by the agricultural information service i.m.a. at the adventure farm started the day with a glass of milk. Nevertheless, there was great interest in the topic of ‘How does milk get into the carton?’.
Karsten Schmal, President of the Hessian Farmers‘ Association, Vice-President of the German Farmers’ Association and dairy cow farmer himself, was able to give a first-hand account of how dairy cows are kept in the barn. But he also talked about automatic brushes, soft beds and automated milking parlours. The concentrated feed attracts the animals ‘like jelly babies’. The cows themselves decide when they are milked. Twelve-year-old Sinan from the Judith Kerr primary school in Schmargendorf found it particularly interesting that milking robots are also used in Schmal's barn. His class had thought about questions in advance.
Animal nursery
But there were also doubts about animal welfare. ‘It's really mean that we take away the cow's milk for her calf,’ interjected a boy from the Windmühlenberg primary school in Spandau. Karsten Schmal assured him that the calves of his cows were moved to a barn with their peers after a few days with their mother - and that they lacked nothing there. His wife personally looks after their welfare and knows all the animals by name.
Not all milk is the same
Alina, Amina and Erika from the Hermann Schulz primary school in Reinickendorf were interested in the difference between organic, pasture, raw and UHT milk, as well as plant-based alternatives. Dr Yvonne Ilg, Head of Nutrition Education at the Federal Centre for Nutrition, knows all about this subject. She emphasised that calcium in particular makes milk a healthy food. Fats and proteins give the drink its white colour. Yvonne Ilg recommends two portions a day, whether as pure milk, yoghurt or cheese. In sweets such as ‘Milchschnitte’, on the other hand, there is too much sugar and the milk content is too low. Plant-based drinks have a fundamentally different composition, with oat-based drinks containing more carbohydrates or plant-based protein in soya drinks.
Safe processing
When asked ‘Can milk in the udder go mouldy?’, dairy engineer and agronomist Dr Jan Paduch, Managing Director of the Lower Saxony Dairy Industry Association, was able to reassure the audience. The sterile environment in the cow's body keeps harmful germs away. After milking, however, the milk must be processed quickly so that it can be preserved. The fact that it sometimes turns sour is due to bacteria that convert the lactose into lactic acid.
