What's in My Milk?

Lately I've gotten a lot of questions involving what is and is not in a jug of milk. People are worried about what is added to the milk, and are considering other options- soy milk, organic milk, nothing at all, etc. Before you read any farther, just know I personally don't care what milk you drink. Your preferences are up to you, and you can buy whatever you darn well please. But before you go to the grocery store, check this out:

WHAT IS IN THAT JUG OF MILK: 
Milk. You got it, folks, it's simple as that. There's really nothing added to it. Milk consists of 87% water, 4% fat (whole), 3% protein, and the other 6% is made up of lactose, calcium, vitamin D, potassium, etc. Sometimes additional vitamin D is added to milk, which is a good thing, because vitamin D helps you absorb more calcium, which milk has a ton of!

WHAT IS NOT IN THAT JUG OF MILK: 
Antibiotic Residue:   I can absolutely, positively 100% guarantee there is not even a trace of antibiotic residue in your milk. I have visited numerous dairy farms, rode with a milk hauler, and worked in a milk testing lab, and I can tell you, when it comes to antibiotic residue- they don't play games. Farmers have the option to buy on-farm antibiotic testing kits, so they can find out for themselves if the cow still has antibiotics in her. Whether the farmer tests for it or not, the milk hauler takes a sample of the milk from each farm he picks up from, and labels the sample accordingly. Then, when he gets to the milk bottling plant, they take a sample of the whole load, and test it for antibiotics. If it comes back negative, the milk is unloaded. If it comes back positive, the milk is dumped down the drain. But it doesn't stop there! The hauler then gets out his individual farm samples, and those samples are tested so the farmer who had the "hot milk" (as it's called) can be notified. The farmer is notified, and his milk will not be picked up again until his milk brings a negative reading on the test.
Hormones:   Most farmers have signed an affidavit with whoever buys their milk promising they will not use hormones on their cows. These affidavits are renewed annually, and the farmers are held to that promise. Funny thing is though, this came about as a result of consumer demand, not a health and safety risk. Studies show milk from cows treated with the hormone (rBST) is the exact same as milk without. There is no significant hormone difference present in the milk, and the FDA has approved the safety of consuming milk from cows treated with rBST. But, consumers wanted it out, so the farmer agreed and it's out!
Pesticides:  There are strict EPA regulations for pesticide use and the FDA monitors milk closely for pesticide residue. Boom. Done.
Bateria:  nope! All milk is sampled for both cold-loving and warm-loving bacteria. There is a strict limit as to what levels of bacteria are and are not allowed in the milk. If a farmer starts to even get close to that level, someone will visit their farm and help them resolve the problem and get their bacteria levels back down. The small amount of bacteria that is accepted in milk is quickly killed off through pasteurization, which brings us to our next myth-
Chemicals:   heck no! It's a common misconception that the pasteurization process uses chemicals to keep the milk from spoiling or something- no! No chemicals at all are used, just heat. Milk gets heated to 191 degrees F for one second, then immediately brought back down to the cold temperature of 32-40 degrees. This is to kill any pathogens that could be in the milk, such as e. coli or salmonella. It's the same concept as cooking a steak.

Bottom line: milk is tested multiple times for just about anything you can think of. It's among the higest regulated and safest foods in the US. So, relax and drink up!