Composition of raw milk from sustainable production systems

Organic milk production has increased rapidly in many European countries during the last decade but the merits of organic dairy products are still disputed. Little unbiased information exists regarding any essential differences in gross composition or other parameters of technological and/or nutritional interest. In order to gather more basic information regarding organic milk, raw milk samples from 31 organic dairy farms in Sweden were collected once a month during 1 year. The samples were analyzed for gross composition, somatic cells, fatty acids, urea, iodine and selenium. As a reference, milk composition data from similar conventional farms was obtained. The results show small or no differences in the investigated parameters between organic milk and the milk from the conventional farms or average values regarding gross composition of Swedish raw milk. The only significant differences found were in urea content and somatic cells, both of which were lower in organic milk. In addition, levels of selenium were lower in organic milk, which is of nutritional importance since dairy products are significant dietary sources of selenium in Scandinavian diets. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.