Query about Yeo Valley dairy

We recently received this question about our ratings and thought it would be useful for other site users:

Came across your website as I am trying to live a healthier life. I am very impressed with the clarity of the information. I do have a couple of questions:
>Yeo Valley Whole milk is rated average but their other dairy products are good or excellent. Why is it that just their milk is average? Also when you say whole milk, does it also include their semi-skimmed milk?
>I can't see any supermarket organic / free range eggs listed, like happy eggs for example, do you know where they would be?
Thanks a lot

Answers:

1. Yeo Valley milk is listed as average because whilst it is organic it is still pasteurised, homogenised and standardised milk. It does come from grass fed cows as this is what EU organic standards require. Each of these processes strips some nutrients out of the milk. The milk is drawn from the OMSCO scheme and therefore is a mix of different breeds milk. We recommend pedigree Jersey and Guernsey herds as these tend to have a higher level of non-allergenic A2 milk protein and as such reduces the likelihood of inflammation from the milk. There are many improvements that can be made with milk that allows a higher rating to be made. Semi-skimmed and skimmed milk will only reduce the nutritional value of the milk further, so we advise that these options are avoided, even in when it is organic.

2. Yoghurt is ultimately a different product from milk. Yes you are correct it will still be made from the same milk, however by inoculating milk with beneficial, probiotic bacteria this increases the nutritional value of the end product after it has been allowed to ferment. Milk must be heated to allow for the bacterial fermentation process and as such you cannot get 'raw' yoghurt, but you can get quality raw milk. Therefore organic, wholemilk, natural yogurt is almost as good as it can get. The only other improvement would be for the milk used to come from non-homogenised Jersey or Guernsey milk. This is a very difficult product to find. As such we have rated Yeo Valley yoghurt highly.

3. Most supermarket, organic free range eggs would certainly be of a good quality. However, it would always be best to find a local organic egg supplier. The eggs will likely be fresher and yo will be able to enquire as to the health and environment the chickens are kept in. Ideally pasture reared, with woodland, bushes and shrubs to scratch around and find bugs and insects. This helps increase the nutritional content. If this can't be found then organic standards for rearing egg laying chickens are pretty high and will provide some assurance for quality.

I hope this helps you in understanding our ratings and in choosing the food you seek to bring good health.