WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- When I was young, it was the milkman who woke me up.
An innocent event, the clanking of the glass bottles he set down upon the neighborhood doorsteps seeped gently into my spreading consciousness. It was a race between my sister and me to be the one to get to the kitchen first to pour the creamy top of the milk over our cornflakes.
Moving from glass bottles of whole milk to plastic and waxed paper containers of processed milk in which varying percentages of that cream have been removed has not, in my view, been a signal of progress.
During four years of living in the then-Soviet Union, Russian milk was either rancid or not available. First contact with supermarket shopping in the United States induced a sense of a society surely on the point of anarchy: how could seven different kinds of milk emerge from one cow?
As my children grew, so did the debate over milk. Added growth hormones were accused of inducing premature puberty in girls. Cows fed antibiotics were said to be responsible for resistance to them in humans.
It seemed sensible to move to organic milk. This can only receive official certification if it comes from animals bred with access to pesticide-free pasture and organic feed. Antibiotics are permissible only in the event of the need to treat a sick cow whose milk must then pass a specified waiting period before going into the supply chain.
There is a question, though, about just how long it takes that milk to reach the supermarkets. Providers of organic milk large enough to meet the demands of major chains tend not to be located just down the road in some family farmstead -- unless you live in Wisconsin or California.
Roughly 1 percent of dairy cows in the United States are raised by organic methods. The largest supplier of organic milk is not, would you believe, Whole Foods -- it's but Wal-Mart. With 2,000 Supercenters, the behemoth can turn itself into the largest supplier of anything the market desires.
And now the company is focusing on the larger organic market of produce and some packaged goods. Which is great, so long as this doesn't force a change in organic standards. If supply doesn't meet demand, the company may need to find sources overseas where organic criteria don't necessarily meet those of the United States.
Ten percent of our organic food so far is imported, according to the Agriculture Department. The ability of suppliers in some countries to keep prices attractive through dismal labor conditions would have a negative financial impact upon organic farmers in the U.S. following good labor practices.
Though milk, conventional or organic, is not likely to be imported, it's worth being alert to what has gone into, or, in the case of organic, is absent from the milk you purchase. So check its label before you pop it into your shopping cart.
Milk Rice Pudding, serves 4
-- 2 tablespoons Carolina round rice
-- 1 tablespoon sugar
-- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-- 1 pint milk (best with whole milk, but 2 percent is also good)
-- Set the oven to its lowest heat and butter a baking dish.
-- Bring the milk and sugar to the boil in a pan, then pour it into the baking dish.
-- Add the rice and vanilla extract, stir and leave uncovered in the oven for 5 hours.
-- A black skin will form, which you remove before eating.
-- Good served with stewed fruits like apricots or rhubarb. Exceptional, though not healthy, served with cream.
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