Is grass fed pasteurized cheese better than organic raw cheese(not grass-fed)?

[bharminder]

Hey like the title inquires, ..I went to the health food store and looked at the cheese section. Among some of the ones I noticed were grass fed cheese(but pasteurized), organic raw cheese(organic valley), and simply raw cheese. Since I couldn't find the grass-fed and raw combo together, am I better off avoiding cheese altogether until a better source comes along and just eating healthy fats from other sources?


A similar question in regards to butter. I found some, at the same store, of organic grass-fed butter, but pasteurized. Am I better off not consuming this butter and trying to get healthy fats from elsewhere?

Thanks
Bobby

[RawZi]

Hi Bobby,

    I called Organic Valley and asked them for details about their raw cheese.  They responded that it's raw because it's not pasteurized over 160F.  They said it is heat treated instead at only 155F.  I will not buy their cheese.  155F sounds pretty ridiculous to me.

    With RAF diet I tried eating grassfed-organic pasteurized butter.  It made me sick in a way that it took months to recover.  I will not eat pasteurized butter with a diet like this again.

    I'm not saying what is good or bad or works for you.  I don't know that.

[bharminder]

Hey Rawzi, thanks for replying.

I don't know if you called them just for me but either way thanks. 155 F doesn't sound RAW at all. I guess it totally depends on the company and I'll have to individually contact them.

I would prefer eating the butter raw, and the cheese, and essentially everything else. I'm just trying to make do with what's available though. I can't find any local sources of grassfed organmeats either..so it seems my only sources of primal fats are eggs and the fat off of muscle meats.

Do you think grainfed organs?(for example, chicken liver) are healthy or should they be avoided?

The pasteurized butter doesn't seem to affect me but I'm only eating it for the nutrients(like vitamin a, CLA, omega 3's, etc), and I'm sure much of that is diminished by pasteurization.

[RawZi]

    Yes Bobby.  Each company seems to use different temperatures and different amounts of time at their temperature.

    You should be able to find raw here: http://realmilk.com/where.html  Maybe you can find tongue too, that has a good bit of fat.  A site like local forage.com may help you.

    I've eaten raw Bell and Evans chicken livers with no ill effects.  I would do it again and have done it again, not problematic as long as it is carried at a store within my reach.

[Hans89]

This confirms my suspicions that "raw milk cheese" isn't raw at all... 

[Michael]

Wow!  That's amazing RawZi.  Most of the cheese I'd previously considered raw here in the UK is only 'unpasteurised'.  I wonder how many of these have been heated to such an extent?!!

Although I don't eat cheese, we have started giving it to my 1 year old son recently - against my better judgement - as it's one of the few things he'll eat.  I'm now wondering just how 'raw' this unpasteurised sheep's cheese is!!

As for the question, 'Is grass fed pasteurized cheese better than organic raw cheese(not grass-fed)' - it's a difficult one!  Personally, I have probably leaned towards the raw cheese when I did used to eat it.  At least sheep cheese, I feel, has a better chance of being grass-fed so I'd go for raw sheep cheese.  In my experience it's almost impossible to know for sure if cheese has been made from 100% grass-fed milk - unlikely, I'd say!  With pasteurised cheese, you can be sure that it has been damaged in many ways.