It´s not always on the label. You either need to check on the website or contact the seller/producer directly. And even then they can cheat. Best is to go to a farmer and get it directly from him. Imported kefir, as with all store bought kefir has nothing to do with the real kefir. Store bought kefir is made of conventional pasteurized dairy NOT made with kefir grains but with added probiotic bacterial (I assume powder form) strains, just like they add to yoghurt. It has nothing to do with kefir, shouldn´t even be allowed to be called like that. The only kefir is real kefir made of water or milk kefir grains. Water grains have much a much lower amount of probiotic bacterial strains though. I used them for some time, but then switched back to milk grains. U can order them on the internet easily. If you don´t have raw milk available then you can use at least organic pasteurized milk. But I don´t see a need of having kefir unless you have a very low bacterial activity in ur gut due to let´s say antibiotic use. Instead u can use high meat. Still, having it for some time is not a bad thing. I have times when I drink homemade raw goat kefir daily with every meal. For almost a year now. And it helps digestion a lot. But I had to make breaks in between. Might have been due to dairy, or the mixture with other foods. That I don´t know for sure.
Raw is law when it comes to dairy. I don´t see any benefits of commercial dairy, even organic pasteurized dairy. Let alone UHT dairy or powdered like they use in the coffee machines. Utter rubbish. There is too much info out there about the benefits of raw dairy. Raw dairy contains the enzymes that help you digest it. Heating milk kills them. Been used to heal people in ancient times and today. However, as it seems only A2 dairy was used such as Guernsey cows and goat milk. Google is ur friend. But even if raw, some people just can´t tolerate it. No matter what type of raw they have. Then again, some people might confuse the intolerance with a cleansing effect or detox. It´s sometimes hard to say.
I´d stay away from conventional raw milk, but I even drank that myself (jersey milk) every day for months with no ill effect, but instead it helped a lot. Anyhow, there are big differences when it comes to the type of dairy. Cows, Goat, Sheep, then at A1/A2 cows breeds. Some people on this forum say it messed them up, some people said it heals them (it does for me). However, I would be careful not to overeat or drink pasteurized dairy, since, as far as I understood, too much calcium can remove ur bodies calcium. I noticed that myself when I used too much pasteurized dairy (such as joghurt), my bones started to crack.
I think the best way to consume dairy is by drinking room temperature raw A2 (A2 cow breeds or goat and sheep) milk with a straw (so the milk sugar doesn´t effect the teeth), or consume kefir, since the grains eat the milk sugar to produce the kefir when you ferment it long enough. Then when you have parasites you need to watch as well, as they like to feed on milk. So you would need to counteract by e.g. having raw honey (apparently certain herbs work too) with or after the milk, first lure them, then kill them so to speak. Dairy is such a huge topic that it would take a while to summarize all the benefits and negatives. But I would personally stop it if a) your bones start to crack after eating or drinking it and b) if you start to build up tartar on your teeth (even by using a straw) or c) you start to have stomach cramps or skin conditions (when u e.g. eat pasteurized or UHT). Forum Moderator TylerDurden made a big post about dairy once, listing all the negatives. You´ll find it with the search function. But I always recommend to read both, the good and the bad and see for urself. But one thing is for sure, pasteurized, UHT or powdered dairy is always bad in the long term.
