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Fairlife Milk Is So Deceitful That I Can’t Stand It

April 22, 2015   95 Comments

A new player in the milk game has arrived announcing that it is “better milk”.

Fairlife Milk is NOT Grass Fed

When you market something as “better”, some of us begin to wonder what is wrong with the original. I have found that “better” can actually mean that a product is improved.

What about cow’s milk? Can you improve it?

Heck, yeah! You can give the cows a beautiful pasture, lots of green grass, and names like “Bessie” and “Bertie”. Treat them with dignity - milk them yourself- and you will have the best tasting milk, wholesome, freshest milk on the planet.

Of course, most of us don’t have a pasture or time to milk a cow so we go to the store and buy it in cartons.

Fairlife milk wants us to “believe in better milk” (in cartons). It is priced about $3.98 to $4.20 for a half gallon and is specially cold-filtered so that it has 50% more protein, 50% less sugar and 30% more calcium than conventional milk.

Fairlife is also partnered with the Coca-Cola company but they distance themselves a bit from the arrangement.

From USA Today:

In a phone interview, Steve Jones, CEO of Fairlife, strongly insisted that while Coca-Cola is distributing the milk, it is playing no role in the milk's actual production and has nothing to do with what takes place on the dairy farms. "People keep referring to this as 'Coke Milk' and it's not," he says.

Okay! Not Coke Milk, got it.

Well, I was excited to see that the milk was from grass fed cows. Here is the label:

Do you see how it says “From grass to glass traceability back to our own farms?"

I buy local milk from grass fed cows (High Lawn Farm milk from the Berkshires) because I like the taste, cows are built to eat grass (they are ruminants), and it has 20% more calcium and 17% more protein than corn and grain fed cow milk.

The problem here is that Fairlife milk isn’t from grass fed cows. How do I know that? I called their 1-800 number and asked.

The cows are fed corn, soy, alfalfa, and a mixture of grains. I asked, “any grass?” The representative said, “No grass”.

Then, I said, “Why did you say “from grass to glass” on your package if you aren’t feeding the cows grass?” He said that they use it as a phrase to explain the traceability of the milk to the individual farms.

Ummmm.

OH! I get it. The farms have grass - but they don't feed it to their cows.

Isn’t the consumer going to infer that you are feeding the cows grass if you use that word on your package?

I REALLY hate this kind of deception. Their website is filled with photos of lovely pastures of grass and their logo is a cow eating something green on the ground (like grass).

You want to market “better” milk? Fine. But don’t use the word “grass” unless you use it to feed your cows.

The milk tastes less sweet and lacks the flavor of conventional milk. I think it is perfectly fine for people who need to go lactose-free.

I wouldn’t buy it because I think the marketing is deceitful and I want to support products that tell the truth.

Have you seen Fairlife milk? What do you think of it?


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First 20 Comments: ( See all 95 )

Wow just wow!!!! Thank you for exposing this!!

We were not farmers but I was lucky enough to always have a cow hanging around.They were always Jerseys. They went out to pasture every day to graze but in order to keep them producing enough milk their diets had to be supplemented with grain.From Sept. to April the main source of roughage was died timothy and alfalfa that we grew on our farm. I grew up on raw milk. I believe it was a healthy way to get protein and calcium. Eventually, when raw milk was no longer available, I stopped drinking milk. Period.There are so many benefits to raw milk that our agriculture system pushed for, and got, legislation to prevent the sale of raw milk. Go figure...

UNBELIEVABLE!! Thank you!!! It's so important to get the word out about fraud like this.

Thanks for the info, saw it at Sprouts market but did not purchase it, glad I resisted the lovely container!

This is the kind of information that I REALLY like to read. THANK YOU for doing the due diligence and exposing this.

Snack Girl you're my hero!!! Thanks again!

It's amazing how something can be unbelievable and unsurprising at the same time. Thanks for doing the leg work research on this!

Oh man...what a lame company. This is the kind of stuff that not only turns me off of a product but a brand and an entire xompany. Thank you for exposing this deceitful company!

Ugh! It is so frustrating as a consumer sometimes! You try to read the labels, but when this kind of thing happens what are we to do?! Thank you for finding this out and sharing.

If it doesn't say certified organic, I keep walking!

Thank you so much for checking this out and reporting what you found. That kind of deception really bothers me, too. I would be tempted to talk to the manager at Sprouts (or any "health food" store) and explain this to them. I bet they'd pull it from their store.

This is unbelievable... I mean why say it at all? Because people will pay extra money for grass-fed, that's just wrong.

You comment that it's ok for people who need to go Lactose-free. What makes this real milk lactose free?

Thanks Lisa for always checking on things.. I too get annoyed at all the deception all the food companies lay on us. We really have to play detective when it comes to what we put in our mouths.

@Mary- Fairlife milk is lactose-free. Many people are lactose intolerant so I think that - since you are already having to alter the composition of the milk - it is a fine choice for those people. Thanks for your question!

Alfalfa is grass...

Alfalfa is grass... I have horses that are on a grass (fescue) pasture but I also feed them Alfalfa hay and pellets and cubes... but I don't give them much because Alfalfa is such a rich grass/hay... so if those cows are getting alfalfa, they are getting a grass.

I wish I could afford Certified Organic products.

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa!!!!! Once again, thank you so much for exposing the truth!!! I'm so irritated with all of the deception out there!! We deserve to know the truth. This is crazy deceitful. I love you to Life for this!!!!

What "j." said. This is the kind of information that I REALLY like to read. THANK YOU for doing the due diligence and exposing this.

I'm glad I saw your informative post before ever seeing the milk on the shelf somewhere, Snack Girl. Now I'll make sure to take a pass.

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