Gastro problems - what's in Meiji milk?

[AyG]

Had you considered switching to soy or almond milk? Both are readily available here.

The taste does take a little bit of getting used to, but it's not so bad.

[Suradit69]

It is definitely homogenized, as is all the milk sold commercially in Thailand. That said I have trouble imagining how you could have a problem specifically with homogenized milk since homogenization does not alter the chemical content. Lactose intolerance, on the other hand, is common and would explain many of the symptoms you describe but the effects would not be limited to just one brand of milk.

BTW did they test for h. pylori? As this is the usual culprit for gastritis and requires a course of treatment with 3-4 drugs at once to eradicate. And re-testing after treatment to be sure it succeeded as 10-20% of initial treatments fail.

In any case common sense dictates that you avoid whatever foods seem to exacerbate your symptoms. If you have fructose malabsorption, you will need to be especially careful as they add fructose syrup liberally to many, many things in Thailand. And if you have lactose intolerance you may need to avoid dairy products other than (unsweetened) yogurt. (The bacilli in yogurt consume the lactose).

I had about the same as you my doctor in Belgium prescribed me PANTOPRAZOLE 40mg half hour before eating this heped me very good no stomach problems anymore, they have this in Thailand but very more

expensive than in my coutry

I had the same problem for some time. I found Lactomin, which is available in most Thai pharmacies, to be a big help and it's not especially expensive here.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Suradit69

[krummi]

I drink an average 2-4 0.5l bottles of beer per week. Had a few in Germany and as said, the condition improved. Had none since my return and condition got worse - for sure it is not the booze.

Would be grateful if somebody can decrypt what is written on the Meji bottle (with the dark blue cap). The only word in English is pasteurized, but as per previous comment, must be homogenized, too as it usually lasts 10 days.

Edited July 21, 2014 by krummi

[Gotfreed Gargantuan]

Today at Makro in Chiang Rai I noticed that they have taken all Meiji products off of their shelves. Most Thai milk is reconstituted. I am told that Dutch Mill is not. I am not sure. For sure Foremost is.

they of course being the customers.

i drank lots and lots of milk for years with no problem then they secretly added some enzyme that stops milk and other stuff from going off so quickly. stomach problem began with this introduction, so now instead of drinking a 26 baht bottle i drink a 12 baht bottle and less frequently. good marketing move indeed.

anyhow recently i think they have had a change of mind and stopped putting the preserving enzyme in the milk. but too late because now i am accustomed to 12 baht bottle infrequently.

meiji is the best brand, others are garbage. oh and dont go for that fonterra poison at all, remember it was them who killed all those children in china. was in their products here too. can still recall well the sickening it produced.

cant recall the enzymes name go search it yourself.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Today at Makro in Chiang Rai I noticed that they have taken all Meiji products off of their shelves. Most Thai milk is reconstituted. I am told that Dutch Mill is not. I am not sure. For sure Foremost is.

Yes, I noticed that in CM as well (Tesco MeeChok), what can be happening?

[DonaldBattles]

Thais drink very little fresh milk. Much of he milk produced is turned to powder and is used in all kinds of baby food products. When was the last time you saw a Thai drinking a glass of milk.

thailand has had import restrictions on powdered milk from

Australia for years trying to protect the local market. I used to make feta cheese and yogurt commercially in my company Don's Foods using powdered milk and the quota on import kept the price up and difficult to make a profit. They slowly stopped the import.

Try to find out what is really in Thai milk and you will really be surprised.

[Thai at Heart]

Most Thai milk is reconstituted. I am told that Dutch Mill is not. I am not sure. For sure Foremost is.

This Thai-bashing urban legend is regularly recycled. I have yet to see a single shred of evidence that it is actually true.

Thailand had 310,085 cows and produced 888,220 tonnes of fresh milk in 2005. (Can't find later figures offhand.) That's roughly 13 litres a year for every man, woman and child in the country. No need for reconstituted "fresh" drinking milk whatsoever.

y

What?

They import whacking volumes of powder from NZ all the time.

[ukrules]

....I have heard that they lace plain milk with artificial sweeteners like aspartame....the plain yogurts too...

....a lot of people have bad reactions to artificial sweeteners...

Not me, I use Aspartame all the time, it's a great sweetener.

[peterb17]

Must say I rather like Mejii milk, but only have it in coffee in the morning, would never actually drink glass of milk.

So a small bottle lasts for ever.

Just surprised you get through 4-5 litres - seems a lot. Maybe just cut down, or try soy - its not bad.

PS the medical profession must love you- all those expensive tests!

[Jenny Chengwattana]

I stopped drinking milk after I did a little research. I have read studies by more than a few legitimate medical experts, not just wacko alternative quacks. It is not necessary, useful or healthy for humans to consume cow's milk for any reason. Of course if you only listen to the massive dairy industry promotional 'information' then you won't get the truth. Even calves stop drinking milk after they are weaned--they drink water--fact! Celebrities get paid big bucks to promote this profitable industry. Read 'The China Study' - the Chinese don't drink milk and have a low incidence of osteoporosis. If you still insist on your cow's milk know that processing milk creates an unhealthy product.

[Maroon Watcher]

... don't believe everything you read...

I stopped drinking milk after I did a little research. I have read studies by more than a few legitimate medical experts, not just wacko alternative quacks. It is not necessary, useful or healthy for humans to consume cow's milk for any reason. Of course if you only listen to the massive dairy industry promotional 'information' then you won't get the truth. Even calves stop drinking milk after they are weaned--they drink water--fact! Celebrities get paid big bucks to promote this profitable industry. Read 'The China Study' - the Chinese don't drink milk and have a low incidence of osteoporosis. If you still insist on your cow's milk know that processing milk creates an unhealthy product.

[saakura]

What about Hokkaido milk? The one in small (i think 150ml) glass bottles which sell for 38baht/bottle in Tops supermarket? I thought it was fresh pasturised milk without any preservatives or processing and have been buying it for my son.

[Krataiboy]

Is stool gazing like star gazing only upside down? Can't we give addicts a forum of their own, rather than have them inflict their perversion upon the rest of us?

[attrayant]

I stopped drinking milk after I did a little research. I have read studies by more than a few legitimate medical experts, not just wacko alternative quacks.

Would you mind linking us to a few of them?

It is not necessary, useful or healthy for humans to consume cow's milk for any reason.

This canard comes up so frequently, I've got a canned reply:

It's not necessary for us to eat a lot of things that we eat. That doesn't necessarily mean they are detrimental to our health. Nutritionists determine what the essential nutrients are, and it's left to us to choose which foods we want to eat to get them.

[partington]

Today at Makro in Chiang Rai I noticed that they have taken all Meiji products off of their shelves. Most Thai milk is reconstituted. I am told that Dutch Mill is not. I am not sure. For sure Foremost is.

Yes, I noticed that in CM as well (Tesco MeeChok), what can be happening?

Most Thai milk is NOT reconstituted. Read AyGs post #15 for a rational response to this claim.

The fact that Meiji is originally a Japanese company and has operations in China as well does not mean that Thai milk comes in powdered form from Japan and China. Cp-Meiji is 60% owned by the Thai company CP which has its own dairy farms as well as contracts with Thai independent farmers.

Thais don't drink much milk, and compared to the per capita consumption, an actual excess of fresh milk is produced in Thailand, enough to make Thailand a contender in export of fresh milk to neighbouring Asian countries where the demand is growing.

This trade paper article, from October 2013, gives background on fresh milk being exported to Singapore by CP-Meiji from Thailand, and how they ensure their corporate goal of exporting the freshest milk possible.

Clearly urban myth making is alive and well in this thread!

Fresh Tastes Best – CP-Meiji Well Positioned in Asean Dairy “Battleground”

extract http://54.255.195.162/wordpress/fresh-tastes-best-cp-meiji-well-positioned-asean-dairy-battleground/

"According to figures collected by CP-Meiji over the past five years pasteurised milk sales nationally (Thailand -my addition) have increased 12 per cent per annum and yoghurt – set yoghurt and drinking yoghurt – 10 per cent.

While competition from abroad is inevitable, Mr Prasit said he expected it to be primarily in the UHT market, which CP-Meiji does not compete in ... rather than in the fresh pasteurised milk (my emphasis) segment."

"Some people may ship in reconstituted milk or frozen milk and package locally, but a main part of our success is due to our fresh taste and that is something imported milk can’t compete with. Even after two days the taste of milk has changed from when it was produced....

[edit]

In pursuit of its goal of being the freshest tasting milk despite a two day shipping period to Singapore, CP-Meiji ships its pasteurised milk as soon as it has been produced with the Singapore distributor, Crown Pacific Investment...

[edit]

As soon as the quality checks are complete they get it on the shelves, but not before or else we will penalise them three time the value of the milk. Because our milk is on the shelves only two days after being manufactured it tastes much better than reconstituted or frozen milk that could take a week or more after processing to make it onto the shelves”, Mr Prasit said.

[edit]

Referring to the Thai sources for their fresh milk:

“Half of the 300 tons (about 89,855 litres or 63,760 gallons) of raw milk we collect each day comes from independent farmers that we have exclusive milk collection contracts with, about 10 per cent from farms owned by CPF (Charoen Pokphand Foods – who own 60 per cent of CP-Meiji) and the balance from regional milk collecting centres supplied by independent farmers.

Read more: Fresh tastes best - CP-Meiji well positioned in Asean dairy "battleground" http://54.255.195.162/wordpress/fresh-tastes-best-cp-meiji-well-positioned-asean-dairy-battleground/#ixzz387HdRuoE

[Sheryl]

Please keep it civil

[partington]

I stopped drinking milk after I did a little research. I have read studies by more than a few legitimate medical experts, not just wacko alternative quacks. It is not necessary, useful or healthy for humans to consume cow's milk for any reason. Of course if you only listen to the massive dairy industry promotional 'information' then you won't get the truth. Even calves stop drinking milk after they are weaned--they drink water--fact! Celebrities get paid big bucks to promote this profitable industry. Read 'The China Study' - the Chinese don't drink milk and have a low incidence of osteoporosis. If you still insist on your cow's milk know that processing milk creates an unhealthy product.

The evolutionary reason why calves stop drinking milk after they are weaned is because they are deliberately weaned. Their mothers stop giving them milk so they can give it to new calves. It is nothing to do with health!

A cow that fed its offspring milk all through the adult life of the offspring would produce many fewer calves than a cow that limited milk supply to a few months. You can only produce a limited supply of milk by eating grass and you need to use that limited amount wisely. The more calves you produce, the more evolutionarily successful you are, and therefore the genes for weaning win out over the genes for supplying your calves milk until they are middle aged!

P.S. opinions by "legitimate medical authorities", unless backed up by evidence to prove what they are saying, are not worth much. It's possible for legitimate medical authorities to be dishonest, or even nuts, so only the evidence they have for what they say is trustworthy, not their diploma.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Sounds like you have a allergy for milk which is very common. This could include most dairy products as well. My wife had it also.

There are pills you can get for this and which also allows you to drink milk without problem, but I am sorry as I forgot the name of them.

[oldsailor35]

Almost all milk in Thailand is reconstituted from powdered milk.

It comes from various sources including NZ and China.

They also tend to add preservatives, sugar sweeteners and vitamins as the powder lacks a little something.

There are very few cows in Thailand, and what there are produce low amounts of milk because they are nearly all hybrid Asian.

If all their production was used as milk, it would provide about 5% of the milk required.

Meiji is most certainly not fresh milk.

Not enough cows in Thailand, and nobody transports fresh milk.

Look on the side of any milk purchased in Thailand.

Does it say "Fresh Milk"?

Not on my cartons.

But someone else is saying that there over 310,000 cows in Thailand....................Which is it

[sead]

you do have Lactose free milk. If you have it here i dont know

[Jdietz]

What about Hokkaido milk? The one in small (i think 150ml) glass bottles which sell for 38baht/bottle in Tops supermarket? I thought it was fresh pasturised milk without any preservatives or processing and have been buying it for my son.

Isn't Hokkaido milk classified in becquerels per liter?

[JackieMager]

I have had the same problem to the point where my tummy bulged out, diarrhea etc so i went home to melbourne as they kept saying IBS. Within a few days after so many tests they found the problem. Yes i have lactose intolerance but only with certain milks and cheeses. But they also found out i have Gastroparesis . Which means paralyzed stomach, which means my tummy digests too slowly and sometimes hardly at all. The whole thing boils down to diet, no spinach or lettuce leaves as the fibre cannot be digested, no steaks.... Hamburger ok as the steak has been grounded. Its really common sense. If u think certain foods contain fibre ( stringy stuff) dont eat as your tummy will take much longer to digest than an average tummy. Boiled fruit cold, cereals, veggies but preferably mashed up. And many other things .... No nuts and hard things that your tummy WILL not digest easily.

Milk: i buy australian lactose free milk at Villa. Cheeses such as Coon is fine. No creams , no mild, NZ soy milk or aussie lactose free milk in large cartons.

[fabianfred]

I have long preffered Meiji with the dark blue cap milk to all the others...they seem watered down compared to it. I drink it by the glass and so do my kids. I noticed that often the Meiji is missing from shelves in 7-eleven and other places...especially the dark blue cap (full milk)... this makes me suspect that it is fresher than the other makes and so not always available.

[brianP]

Meiji tastes funny and goes sour early, Dutch mill is always good.

[darhut]

From the Meiji Corporate website

http://www.meiji.com/english/corporate/data/network/

"Dairy Products

Meiji established the joint venture CP-Meiji Co., Ltd., in 1989 to manufacture and sell milk and yogurt products in Thailand. The company has captured the leading market share in the Thai market for chilled milk with the growing recognition of meiji brand milk, while increasing sales of cream and other institutional dairy products.

In March 2011, Meiji established Meiji Dairies (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., in China, which began manufacturing and selling milk and yogurt in December 2013. In 2013, we launched Meiji Bulgaria Yogurt series in Thailand and Shanghai, China. These products are gaining popularity as the first real yogurt to be available in those areas."

So I have to ask,

1. do you imagine they are shipping fresh milk from China to Thailand?

2. Are you thinking aircraft carrying liquid milk?

3. If by container on a ship, how would they preserve it?

Just wondering, maybe you have an explanation how they transport their fresh milk from China to Thailand without it going off?

They don't have to ship fresh milk, the cows are in Thailand. It has nothing to do with where the company is based.

[chiang mai]

Posters trying to better understand the fresh vs powdered milk argument will find the following link invaluable:

http://www.animal.ufl.edu/elzo/Presentations/2010/14AAAP/Presentation-SKK-MAE_20100819-Final.pdf

Some comments from the link:

- in 2009 Thailand's dairy herd comprised 483,899 cattle, better than 95% are crossbred with high Holstein fraction:

- the herd produced 2,093,521 kgs of milk PER DAY.

Posters may also wish to review the stats on page one of this link:

http://ilri.org/infoserv/Webpub/fulldocs/South_South/ch12.htm

Finally, whilst there is an import market for dried milk powder it remains in that form through the point of sale and is useful for more remote areas that cannot receive daily supplies of fresh milk and for baby and infant formula.

Edited July 22, 2014 by chiang mai

[Jip99]

I have long preffered Meiji with the dark blue cap milk to all the others...they seem watered down compared to it. I drink it by the glass and so do my kids. I noticed that often the Meiji is missing from shelves in 7-eleven and other places...especially the dark blue cap (full milk)... this makes me suspect that it is fresher than the other makes and so not always available.

It is also the only local brand that makes good 'frothed milk' in an espresso machine.

[featography]

I drink an average 2-4 0.5l bottles of beer per week. Had a few in Germany and as said, the condition improved. Had none since my return and condition got worse - for sure it is not the booze.

Would be grateful if somebody can decrypt what is written on the Meji bottle (with the dark blue cap). The only word in English is pasteurized, but as per previous comment, must be homogenized, too as it usually lasts 10 days.

Page 2 and no one has touched on a couple of things yet;

What hours do you eat dinner? Late, theres your stomach problems

Drink alcohol late at night? Again......

Have you tried the other Thai brands of milk? Any difference?

I shake my head at all the bar stool pharmacists that prescribe medicine to you. I always thought that was the Doctors job

I would avoid soy milk because all soy products have adverse effect on thyroid gland, and at our ages, take no chances. There is a reason why Thai have high frequency of thyroidism.

If the other brands of milk give the same reactions, try instead Almond milk.

My theory as to why Thai milk tastes different from the milk back home is in the old adage; ''you are what you eat''. Cattle here eat wild grasses, weeds, and some plant leaves, unlike the hay and pasture grass that is fed cattle in the West. Note the beef is leaner here than back home, no hormones, or additives to the feed. I got used to the different taste, went back home one year for a visit, and thought the whole milk at home was tasting watered down and off. Came back to Thailand and thought ''wow, nice to get real milk again''.

[featography]

Thais drink very little fresh milk. Much of he milk produced is turned to powder and is used in all kinds of baby food products. When was the last time you saw a Thai drinking a glass of milk.

thailand has had import restrictions on powdered milk from

Australia for years trying to protect the local market. I used to make feta cheese and yogurt commercially in my company Don's Foods using powdered milk and the quota on import kept the price up and difficult to make a profit. They slowly stopped the import.

Try to find out what is really in Thai milk and you will really be surprised.

You dont see people drinking milk because they all have alcohol. Go to the schools and you see a ton of milk in the little cartons for the students.

All powdered milk is brought into Thailand, there are no facilities to make it here. I went to Yok on hwy 11 and saw powdered milk sold there. I may or may not remember in the last 18 mos, seeing it at Rimping as well.

[AyG]

I would avoid soy milk because all soy products have adverse effect on thyroid gland, and at our ages, take no chances. There is a reason why Thai have high frequency of thyroidism.

I say "nonsense".

I'm not aware of any research that conclusively demonstrates a link between consumption of soy products and hypothyroidism.

However, the Thai diet is notoriously deficient in Iodine - that's why goitre so prevalent here. There have been projects to iodise table salt to address the problem.