Are cheese products made from 生乳 made from unpasteurized milk?

6 comments

1. 生乳 does mean raw milk. I’m not sure if that makes any difference for processed products like cheese, cottage cheese, etc.

2. Google Translate says “raw milk” but I feel like it really means “fresh milk”. Like OP I also doubt they are using raw milk in so many random commercial-scale cheeses and yogurts.

3. It means fresh milk (with an legally acceptable level of fresh milk). Old milk was recycled until the Morinaga milk scandal in 2000. (Not their worst scandal by a long shot).

   All milk is heat treated, but not sure if some brands still mix old milk in.

   This is the incident that taught Japan a lot about the milk industries and that it is better to buy the carton labeled with 生乳

   https://www.deseret.com/2000/7/15/19518299/bad-milk-scandal-stuns-japan

4. 生乳 refers to the original ingredient. It is then pasteurised and homogenised then bottled in the case of milk. Most dairy products label some details about the processing. Milk, I have seen for instance, will almost certainly give details of the pasteurisation method. (I know of only 1 exception, and they provide the information elsewhere).

   So the short answer.to your question is, yes, the milk was unpasteurised before they processed it.

   Also, when you purchase pasterurised milk, the ingredients are labelled: 生乳

   Another fun fact. The pasteurisation process for most milk brands here would reqire it to be labelled as UHT milk in most western countries, if you were wondering what was causing it to taste funny.

5. If you take a look at yoghurts: if it doesn’t say 100% 生乳 than it will have milk powder as well on the list for the ingredients.

6. Cheese in Japan is rarely made from unpasteurized milk. It’s not necessary to distinguish pasteurized and unpasteurized milk in the ingredients, so you can’t know by looking at products. Products from major brands all use pasteurized milk.