CORE Organic pilot research projects

The eight joint research projects, which were selected for transnational funding by means of a virtual common pot approach, started in July 2007.

Read more about CORE Organic and the research projects in the leaflet below (PDF). A more elaborate description of each project, results, perspectives and impact can be found on these webpages.

CORE Organic
project information

What makes organic milk healthy? (PhytoMilk):

Project objective

The transnational research project PhytoMilk has investigated how different parameters linked to forage affect the composition and quality of organic dairy milk ,e.g. species, pasture or silage, latitude and harvest time, storage time and silage preservation.

This project gives increased knowledge about the nutritional and salutary quality of organic milk. It aims at increasing the knowledge of the relationship between production systems, environmental conditions and milk properties. The official project title of PhytoMilk is "Potential improvement of the salutary effect of organic dairy milk by forage species and by supplementation."

Selected main outccomes of PhytoMilk

Recent research has shown that there is in facta number of ingredients in milk that may be salutary (healthy). Bioactive components are for example:

- Fatty acids: omega-3, omega-6, and CLA
- Vitamins: Carotenoids (vitamin A) and Tocopherols (vitamin E)
- Phytoestrogens
- Endogenous hormones and growth factors
- Low content of Selenium in organic Nordic milk – very little in the soil

Organic milk different from conventional milk Organic milk has a higher proportion of forages in the ration than conventional milk. Additionally, organic milk has a higher proportion of legumes and other herbs (not so much grass) than conventional. Knowledge of chemical and sensory characteristics is limited

Organic milk is more and differently affected by forage than conventional milk Certification is required to protect consumers' interest and maintain a high credibility in (premium priced) organic Basis for both farming management and dietary recommendations There is a basis for farm,ing management and dietary resommendations both in forage and forage production, milk production, shelf stability and concerning bioactive components.

Project ressources

	PhytoMilk final report Get the PhytoMilk Final Report 2011 (pdf)
	Project publications in Organic Eprints Browse the PhytoMilk publications in the online open-access research archive, Organic Eprints.
	Leaflet about the PhytoMilk project Get the PhytoMilk information leaflet (pdf).