UHT is undrinkable filth. If refrigerating milk in supermarkets is such a big environmental problem, perhaps we can revert to that admirable system of having milk delivered fresh to the doorstep every day?

Posted by: Seamus McCauley | October 15, 2007 11:45 AM

Good idea - and this, of course, means more recycling of bottles, too!

Posted by: Abi | October 15, 2007 11:51 AM

D'you not think "undrinkable filth" is just a teensy bit of an exaggeration? It's an acquired taste sure, but I got used to the stuff in Germany (they use it a lot more than we do) and I'm pretty much either / or.

That said, I think there's probably a lot of other changes we could make that would have more effect with less upset.

Posted by: Shadowduck | October 15, 2007 12:00 PM

I'd rather have milk delivered to the door too. Having said that, I'm allergic to the stuff so I'll stick with the soya milk that doesn't come from a great parping ozone destroying mammal.

Posted by: Camilla | October 15, 2007 12:10 PM

UHT is revolting. I'm not surprised that we use more milk than Europeans given that their traditional tipples are wine and beer. Enough of that and the taste of the milk isn't so noticeable.
Interesting to see that HMG are busy trying to distance themselves from this notion as with most of their half cock ideas.

Posted by: Ralph | October 15, 2007 12:31 PM

OK so more refrigeration requires more power, but aren't supermarkets running huge fridges anyway for all the chilled produce? - so the saving is minimal if you take away the fridges just for milk. UHT by its very name requires more power to heat it to such extreme temperatures to become "long-life", subtract this from the power saved on the fresh milk fridges, and the amount is negligible, so why compromise on the taste? Absolutely daft suggestion, no doubt costing tax payers a heap of money for some consultanting team to dream up (using more power in the process). Waste of everyone's time and money... bar humbug!!

Posted by: Anonymous | October 15, 2007 1:14 PM

I agree with a few of the points made. Firstly, you would think the heating would use more carbon in the first place and secondly the milk fridges are just a couple of the ones a supermarket uses. I think it would be better if they put doors on all their fridges and freezers as this seems like a better way of reducing emissions by requiring less power.

Posted by: Hayley Jones | October 15, 2007 2:21 PM

UHT heats to 135C for a couple of seconds; pasteurisation to 72C for about 15. So, it's entirely possible that the UHT process uses *less* energy than pasteurisation, right?

As with so many other things, I think we Brits are overreacting here. Fresh milk should be available direct from the dairy only. The supermarkets need to be told that they can only stock UHT. That way if people want "proper" milk, they get it from the milkman. Job done. More work for local business, less harm to the environment. Everybody wins.

Except Tesco. Which will probably stuff the idea unfortunately.

Posted by: jj | October 15, 2007 4:35 PM

Why not just park a cow in the living room? Surely that's the only Green Way.

Posted by: Laura | October 15, 2007 5:03 PM

I agree that milkmen delivering fresh milk (and recycling bottles) is a much greener option than supermarkets supplying UHT; but next time you get caught out of milk and only have the UHT option to hand, try skimmed UHT milk. The odd taste of UHT is caused by fat caramelising during the heat process. Skimmed milk contains less fat, so there's less to caramelise during the heating, so it tastes less weird.

Or you could put yoghurt on your cornflakes instead. Mmm, yoghurt-flakes.

Posted by: Anonymous | October 16, 2007 11:44 AM

Yep, skimmed UHT tastes "less weird" because regular skimmed milk barely tastes of anything in the first place.

Posted by: Andy Merrett | October 16, 2007 12:02 PM

Re. Hayley Jones

The phrase "needs to be told" is shaping up as the most sinister phrase in the modern language. It smacks of the government "having plans" for us. Which is what we have here. People will resist that, and who can blame them.

One does does not have to a rapid Europhobe to see that each country has its own tastes, developed over time. If the French and others do not care for fresh milk then that is their look-out. However for the government to come up with a "milk road map" to somehow bring us into line with Europe in drinking what is to British tastes is "undrinkable filth" shows how out of touch they are. Added to which, at a time when as per Jamie Oliver they are trying encourage children to eat more real food this seems downright perverse.

Also, the last time I looked in the supermarket there was about two metres worth of milk, in the midst of aisles and aisles of cook-chill, all without doors. Surely much more could be saved by insisting on doors in these cabinet.

Thinking caps back on methinks.

Posted by: E Gallagher | October 16, 2007 1:03 PM

This idea is bloody stupid! Why should milk, of all the refridgerated products available today, be singled out?

Also, there would proabbly be no energy saving at all. Here's just one reason why:

Imagine that, from a given date, all supermarkets have to stop selling fresh milk and sell UHT instead, which you can stock on ordinary shelves. What on earth are thousands of supermarkets going to do with all the newly-free refridgerated capacity?

1) Retain the refrigerated shelves and use them to stock more meat, cheese, yoghurt etc. Outcome: No energy saved whatsoever.
2) Dismantle & dispose of a vast number of highly expensive & complicated chilled shelving units. Outcome: A significant waste of resources, which needn't had happened if the government had kept its nose out of the milk market.

In summary, intervention would be pointless and achieve nothing except the ire and frustration of the 92% of people in Britain who prefer fresh milk.
There are a million more important things to be looked at by the government. Some officials should grow up & stop being such jobsworths.

Posted by: George Weeks | October 18, 2007 6:20 PM

The only decent milk is Real Milk, i.e. milk with cream on the top. CAMILK successfully fought the Government in banning licensed farm sales of Green Top (raw, unpasteurised) milk a few years ago. It is now about to launch a campaign encouraging consumers to drink unhomogenised milk with the cream on the top which is only normally available now as Silver Top in recyclable bottles. The more milk is heat treated the more goodness is taken out of it and the more people suffer from allergies and bowel disorders. RICHARD COPUS, THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL MILK.

Posted by: Richard Copus | October 24, 2007 3:47 PM