It will be some time before consumers can put a carton of omega-3 milk in their shopping cart beside a carton of the nutritionally enriched eggs.
University of Manitoba trials prove feeding flax to cows significantly boosts the levels of the healthy fatty acid in milk.
But the cow is a complex animal, explained Ray Ingalls, senior scholar at the university, who spent six years looking at changing the fatty acid composition of milk.
“We know we can do it, and to that extent, I guess the question is trying to find a different method to protect the fat,” said Ingalls.
Read Also
U.S. government investigates high input costs
The USDA and DOJ are investigating high input costs, but nothing is happening in Canada.
Flax needs some kind of armor to shield itself while traveling through the rumen, the first and largest of the cow’s four stomachs.
Bacteria in the rumen work to hydrogenate the healthy unsaturated fats in the flax.
Flax-soybean blend
In his research, Ingalls used a blend of milled flax and soybeans made by an Australian company with a patent on the process.
But the process involves formaldehyde, a chemical associated with embalming fluid and a now-banned unhealthy insulation.
The amount of formaldehyde used in the flax treatment is not a health concern, said Ingalls, but it creates an image problem.
“It’s one of those things that has a sort of bad connotation,” he said.
United States regulations forbid the use of formaldehyde in food research, said Ingalls.
Searching for method
He has examined other types of treatments, such as heat treatments, but none have yet proven practical, he said.
In his trials, Ingalls fed 1.5 kilograms of milled flax per day to cows on top of their normal total mixed ration.
Cows seemed to like the feed, he said, and the feed did not lower volume of milk or protein levels. In fact, in the last of three trials, milk protein levels actually rose.
In the first trial, omega-3 fatty acids in milk from cows fed flax rose to 6.4 percent, compared to 0.8 percent in a control group.
The second trial showed levels rising to 3.5 percent from 0.4 percent. The third, a larger trial with more data, showed levels increasing from 0.5 percent to 5.7 percent.
Ingalls said an untrained taste panel could not detect differences in the omega-3 milk, or yogurt made from the milk.
However, his graduate student Jane Goodridge and others who tried the milk said they could taste a difference.
The concept requires more taste panels, said Ingalls, and also research into its shelf life.
