Are Your Dairy Products Hormone Free? (30+ Dairy Brands That Are)

hormone free dairy blue

Remember when rBST-free milk was all the rage?  Now, it’s probably harder to find milk with hormones, than not (just a guess). But what about cheese? Or sour cream, cottage cheese and ice cream, for that matter? If we don’t make it from scratch (and some of us don’t, at least not yet), are we assuming that all dairy is hormone free?

What got me into this mess was a sale on cheese. I scooped it up, stuck it in the fridge and promptly realized I hadn’t checked the label on a brand I don’t normally purchase. It didn’t say “made from cows not treated with rBST” anywhere. A few minutes of research later and I knew that cheese in the fridge had hormones in it. <gasp> So I made my husband eat it.

Fast forward a few years and I loyally only buy one local brand of dairy. It’s hormone free and every milk delivery is tested for antibiotics (all milk, conventional or organic, is tested for specific antibiotics and if positive, cannot be sold). And frankly, it’s just simple buying from one brand that I know is hormone-free and fits in my budget.

If you can find a local farmer that you trust and can afford, do it! But when that isn’t an option, here are 30 conventional dairy brands that offer hormone free dairy products that you might find at your local grocery store. If an online policy is available, I’ve linked to it, otherwise I obtained the information through emails with each company.

Note: 100% organic dairy products are always free of milk from cows given rBST so I have not included them in my list of 30 conventional brands.

  • Tillamook
  • Umpqua :: policy
  • Darigold :: policy
  • Knudsen
  • Schneider’s :: policy
  • Sunshine Dairy :: policy
  • Daisy :: policy
  • Alpenrose Dairy
  • Turner Dairy :: policy
  • Smith Dairy :: policy
  • Oakhurst Dairy :: policy
  • Jilbert Dairy :: policy
  • Roberts Dairy : policy
  • Hood (note: only milk and ice cream) :: policy
  • Trader Joe’s labeled dairy products
  • Whole Foods 365 and 365 Organic :: policy
  • Kroger branded dairy products (note: milk and cream used in all dairy products are rBST free but they are still sourcing rBST free dairy powders such as whey, buttermilk, and whey protein concentrate)
  • Safeway labeled dairy products :: policy
  • Kerrygold Butter :: policy
  • Challenge Butter (note: 6 of their butter products listed in the policy) :: policy
  • Dannon
  • Yoplait Yogurt
  • Chobani Yogurt :: policy
  • Brown Cow Yogurt :: policy
  • Fage Yogurt :: policy
  • Nancy’s Yogurt :: policy
  • Ben and Jerry’s (note: all milk and cream is but cannot guarantee manufactured ingredients like brownies, cookie dough, etc. are hormone free) :: policy

These brands have some dairy products that are made from milk not treated with rBST but only if labeled:

  • Kraft
  • Cabot Cheese
  • Precious Cheese

Here’s just a few of the brands that responded to my inquiry that had a variety of responses basically stating that their products are not guaranteed to be free of milk from cows treated with rBST:  Breyer’s, Blue Bunny, Borden, Sargento, Dreyer’s, Frigo, Haagen-Dazs, Hilmar Cheese, Land O’Lakes, Philadelphia, Walmart (milk is free of rBST but not other Walmart branded dairy products) and Publix (milk is free of rBST but other Publix branded dairy products).

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Let’s grow this list! What brands do you commonly purchase?
 

Comments

  1. Thanks for a very helpful list! I now get organic raw milk directly from the farmer, and make my own kefir from that, but hadn’t thought of cheeses and such!

  2. Thank you for this list. I love the Tillamook cheese, did not know it was hormone free. I quite buying it because it is not labeled. Actually had one company (no names) tell me they doubted that I could purchase any cheese that was hormone free. Ick.

    Again thank you.

  3. I’m confused about kroger. Does that mean all of their dairy products are hormone free?
    Thanks

  4. Hi Heather, most Kroger branded dairy products are hormone free but not any brand carried at Kroger. If it is a Kroger branded dairy product that contains whey, buttermilk or whey protein concentrate, it may not be 100% hormone free as “they are still sourcing rBST free dairy powders”. For example, the Krogram brand milk is hormone free because it is 1) Kroger brand and 2) does not contain any dairy powders. Does that help?

  5. Hello there and thank you for the article. Can you give me any information on Anderson Dairy milk as well as Viva brand milk. Thank you so much

  6. Hi was just wondering about Meijer milk?

  7. We recently tried Promised Land 2 percent milk – it is phenomenal and claims to be hormone free. I am searching for butter and cheese that is also hormone free. I did find chicken at Sam’s, raw, hormone and antibiotic free so we’ll be buying that in the future. Also picked up some very reasonable price hamburger and bacon at Braum’s. All their Braum’s labeled products are hormone free. It’s really hard to change habits- I shop at Sam’s a lot and a local butcher shop – the cows are grain fed and the meat fantastic, however it does have hormones in it.

  8. robotic service says

    The last Kroger Milk label we read said their farmers “Pledge” not to use rBST. Is that a guarantee or certified to be hormone-free?

  9. Talking with customer service, Kroger butter is not guaranteed to be rBST free.

  10. Interesting Lili, what did they tell you? This is the information I received from Kroger. “These dairy farmers are required to provide Kroger with the appropriate certification verification. As a result of these certification programs and growing customer interest in this issue, Kroger has informed its raw milk suppliers that it will only procure raw milk from dairy cows that are certified rBST-free. The milk and cream going into the products will be rBST free.”

  11. is hy-vee milk rBST free

  12. Thank you for the list. Can you tell me why companies like Daisy do not print the hormone free status on their labels?
    Thank you.

  13. Ralph’s grocery stores (West coast) assure me that ALL their milk and cream are rBST free, so their Ralph’s brand name products are also hormone free.

  14. Thank you for this list…however, I notice you list DAISY brand…I saw a very disturbing video on Facebook about how they treat their animals at Daisy farms. I will never buy their products again. Does anyone have any information about this?
    Would love to hear from you. Thanks

  15. Gail Shepard says

    I was relieved to see that Stonyfield Farms and Trader Joe’s milk products are hormone free. What about Lowe’s Foods brands?

  16. I see Kerrygold butter on the list, but I don’t see Kerrygold cheese. Also, when I click on the “policy” link beside it, there’s nothing there. Do you know if all Kerrygold products are hormone-free?

    Thank you!

  17. Do NOT trust Whole Foods. They are now owned by Monsanto.

  18. Great value from Walmart, Starbucks drinks and Panara Bread all have rBGH free milk products!

  19. Hilarie says

    Please forgive me as I see no other concerns posted like mine. My late husband and I waited to have a child til I was nearly 40. In the last month I have noticed our 10 and a half year old is beginning to develop up top. I found this surprising since she is so young. It donned on me tonight that it might be the dairy products I buy. We eat very little meat and wouldn’t know if it was hormone free. We do use a lot of dairy for our protein.
    Anyway, can the hormones in our milk be making my little girls body develop to soon? Thank you, Hilarie

  20. After more thorough research on Land of Lakes butter I have found the following link concerning whether they produce their butter via cows treated with rBST. Bottom line is they do not use dairy cows treated with the rBST hormone. Here is the link.

    https://www.organicconsumers.org/old_articles/rbgh/092502_rbgh.php

  21. No where on “ANY” Kroger cheese label does it read: RBST FREE , NONE ; I called Kroger 800 Number shown on the cheese label and the Kroger Representative that answered My call “Didn’t Know the answer”” ,so after doing some checking with other people in her office , she advised Me : “Kroger dose not Guarantee their Cheese to be RBST Free”. SO , I Stopped Buying ALL Kroger Dairy Products , except occasional Milk ; SAME goes for SAFEWAY BRAND Cheese & Dairy Products , NO Guarantee to be RBST Free , NONE .

  22. I just called Costco, Kroger & Walmart.
    Kroger & Walmart brand milk ARE RBST free. Neither of them can guarantee their cheese is.
    Kroger did say that if you can find their “Simple Truth” brand in dairy it should be RBST free because that is their organic brand.

    Costco said there is a less than 1% probability their shredded cheddar is not RBST free, but they still can’t guarantee. I didn’t ask about their milk.

    I used to buy Tillamook cheese which I love and it’s RBST free but they no longer carry it around here. 🙁

    Hope this helps someone.

  23. No mention yet on Costco’s Kirkland brand milk- is it artificial hormone free ? I cant seem to find out anywhere on the internet !!!!

  24. All cow’s milk contains bovine growth hormone. Neither that, nor the RBST hormone can possibly have any affect on the human body. You could drink pure human growth hormone and that wouldn’t have any effect on your body. Bovine growth hormone has no effect on humans because we are humans, not bovines. the other reason that even human hgh would have no effect on you is because the digestive tract kills it. It is very fragile. Heat and light destroy it quickly (imagine what pasteurization would do to it!). So actually injecting pure, unspoiled human growth hormone is the only way any growth hormone could possibly affect your body.

  25. Donald Hanson says

    February 3, 2018:
    Does anyone know if the First Street Brand carried by Cash And Carry is hormone free?
    Thanks

  26. Kroger Milk uses the word “PLEDGE” So by year 2118, they will sell you rbst free milk. till then pretend it is rbst free and drink it at your own “RISK”

  27. David Hennessey says

    Does BRAUM’S have any growth hormones or antibiotics or rBST in their milk.
    I seen on their milk label that they are rBST free but I heard that BRAUM’S is spraying there crops (soybeans) with growth hormones or antibiotics, does anyone know if this is true. How can you test it to see if there are none of the above items in their milk.

  28. Tiffany Frank says

    RBST and rBGH are the least of the worries about milk. Just like human breast milk, cow’s milk (a.k.a. baby cow growth fluid) is a hormonal liquid and its sole purpose is to promote growth. Besides naturally occurring hormones, the lipids, proteins, sodium and growth factors like IGF-I are present in dairy milk to make a 65-pound calf into a 700-pound cow as quickly as possible. Milk promotes excess estrogen in your blood due to the estrogen from (always) pregnant female cows. Milk contains androgenic properties to raise testosterone levels and can cause bulking quickly. The same goes for skim milk.
    Dairy farmers MUST sell milk to make a living, so the FDA and dairy associations need to market the hell out of it and promote false health benefits like crazy. I stopped dairy altogether after watching “What the Health?” Within 5 months, I lost 20 pounds. WATCH IT. I thought quitting dairy would be difficult, but it wasn’t. Now I use coconut milk or almond milk, and I feel good knowing my body is healthier with a decreased chance of developing diabetes and cancer. I don’t eat butter and I don’t miss it. I use Earth Balance. It’s good! I also became completely vegan, which helped me lose weight.

  29. Hello! This post is very helpful. But someone can please tell me if this milk or milk products can grow acne in teen kids?

  30. ADDED hormone-free. All mammals store estrogen in their fat. If you’re consuming mammal fat, you’re taking a shot of hormones.

  31. To Tony B.
    Whole Foods is not owned by Monsanto, Amazon bought the company in 2017. I know nothing about their milk products though.

  32. I use Kroger or Meijer brand milk, are those hormone free? I use Philedelphia cream cheese and GFS string cheese, mainly going on texture. I do like Daisy sour cream and cottage cheese and saw Daisy on the list. I have some kids lactose intolerant and use generic Costco Lactaid, not sure if that has hormones. Then Johnsons sausage and sometimes Bob Evan’s sausage. I have some moody girls and am wandering where the hormones are coming in. Then salami from Costco. Is Boars Head hormone free? Wasn’t sure if you searched all these yet and knew.

  33. Kerry gold butter gmo.

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