← Clean Food Score

Types of Milk Explained: Whole vs 2%, Organic, A2, Lactose-Free & Ultra-Filtered Labels

October 17, 2026 · 9 min

Chapters

  1. The Milk Aisle
  2. Whole, Two Percent, One Percent, Skim
  3. Vitamins A and D
  4. Pasteurized or Ultra-Pasteurized
  5. Organic Milk
  6. A2 Milk
  7. Lactose-Free Milk
  8. Ultra-Filtered Milk
  9. Flavored Milk
  10. Ten-Second Milk Check
  11. Picks From Our Catalog
  12. Your Turn

Audio from the Clean Food Score video of the same name; the video shows the labels and scores on screen.

Plain milk has one of the shortest labels in the store, so what actually separates whole from 2 percent, organic milk from A2 milk, and lactose-free from ultra-filtered? We read the cartons, explain ultra-pasteurized, vitamins A and D and flavored milk thickeners, and show real picks with their label scores (as of October 2026).

Full guide and the products we checked
Check any ingredient list free

Products featured (Amazon links, with our 0–100 label score):
• Organic Valley Organic Whole Milk — 85/100
• a2 Milk Whole Milk — 60/100
• Lactaid 100% Lactose-Free Whole Milk — 60/100
• Fairlife Whole Ultra-Filtered Milk — 60/100
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Chapters
0:00 The Milk Aisle
0:47 Whole, Two Percent, One Percent, Skim
1:30 Vitamins A and D
2:18 Pasteurized or Ultra-Pasteurized
2:56 Organic Milk
3:44 A2 Milk
4:29 Lactose-Free Milk
5:09 Ultra-Filtered Milk
5:56 Flavored Milk
6:51 Ten-Second Milk Check
7:30 Picks From Our Catalog
8:21 Your Turn

Product scores are Clean Food Score's 0–100 label scores as shown on cleanfoodscore.com on 2026-10-18. Recipes change, so read the package you buy. We read labels; this is not medical advice.

Music
"Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Reminiscing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Friday Morning" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Almost Bliss" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Sound effects: Kenney (kenney.nl), CC0.

#milk #foodlabels #organicmilk