Something Stinks, But It’s Not The Raw Milk….

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurised or homogenised and prior to 1864 when Louis Pasteur ( 1822-1895) discovered that pasteurisation prevented spoilage raw milk was the norm, and was consumed by all including weaned infants. Even after the process of pasteurisation became more common it was the discovery of germ theory in 1870 by Joseph Lister (1827-1912) that started turning people away from raw milk.

Germ theory showed how highly contagious diseases, such as brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis could be controlled via pasteurisation. The process was first used in the USA in 1890.  Tests developed since that time have shown that milk can carry not only brucellosis and bovine TB but listeria, salmonella and e.coli 0157.

It should be pointed out that not all raw milk carries these diseases, and some has been found to carry none of them but the fact that most raw milk carries at least some of these diseases even in small amounts has prompted some governments to ban the sale of raw milk and cheeses made with raw milk.

Those in favour of raw milk feel the health benefits and taste of consuming the unadulterated product outweighs the health risk. They also feel that in the pasteurisation process good bacteria as well as bad are destroyed. Those against it say the health benefits are unaltered by pasteurisation and that public safety is paramount.

In the USA the FDA and CDC has ruled raw milk unfit for human consumption though 28 states continue at this point to allow it to be sold, often after obtaining a permit to do so, but not all allow it to be sold for human consumption. The number of states allowed to sell raw milk at all is dropping with 11 more banning the sale of raw milk products since 2000.

Canada banned the sale of raw milk completely in 1991.

Raw milk is widely available throughout Europe, in the UK it is banned in Scotland but allowed to be sold directly by farmers to consumers in England, Ireland and Wales though it does have to carry a warning as to the possible dangers of drinking it.

So, what’s the truth, is it safe or is it not?

The answer to that depends entirely on which research and/or studies you read. Those done by farmers and raw milk aficionados say it is safe, those done by the government say it is not.

Working on the KISS principle, maybe, just for once statistics can help.

The CDC record 2 deaths directly attributable to raw milk between 1993-2006. A mean annual death rate of 0.15 per year.

EACH YEAR an average of 100 people die in the United States as a direct result of e.coli 0157 from ground beef.

EACH YEAR an average of 98 people die in the United States from Vibrio contracted by eating oysters and shell fish.

It seems crazy to me that a totally natural substance that has been consumed for thousands of years in its natural state can be banned because it causes 2 deaths in 13 years.

Studies indicate that more people are sickened drinking raw milk than pasteurised milk, and this is a fact, it contains germs and some people are susceptible to those germs but the list of food that contain germs, many of them the same ones that are found in raw milk is huge.

Everything from raspberries to potatoes, and eggs to bean sprouts carry nasties such as e.coli, salmonella, norovirus  and cyclospora. Should all such foods be banned we would have very little left to enjoy.

Each of us has to make our own mind up about the food we eat and that really is the point, that choice for many, has been removed. It is strange that when obesity and heart disease kills hundreds of thousands of Americans each year the high fat, empty calorie, processed junk that helps cause their deaths is still sold in stores across the country, and the shop owners that push this junk are free to legally do so, yet a farmer selling raw milk is prosecuted for selling a totally natural product, a product that has caused 2 deaths in 13 years.

This seems totally illogical to me and from my standpoint seems to be more about
erosion of rights than preventing deaths.

Take care

Lizzie