Proposed Regulations to PDA Milk Sanitation Code
September 30, 2009Does Raw Milk Kill Pathogens?
December 30, 2009
The Safety of Raw Milk
PROTECTIVE COMPONENTS: Raw milk contains numerous components that assist in:
- Killing pathogens in the milk (lactoperoxidase, lactoferrin, leukocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, antibodies, medium chain fatty acids, lysozyme, B12 binding protein, bifidus factor, beneficial bacteria);
- Preventing pathogen absorption across the intestinal wall (polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, mucins, fibronectin, glycomacropeptides, bifidus factor, beneficial bacteria);
- Strengthening the Immune System (lymphocytes, immunoglobulins, antibodies, hormones and growth factors) (Scientific American, December 1995; British J of Nutrition, 2000:84(Suppl. 1):S3-S10, S75-S80, S81-S89).
PASTEURIZATION HARMFUL: Many of these anti-microbial and immune-enhancing components are greatly reduced in effectiveness by pasteurization, and completely destroyed by ultra-pasteurization (Scientific American, December 1995; British J of Nutrition, 2000:84(Suppl. 1):S3-S10, S75-S80, S81-S89).
DANGERS EXAGGERATED: Although raw milk, like any food, can become contaminated and cause illness, the dangers of raw milk are greatly exaggerated. In an analysis of reports on 70 outbreaks attributed to raw milk, we found many examples of reporting bias, errors and poor analysis resulting in most outbreaks having either no valid positive milk sample or no valid statistical association (Response to Marler List of Studies).
USDA/FDA STATISTICS: Based on data in a 2003 USDA/FDA report: Compared to raw milk there are 515 times more illnesses from L-mono due to deli meats and 29 times more illness from L-mono due to pasteurized milk. On a PER-SERVING BASIS, deli meats were TEN times more likely than raw milk to cause illness (Interpretive Summary – Listeria Monocytogenes Risk Assessment, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Sept. 2003, page 17).
OUTBREAKS DUE TO PASTEURIZED MILK: Due to high-volume distribution and its comparative lack of anti-microbial components, pasteurized milk when contaminated has caused numerous widespread and serious outbreaks of illness, including a 1984-5 outbreak afflicting almost 200,000 people. In 2007, three people died in Massachusetts from illness caused by contaminated pasteurized milk (Real Milk PowerPoint, slide 30).
FORTY-YEAR-OLD SCIENCE AND ANCIENT HISTORY: Claims that raw milk is unsafe are based on 40-year-old science and century-old experiences from distillery dairy “factory farms” in rapidly urbanizing nineteenth century America.
MODERN ADVANTAGES: Compared to 30-50 years ago, dairy farmers today can take advantage of many advancements that contribute to a dramatically safer product including pasture grazing, herd testing, effective cleaning systems, refrigeration and easier, significantly less expensive, more accessible and more sophisticated milk and herd disease testing techniques.
UNIQUE FOOD: Raw milk is the ONLY food that has extensive built-in safety mechanisms and numerous components to create a healthy immune system.
Health Benefits of Raw Milk
BENEFITS IN EARLY HUMAN STUDIES: In early studies involving humans, raw milk was shown to be superior to pasteurized in protecting against infection, diarrhea, rickets, tooth decay and TB; and children receiving had better growth than those receiving pasteurized milk (Real Milk PowerPoint, slides 54-56, 58).
BENEFITS IN EARLY ANIMAL STUDIES: In early animal studies, animals fed raw milk had better growth, denser bones, greater integrity of internal organs, less anemia, fewer signs of anxiety and stress, and fewer signs of nutrient deficiency than animals fed pasteurized milk (Real Milk PowerPoint, slides 57, 59-64).
ASTHMA: Three recent studies in Europe found that drinking “farm” (raw) milk protected against asthma and allergies (Lancet. 2001 Oct 6;358(9288):1129-33; J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2006 Jun;117(6):1374-8; Clinical & Experimental Allergy. 2007 May; 37(5) 627-630).
RAW HUMAN MILK: In recent studies, infants on pasteurized human milk did not gain weight as quickly compared to those fed raw human milk (J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 1986 Mar-Apr;5(2):248-53) and premature babies given raw human milk had more rapid weight gain than those given pasteurized human milk. Problems were attributed to pasteurization’s destruction of lipase (J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 1986 Mar-Apr;5(2):242-7).
THE MILK CURE: In the early 1900s, the Mayo Clinic administered the “Milk Cure,” which consisted in drinking 4-5 quarts of raw milk per day, obtaining favorable results for a range of illnesses including cancer, weight loss, kidney disease, allergies, skin problems, urinary tract problems, prostate problems and chronic fatigue; these results are not obtained using pasteurized milk.
DANGERS OF PASTEURIZED MILK: Many studies have linked consumption of pasteurized milk with lactose intolerance, allergies, asthma, frequent ear infections, gastro-Intestinal problems, diabetes, auto-Immune disease, attention deficit disorder and constipation. During a period of rapid population growth, the market for fluid pasteurized milk has declined at 1% per year for the past 20 years. Fewer and fewer consumers can tolerate pasteurized (and ultra-pasteurized) milk (Don’t Drink Your Milk, Frank Oski, MD, 1983).
LACTOSE INTOLERANCE: In a survey of raw milk drinkers in the state of Michigan, over 80 percent of those advised by a healthcare professional that they were lactose intolerant were able to consume raw milk without problem. (Pilot Survey of Cow Share Consumer/Owners Lactose Intolerance Section).
POSITIVE TESTIMONIALS: Hundreds of testimonials involving reversal of failure to thrive in infants; allergies, asthma and behavior problems in children; and digestive disorders, arthritis, osteoporosis and even cancer in adults (Testimonials, Michigan-Raw Milk Health Testimonials-PDF).
NUTRIENT DEGRADATION BY PASTEURIZATION:
| Vitamin C | Raw milk but not pasteurized can resolve scurvy. “. . . Without doubt. . . the explosive increase in infantile scurvy during the latter part of the 19th century coincided with the advent of use of heated milks. . .” (Rajakumar, Pediatrics. 2001;108(4):E76). |
| Calcium | Longer and denser bones on raw milk (Chapter 14 from History of Randleigh Farm-PDF). |
| Folate | Carrier protein inactivated during pasteurization. (Gregory. J. Nutr. 1982, 1329-1338). |
| Vitamin B12 | Binding protein inactivated by pasteurization. |
| Vitamin B6 | Animal studies indicate B6 poorly absorbed from pasteurized milk (Chapter 14 from History of Randleigh Farm-PDF). |
| Vitamin A | Beta-lactoglobulin, a heat-sensitive protein in milk, increases intestinal absorption of vitamin A. Heat degrades vitamin A. Said and others (Am J Clin Nutr. 1989;49:690-694. Runge and Heger. J Agric Food Chem. 2000 Jan;48(1):47-55). |
| Vitamin D | Present in milk in protein-bound form, assimilation possibly affected by pasteurization. Hollis and others ( J Nutr. 1981;111:1240-1248). |
| Iron | Lactoferrin, which contributes to iron assimilation, destroyed during pasteurization. |
| Iodine | Lower in pasteurized milk. Wheeler and others (J Dairy Sci. 1983;66(2):187-95). |
| Minerals | Lactobacilli, destroyed by pasteurization, enhance mineral absorption (MacDonald and others. 1985). |
Economic Potential of Raw Milk
CONVENTIONAL SITUATION: Thirty cows in a confinement situation; high-protein feed to increase milk production; cows produce 190 hundredweight of milk each year; farmer sells milk to co-op and receives about $12 per hundredweight:
- Income is about $1.50 per gallon or $68,400 per year
- Farmer receives no subsidies (only corporate farms get these)
- Farmer has high cost of feed, vet bills, replacement cows, artificial breeding, interest on equipment loans.
In 2002, dairy farms in the U.S. went out of business at the rate of 16 per day.
DIRECT SALES OF RAW MILK FROM PASTURE-FED COWS: Thirty cows on 100 acres; cows are fed grass, hay and silage from the farm; cows produce 100 hundredweight each per year.
- Income on raw milk or raw dairy products is $4 – $8 per gallon, or $150,000 – $300,000 per year.
- If the farmer is making cheese, cream or butter, he has whey and skim milk, free food for pigs
- Additional farm income from pork, beef, eggs, chicken, produce, etc., possible in a diversified farm based on dairy, could be $50,000 – $100,000 per year.
- Total gross income to farmer $200,000 – $400,000 per year
- Costs for feed, vet bills, interest are much lower; no replacement cow costs.
RURAL REVIVAL: Every $1 earned on the farm = $5-7 for the local community; if 10 percent of the population would buy raw milk and other products directly from the farm, we would need 75,000 farms, all making at least $200,000 per year. Raw milk sales hold the potential for a huge rural revival.
Raw Milk Nation Map from Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, click for larger
CURRENT SITUATION FOR RAW MILK SALES
- Retail sales are legal in 10 states
- On-farm sales are legal in 15 states
- Herdshares are legal in 4 states
- There is no law on herdshares in 6 states
- Pet food sales are legal in 4 states, implying that human consumption is feasible
- Raw milk sales are illegal in 11 states and the District of Columbia
SITUATION IN EUROPE: Raw milk sales legal in England, Wales and most of Europe; sold in vending machines in several European countries.
Raw Milk Vending Machine in Italy
55 Comments
you my dear are mis misinformed and ignorant! I have ulcerative colitis and started drinking 1 gallon of raw milk daily because it is the only food that for one help my problem and two has all 22 essential minerals and vitamins! it helps coat intestinal track and is easily digested due to the fact it still has its digestive enzymes intact! So please pedal your nonsense elsewhere because I really believe you are working in government, if not you should because you are ignorant enough!
The real issue is not whether raw milk obtained from grass-fed cows is safe. Rather, it’s that milk from commercially raised cows is actually dangerous to consume unless it is pasteurized. Factory-farmed animals are routinely fed an unnatural, high-protein soy- and corn-based diet and given shots of BGH (bovine growth hormone) to artificially increase milk production. This diet is so contrary to their biology that it causes severe illnesses that can only be combated by continually injecting the cows with antibiotics. These animals, kept in inhumane conditions far from their natural environment, are subject to enormous stresses. Drinking raw milk from these cows would be an exercise in stupidity.
Raw milk from healthy, grass-fed, and pasture-raised cows is in a league of its own. Organically raised cows are happy, fed on their natural diet of grass and other cow-friendly foods. They enjoy access to sunshine and pasture grazing in summer, and in winter they feast on nutritious hay or silage.
Natural health advocates have long cautioned against drinking milk because of the increased risk of ear infections, asthma, and eczema associated with its consumption. This applies only to commercially produced milk, not raw milk from organic farms. Raw milk actually helps protect against allergic reactions and boosts the immune system.
Raw milk is an incredibly complex whole food, complete with digestive enzymes and its own antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-parasitic mechanisms conveniently built into a neat package. It is chock-full of both fat and water-soluble vitamins, a wide range of minerals and trace elements, all eight essential amino acids, more than 60 enzymes, and CLA—an omega-6 fatty acid with impressive effects on everything from insulin resistance to cancer to cardiovascular disease. Raw milk is delicious medicine.
Commercial producers know their milk cannot be sold unpasteurized. To admit this would jeopardize their entire operation. Instead, they demonize raw milk, despite the fact that humankind has safely consumed milk in its natural state for thousands of years.
Both sides of the raw milk debate feel strongly about their respective positions, and both share valid concerns. Federal and state health agencies view the consumption of any raw milk as risky to human health. To them, milk is milk, and the only way to protect the public from the potential danger of pathogens such as salmonella, E. coli, and listeria is through pasteurization. According to statistics used by the FDA, raw milk has been linked to 1,837 cases of illness between 1998 and 2009. These led to 195 hospitalizations and two deaths. While the feds feel justified engaging in armed raids on farms, is this where we want our SWAT teams?
Raw milk advocates are upset that the government is denying their right to choose unpasteurized milk from healthy cows because of the problems associated with conventionally produced milk.
Numerous studies document the benefits of raw milk, including the “milk cure” used by the Mayo Clinic in the 1900s for diseases ranging from cancer to weight loss to chronic fatigue. A comment in a report prepared by the Weston A. Price Foundation helps explain the contradictory stances on this ancient food: “The literature implicating raw milk in food borne illness exhibits a systematic bias against this food. In many cases, this bias is not intentional, but is a product of sloppy scientific principles.” The report concludes, “It appears that most investigators are thoroughly convinced that raw milk poses a major threat to public health, and thus they often rush to judgment to implicate raw milk even when the science is not fully supportive.” Now there’s food for thought.
It seems almost impossible to get raw milk even if I am willing to pay registration fees and more for this product. Could someone give me a clue how this can be done
There is no need to register with realmilk.com. This is just a website that offers information about raw milk and where you can find it. You are in New York; see our Real Milk Finder for NY.
What a misleading post, Shannon. You sound like you are either very young and inexperienced or not really interested in health. Or perhaps you are a student and have been taught conventional ideas of nutrition. Are you an employee of a public relations firm, hired to do damage control?
Fact is, raw milk has been consumed throughout history – safely. However, as Brad says, below, the real problem is that modern factory farm milk is not safe to drink unless it has been heated/pasteurized, as there are lots of nasty things in it. They heat it to destroy the pathogens in the milk due to unclean living conditions. Most animals throughout history have been raised in pastures and meadows and were able to eat their food of choice – green, leafy vegetables – grasses – herbs. Animals in factory farms are force fed things that are not natural for them to eat, such as grains, and they are kept in close quarters which is rife with filth – just drive by a factory farm and you will not want to eat or drink anything that comes from it.
Heat kills enzymes and changes the construction of molecules. That is why flavor, color, texture and nutrient content change when you cook fruits and vegetables. Compare a stalk of raw broccoli vs broccoli cooked to death by an English cook such as my mother. Too much heat destroys life. At 118 degrees F, digestive enzymes are GONE. The two foods are not at all the same. Perhaps a chemical analysis would yield the same mineral content, but one is alive and the other is dead… very dead. Dead food does not a healthy body make.
I saw one essay that said it’s ok to eat cooked food because our own internal digestive enzymes will take care of what we eat. That’s true to a point. But once you have used up your digestive enzymes, it becomes difficult to process food. This is what happens as people age. It is why they are unable to comfortably eat and drink what they once were able to joyfully eat and drink.
The taste factor is no small issue in my book. I prefer my foods to taste good… don’t you?
You can’t actually “use up” enzymes. Part of the very definition of an enzyme is that it catalyzes chemical reactions without being used up.
Emily, if our food does not contain enzymes because it has been cooked and the molecular structure has been changed, then our own digestive enzymes will be needed to process the ‘dead food’. Most people in our society eat most of their foods cooked. I think this website says it well… “After years or decades of eating patterns that lack enzymes, your body will eventually use up its own digestive enzymes *or the building blocks needed to make them*. What may show up at this point are a host of side effects that include acid reflux, gas, belching, heartburn, indigestion, nausea and upset stomach.”
You are using two definitions of hundredweight.
Using your figures, I get hundredweight = 8 gallons for conventional farm, and 12.5 gallons in the direct sales farm.
The Wiki definition depends on weight: 108 lbs (15th century), 100 lbs (US & Canada), 112 lbs (Britain).
The CAFO cow above produces 190 x 8 = 1520 gallons x $1.5 = $2,280 a year… 30 cows = $68,400 the same as your equation.
But when the Pasture cow hundredweight is 8 gallons, the numbers don’t add up: 100 x 8 = 800 gal x $4 = $3,200 x 30head = $96,000.
Whoa, $150,000?
Starting from $150,000 reversing your equation, I return to a hundredweight that means 12.5 gallons!
Pasture cow 100 hundredweight = 1,250 gal x $4 = $5,000 x 30 = $150,000.
Is the author confused or deliberately fudging figures? If a pasteurization proponent showed such a graph, I would certainly think he/she is rigging the study.
I bought raw milk at the Gainesville Farmers Market when I visited the state in late 2007. I had to say it was for my pet, as requested, but it was understood that humans drink it. It was fantastic milk.
Farmer here. Grew up farming, milk from the tank. University graduate, Post Doc animal sciences. Without doubt and anyone who argues the enzymatic degradation of milk due to pasteurization has never studied the process and has no understanding of simple pathology.
If you make hot cocoa with tank milk, you are drinking pasteurized milk.
Those who believe pasteurization is an FDA control pitch have never farmed and are clearly disturbed and belong on the periphery far from the intellectuals working to preserve our health. I’m not pro-big government, but to suggest digestive enzymes are derived from food is simply, patently and inarguably wrong.
Perhaps that is why this is considered a cook site?
Response from Sally Fallon Morell, president of The Weston A. Price Foundation:
Dear Sir,
Phosphatase is a digestive enzyme. It is destroyed by pasteurization. This is the test for successful pasteurization.
Lipase (a digestive enzyme) in raw milk is destroyed by pasteurization. This is given as the reason babies don’t do as well on pasteurized human milk vs raw human milk.
I would suggest you read Enzyme Nutrition by Edward Howell. He was the expert on enzymes in food.
I am a farmer and I happily drink my own raw milk. I would not describe myself as “disturbed.”
Sally Fallon Morell, President
The Weston A. Price Foundation
A complete deficit of enzymes is the final test to ensure that pasteurized milk can be sold, so what do you know about enzyme degradation? You can say that you aren’t pro-big government, but all the same you are slashing at the “cook” (kook?) periphery that threatens the establishment, albeit in an unconscious manner. My suggestion- Take the fluoride out of your drinking water, take a long walk in the woods while deep breathing, and pray for knowledge and discernment. Facts don’t change. The only thing that changes is what we perceive to be factual. Be kind, and unless someone is a chef, don’t call them a “cook.”
Tuberculosis, brucellosis, coxiella . . .
I live in Florida too & have just become interested in the use of raw unpasteurized milk. I too was upset to learn it is not legal except for pets. What’s to say if we buy raw milk for a pet but consume it ourselves?
Hi, my mom lives in FL and I saw them warning people on the news down there not to drink the raw “bath milk” and pet milk. Farmers do label it as not for human consumption to get around the law but some really are producing it for non-human food standards. However I think some people drink it anyway. I would suggest that you talk to each specific farmer personally to ensure that they use the highest standards of cleanliness & refrigeration that would be applied to raw milk for humans. By designating raw milk as for pets only or as bath milk, they don’t have to follow as strict of standards as they would for human consumption, although most of them probably still do. I would suggest checking though before you drink it. FL has a long way to go.. they also don’t have licensing for naturopathic Dr.’s down there.. huge issue with me as my mom has cancer and could really benefit!
Jess LauraG – I’m headed for the Sunshine state in 2 weeks and wondering how I will get my FIX- a Qt a day… only there for a week no time to go looking up a farmer… visiting my son & his wife but they think I’m nuts so I can’t ask them for help looking for a reliable Brand. Any one have any ideas?
That it is possible to get a variety of illnesses from raw milk is true, but that is true for most foods. Whether it is probable is another matter, and one is far more likely to get foodborne illnesses from many other types of foods, per CDC data. Historically, there was a period of greater risk of illness from raw milk during the phase when milk production was changing from pasture-based to filthy, crowded confinement operations, often from cows fed spent mash from distilleries (“swill dairies”).
Raw milk can be safely produced today. Note this does not mean 100% guaranteed safe, because that can never be said of any food. But as shown by government data, it is actually safer than any other food they track, including raw produce, deli meats, eggs, etc. Cows should be eating grass outside as much as possible, with hay and silage in winter. Milking parlors should be clean, udders cleaned before milking, milk captured in clean stainless containers and immediately chilled, etc. Cattle should be tested regularly for a variety of illnesses, including TB, and the milk should be tested regularly. (The Raw Milk Institute and Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund offer detailed guidance on raw milk production; this is just a summary.) We now have the knowledge to greatly reduce risks that were not well understood in the mid-late 1800s and early 1900s.
We also know more now about bovine TB vs. human TB. The risk of transmission of bovine TB to humans is low. See Ted Beals’ article, The Risk of Bovine TB from Raw Milk Consumption with a Focus on Michigan for more about this.
there are hundreds of institutions all over the world it’s not one person that says bad things about pasteurized milk … that is actually one of the most carcinogenic products .
There is a whole science about this just read up or watch some videos ….
HI, what reference for the higher Vitamin B12 content of raw milk?
Reply from Sally Fallon Morell: “The vitamin B12 content of any milk depends on the feed/pasture of the cow. But raw milk contains B12 Binding Protein which ensures that all of the B12 is absorbed. B12 Binding Protein is largely inactivated by pasteurization, which is why children drinking a lot of pasteurized milk are likely to be anemic. Sally”
Thank you Sally for your reply. Do you happen to know of a study about the B12 Binding Protein being destroyed by heat?
Response from Sally Fallon Morell: B12 Binding Protein is an enzyme, and like all enzymes it is denatured by heat. But I don’t know of a specific study on it.
For those of you who need a breakdown on enzymes pick up any intro to biology book and read about enzymes. People who state they are not used up, true, although that is providing they haven’t been destroyed be heat. Enzymes denature when heated above 105 degrees Fahrenheit, they become inert and are no longer functional. In our bodies, enzymes help reactions happen faster or facilitate other metabolic processes, i.e. absorption of vitamins and minerals and without them the processes in which it takes our bodies to break down molecules and use it for energy would take days.
If its raw, unheated, and doesn’t have 30 ingredients of which only 5 you can pronounce, go for it. The more raw the better. I like how this article suggests that we as humans don’t produce lactase, enzyme, to breakdown lactose, sugar. Although in raw milk, nature has solved this problem for us. Everything we need to digest this wonderful healing beverage is in it already.
Hi Kathleen,
I am currently writing a policy proposal to legalize the sale of raw milk in either British Columbia or all of Canada, I haven’t decided yet. Considering you wrote a similar paper, would you mind sharing some of what you found? And, if anyone else has relevant information and sources they could share, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
I can tell you from my own experience. Our cow Ate poisonoak. The milk tasted horrible but the benefit was we could sit in a patch of poisonoak and never get it..Breath in the smoke from burning it with no effect like most people.
Incredible
The fact that we have to label raw milk as pet food in FL doesn’t change the fact that it is still very healthy raw milk. It is just a loop hole that we have in FL that allows us to sell raw milk and puts the responsibility back on the consumer to check out the farm and ensure it is following healthy practices. Our farm is located in Live Oak, FL and we offer raw milk as pet food to over 300 customers in a 4 hour radius of us (Jacksonville to Tallahassee to Tampa to Ocala). Check out our site and see if we have a delivery near you. 🙂
I live in Arkansas, and even though it is legal to sell unpasteurized milk not many farms do it. I found a farmer who only has 2 cows and gets about gallon a day. It is some of the best tasting milk and works very well for my needs. I hate going into the Big Box stores and find it amazing that every gallon on their shelf you see 0 cream. I make my own butter and the ice cream is to die for. Very happy and works for my needs and its only 5/gallon
I have been drinking raw organic milk for over 15 years from clean pastured cows. My two daughters were both raised on raw milk and have never tasted milk from the store…they are healthy, slim, and active (not obese like so many). I also had only raw milk while pregnant with both children and personally drink about a gallon per day…it is my go-to food and anyone who has access should avail themselves. There is nothing so rich & creamy and fulfilling:)
How wonderful to hear your happy experience with raw milk, Jen. I hope that everyone will someday be able to drink healthy milk.
I think everyone should be able to consume what they want when they want by their own choice without others telling them (or government control).
BUT I also beleive in RESEARCHING all you can about EVERYTHING in our lives, not just food and take a best desition that makes sense to you.
If children get sick, maybe you should cook it before giving to young or when the product gets a few days old, keep it properly refrigerated at ALL times, don’t take other’s words for complete truth for there are so many different facts and opinions that are all true in different circumstances. Find the truth for yourself and through testimonials.
Go to you local farms and ask to tour the place and see how they treat the animals and the product, whatever it is, and decide if its to standard for you and your family. What is to standard to you as a healthy adult might not be right for a young child who hasnt been exposed to it before. Moderation, also, a new food product should be EASED into to get your body used to it the enzymes and vitamins and build immunity and antibodies(if needed). Just as a vaccine works by giving you weakend individual viruses that cause disease so your stronger immune system can make antibodies, so should first time users should uses these products slowly at first or cooked or partially cooked to aid in the making of antibodies to potential pathogens. This
especially in young children who are new to the product. Breastfeading could give these antibodies from mothers who have healthily drank the milk for a long time.
There is an interconnectedness with everything food and health, more this and less that means i need more of this other thing. Research foods in relation to your family need and history of health, eat what feels good and what you know is good, eat things that balance each other in proportion to your exercise and everythin . It is so complex it would be difficult to know and remember ever unique process and purpose.
But there are pros and cons about everything, we all know that. Not everything is right for everyone, and there is so much to know and so much we dont know, things we forget. There is risk in everything, even worrying too much about something. Think and choose with an educated and researched mindset and you should find what will work for you, but no one way is best on every aspect to everyone.
Also remember that when the use of pasturization became more popular in the late 1800s people didn’t have the same knowledge about the link between germs and diseases. Cleanliness standards wearnt what they are today. Refrigerators didn’t become widely avalable till later throughout the 1900’s. That can affect the facts too. And germs are everywhere so its important that the people handling your milk and other food are doing so in the best possible way with every batch, and the only way to be sure of that is to verify for yourself. Which isnt always possible and we have to know what to look for as well. People used to consume their foods within a day or two so any germs dont multiply as much.
Good point concerning refrigeration. When my dad shipped milk in cans, the night milking was put in cans and then a bath of cold water. Morning milk in the cans waited for the milk truck. Truck just hauled cans, not refrigerated. Also a lot of pouring in the open air from the milker to buckets to cans.
Now, I milk my cows on my organic dairy and the milk goes directly into the bulk tank and is rapidly cooled and kept at 34 to 36°F. And, mmmmm! It’s good. (Sorry FDA, you have to drink that other milk.)
as a child in the 1940s, daily consumption of raw milk as well as “raw yoghurt” that was derived naturally just by sitting in a bowl overnight (and that we siblings fought over) caused no adverse effects, neither did the home-made butter or the fresh cream. On the day dairy products will become available in their fresh, unpasteurized state from farms raising livestock in smaller quantities on regular pastures without pesticides, I shall buy and consume milk and dairy products again for good health. Those products are available freely in Europe and the U.S.A., so why not in Canada?????
as a young child during the 1940’s, the only milk and other dairy we consumed was raw, including “raw yoghurt”, which was milk in a bowl left overnight — there was no refrigeration — over which we fought every morning. As there is no “raw dairy” available in this part of the country, I am eagerly awaiting the day the purchase of “raw dairy” will be possible again, as “I am now just SLIGHTLY too old” to raise my own cow, but would consume raw dairy without hesitancy.
Do you have any more per-serving statistics and sources? Thank you.
Sally Fallon Morell replies: “No!! There is such a huge variation.”
Hi, In 2016 in Germany, the government also seems to be clamping down on producers of raw milk and raw milk products. There are suddenly “scandals” purportedly finding various viral and bacterial agents in raw milk when we know that hygiene has only gotten better, not worse, in the past decades. While searching for raw milk in my area of central Germany, I personally talked to a farmer a few weeks ago who had been producing “Vorzugsmilch” (government-certified raw milk) for decades. He has now effectively been prevented from selling raw milk because of such trumped-up test results and the resulting bureaucracy. Experts compare raw milk to blood in its composition, containing cancer-fighting immune complexes which are indeed destroyed by heating. But governments the world over are under pressure by industry to sell mass-produced goods. They really don’t want us to drink any kind of milk, as they can produce soy or other “milks” at a fraction of the cost for twice the price of cow’s milk. The push to vegan is less a grassroots movement than a Big Food strategy. Manufacturers can easily doctor milk products to produce allergies, and we end up drinking their fake nonmilk products. I doubt milk will be available at all in some years. The “food” products we can buy are ideally toxic enough to prevent our living beyond retirement after spending our life’s earnings on illnesses and useless and harmful treatments provided by the medical-industrial complex. Proof that governments are actively seeking to prevent our living too long: The “Public Finance Balance of Smoking in the Czech Republic” was a 2001 report commissioned by Philip Morris’s Czech division following concerns raised by the Czech health ministry that smoking’s costs outweighed its fiscal benefits.[1][2] It’s in Wiki and all over the Net, just google it. The study was conducted by Arthur D. Little and found that smokers’ early deaths and cigarette-tax revenue outweighed the costs of health-care and lost tax revenue from early death.[1] Similar studies were repeated in every major country of the world. So is Agenda 21 alive and well? Go figure. The sad thing is, even such corporations as Tobacco and Big Pharma are nonliving, machinelike entities that helpless CEO’s are powerless to stop anymore, even if they wanted to. They are too big to fail. We are in a vicious cycle no longer even controlled by human beings, but rather algorithms. The only remedy is for consumers to unify and act as a huge, coordinated group in refusing to buy a bad product. The idea of selling raw milk for pet food is great. We need more thinking like that. In Germany, raw milk can technically be sold if it has a warning label to cook it before consumption, similar to fresh meat like chicken and pork. That might work in the US as well.
From this article….”RURAL REVIVAL: Every $1 earned on the farm = $5-7 for the local community” Can someone explain to me how every dollar earned on the farm is $5-7 for the local community please?
Response from Sally Fallon Morell: It’s called the multiplier effect. https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080513235600AA7oNIA
What the multiplier will be (2, 5, 7, or whatever) is open to debate. This is the figure that was used when I was writing economic proposals in the 1980s.
It’s only milk people, the stuff that came from your mother’s breast. Wash your cow, like your mother washed, and take her to the “doctor” if she’s sick. Pretty stinking easy to use your heads and not get all conspiracy theory and wacko. I’m 40 and have never been sickened by raw milk in approximately 50,000 glasses of milk since I was born, I have only gotten stronger and been able to receive academic and athletic awards. I live on milk, raw. That said, my Amish friend’s milk was not as cold as some others and went sour faster. But still, never sick, even with higher temps and related levels of stuff growing. CDC had no cases of Listeria via raw, so they stopped tracking it…. that’s how much of a none issue ignorant people are wasting time on.
Just like alcohol and cigarettes a notice of caution should be displayed to consumers. Banning is crazy, my great grand parents, grand parents, parents and myself(I am 35) consumed only raw milk.
No one should be deprived the right, the freedom to choose…
Looks like I am living in some Terrorists states where they preach the same “doing something will result in something”
Seriously Government gonna tell me what to eat, when to sleep and poop? In the name of health…..
Lousy law makers and super lazy FDA folks.
Is this what we call freedom? This is oppression , I feel like I am in slave world. I wonder why farmers are keeping quiet…. write to media -press and TV channels, your local MP and appropriate authorities at least once a month. Challenge them during election campaigns.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
Godspeed
Literally the website for the FDA disproves the points of this article. What would the Government gain from keeping the miraculous effects of raw milk from the population? Raw or pasteurized if someone with lactase impersistance drinks any kind of milk, it will upset them because they will biologically not be able to digest the milk. One would think that a food that has been claimed to strengthen bones would work, yet Countries with the highest number of people able to drink milk (some places it is up to over 95%) actually have the highest cases of osteoporosis and bone fracture. Just be realistic about milk and remember that Humans are the only species that drinks milk from a different species after weaning.
With all due respect I’ll get straight to the point in response to your letter, I firmly believe that you are barking up the wrong tree, the government may have nothing to profit directly but don’t you think it’s more of that its the food industry that has the upper hand to benefit the most – enough said!
Live in Alabama/ grew up on raw milk// where can I buy it
Here’s our supplier listings for Alabama: https://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/alabama/#al
Just tell them its for your dogs.
When I was in nursing school, I stopped milking and breeding because there would be no time for a year and a half. In that time, I went to the fair with coolers, and asked the goat show owners for their milk. They pour it down the drain otherwise. Such a waste. So I took it home in gallon jugs (from dollar tree) and froze it. Yes I told them it was for pigs. (I didn’t tell them I was the pig).
The Milk Book, by Dr William Douglass. LOTS of references.
i used to buy raw goats milk in the middle of a large sprawling area in florida…… ya gotta get creative. Now in kentucky i buy raw milk for my DOGS BATH…………… the seller goes to great lengths to keep the milk clean for my DOGS BATH. I have never had the DOG get sick from the milk i bought and its a shame the seller can only sell it for NOT HUMAN CONSUMPTION…………but afterall the GOVERNMENT KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR US, DOSENT IT!?……………..
soon we willl have our own goats for milking and this problem will not be a problem…………..JUST BE THANKFUL YOU DONT GET ALL THE GOVERNMENT THAT YOU PAY FOR.
My husband and I love the taste and freshness of raw milk and have been using it regularly now for about two months. Unfortunately, we have both developed symptoms of persistent, recalcitrant epigastric pain unrelated to diet or lifestyle. Our only change has been the raw milk. After doing some research (I am a health professional and can discern reputable sites from shams) we learned that Helicobacter pylori (which causes GI ulcer disease and GERD)can be transmitted through raw cow’s milk. We are staying away from it for now while we get treated. I hope the milk turns out not to be the cause because we love it!
It would make more sense that the helicobacteria was already there and is becoming noticeable as your body heals from different conditions. If helicobacteria can swim in stomache acid then you know they were present in you and now are being manifest in a different form from the ingestion of milk.
Traditionally milk is consumed warm , heating milk reduces pathogens and bacteria. In south Asian countries milk is boiled before consuming.
Does flash chilling affect the health benefits of raw milk? I can’t find information regarding this
Thank you!
What about people with compromised immune systems consuming raw milk? Recommended? Helpful? Risky?
Sally Fallon MOrell replies: Raw milk is very good for the immune system, it actually helps build the immune system. To make sure it is OK for you, start very slowly, with just a tablespoon of raw milk at room temperature, and build from there.