The Pasteurized vs. Raw Milk Debate:
What You Need to Know
by www.SixWise.com
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues
to state that drinking raw milk is like playing Russian roulette
with your health, increasing numbers of Americans are seeking
out this sometimes elusive raw food.
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"We're not talking about cocaine or guns we're
talking about just milk. And to criminalize that and
think that that's some kinda crime is really quite crazy
when you think about it," said Mark McAfee, owner
of Organic Pastures Dairy, in response to an FDA investigation
into his raw milk.
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Currently, sales of raw milk for human consumption are legal
in 28 states. However, in most of these, the sales can only
be made directly from a farm, or through a cow-share program
in which members purchase a portion of the cow, and are therefore
owners of the milk it produces.
Raw milk, proponents say, is an outstanding source of beneficial
bacteria such as lactobacillus acidolphilus, vitamins, enzmes
and calcium. Further, they say that sickness resulting from
raw milk is rare -- instead, it is pasteurized milk that is
often implicated in outbreaks of food-borne illness.
According to Mark McAfee, founder of Organic Pastures Dairy,
which produces a full line of raw organic dairy products for
retail sale, "During the period 2000 through 2004 there
were several listeria-related food recalls in California associated
with pasteurized milk products and ice cream. During this
same period more than 12 million servings of Organic Pastures
products were consumed and not one person complained of illness
and not one pathogen was ever found either by the state, FDA
or Organic Pastures."
Organic Pastures then hired a laboratory to perform an experiment.
The lab added 10 million counts of pathogens to one-milliliter
samples of organic raw milk and found that the pathogens not
only would not grow but they also died off. The lab concluded:
" ... Organic raw milk and colostrum do not appear to
support the growth of pathogens ... "
What's Wrong With Pasteurization?
Pasteurization, says the FDA, kills any dangerous bacteria
while also destroying bacteria that can cause milk to spoil,
thereby extending shelf life and increasing milk safety. According
to the FDA, pasteurization can help prevent:
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Tuberculosis
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Diphtheria
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Polio
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Salmonellosis
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Strep throat
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Scarlet fever
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Typhoid fever
Raw milk proponents, however, say that milk from healthy
cows, raised on pasture, rarely contains any dangerous bacteria.
Further, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation:
"Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin
content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins
C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens
and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic
in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis,
heart disease and cancer. Calves fed pasteurized milk do poorly
and many die before maturity. Raw milk sours naturally but
pasteurized milk turns putrid; processors must remove slime
and pus from pasteurized milk by a process of centrifugal
clarification."
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Raw milk proponents say they drink raw milk for its
health benefits and taste.
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The Raw Milk Debate is Heating Up
Organic Patures and Claravale Farm, another raw milk producers
in California, are currently fighting a new California law,
AB1735. The law would limit levels of coliform bacteria (a
type of beneficial bacteria) in bottled raw milk to just 10
per milliliter, which is the same level required of pasteurized
milk. However, keeping levels this low is nearly impossible
in raw milk, which means the law would all but put raw milk
producers out of business.
After a two-month battle, a Superior Court Judge issued a
"temporary restraining order" that is keeping California
from enforcing the coliform limit in raw milk, and a new hearing
-- that could spell either victory or defeat for sales of
raw milk in California -- will occur in six to eight weeks.
In the meantime, the FDA has been investigating Organic Pastures
-- including asking two employees to "wear a wire"
and suggesting it would be made worth their while to do so
-- to find out whether the dairy has been illegally selling
raw milk out of state.
For more information on the fight for raw milk, visit the
Campaign
for Real Milk Web site.
Recommended Reading
Eating
Raw: The Advantages and Disadvantages According to Various
Experts
The
FDA Says Cloned Milk & Meat are A-Ok ... How Soon Before
You'll be Eating It (Without Knowing It)?
Sources
A
Campaign for Real Milk
KMPH.com
March 21, 2008