PAsteurizing and separating milk
In part I of this series, I covered the history of raw milk and why and when pasteurization became the norm. In part II, I gave the arguments in favor of raw milk. Now, in part III, I’m going to cover the opposite side of the argument: Why many believe pasteurized milk is safest.
* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USDA) reminds us that raw (unpasteurized) milk – even from a dairy with clean practices – can contain many disease-causing pathogens, including Salmonella and E.coli.
* Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the FDA compiled a list of outbreaks occurring in a 27 year period (from 1987 through 2010). During this time, there were 133 outbreaks reportedly due to drinking raw milk or consuming products made from raw milk. The FDA says these outbreaks caused 2,659 illnesses, 269 hospitalizations, 3 deaths, 6 stillbirths, and 2 miscarriages.
* The FDA says that the CDC’s statistics are likely low, since many cases of food borne illness are never reported.
* The FDA and CDC say that while most people recover from the bacteria in raw milk, sometimes serious side effects occur, especially in infants, children, elderly, and the immunocompormised. For example, they may experience hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can cause renal failure.
* The CDC website claims “there are no health benefits from drinking raw milk that cannot be obtained from drinking pasteurized milk.” (But I would note that there are at least two scientific studies showing children who drink raw milk have decreased allergies.)
* The CDC also claims pasteurization doesn’t significantly change the nutritional content of milk.
* The CDC says laboratory tests for bacteria in raw milk aren’t a “guarantee that raw milk is safe to drink. People have become very sick from drinking raw milk that came from farms that regularly tested their milk for bacteria…” (The CDC also admits pasteurized milk products “have occasionally caused illnesses and outbreaks. Usually, this has happened because of germs introduced in the dairy after the after the pasteurization process.” They believe outbreaks caused by raw milk are 150 times greater than outbreaks linked to pasteurized milk.)
* Neither the FDA nor CDC offer explanations about why homogenizing milk is necessary or better, but Anne Mendelson, author of Milk: The Surprsing Story of Milk Through the Ages suggests a “happy medium:” Drinking milk from a high end dairy that does not homogenize the milk and pasteurizes at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. She says “this method eliminates harmful bacteria with minimal impairment of flavor.”
