27 Oct 2006
The Raw Deal

Nice bit on raw milk, pro and con (surprisingly so, given the source). It's scary to hear government officials compare raw milk to pot and heroin. And the article does a nice job of covering all the ground, except for one small "detail" - which I consider the most important reason to seek out and find raw milk.

The piece mentions the improvement in sanitation that make pasteurization superfluous - what they don't mention is that while most "modern" dairies have certainly fixed the external sanitation issues that led to these regulations, they've actually gone backward with internal sanitation issues - today's cows in commercial herds are likely contaminated interally with E. coli 0157:H7, not to mention various antibiotic feed additives, growth hormones and the gods only know what else. There's no way I'd drink raw milk from a modern, commercial dairy! Hel, I have to wince every time I drink their pasteurized stuff!

But the Amish and other dairies mentioned in this piece use grass based dairy herds almost exclusively - and no GMO's, antibiotics or other tripe associated with "modern" farming. Not to mention all the modern external sanitation practices you could ever want. So, yes, their raw milk is safe - even the FDA doesn't have a case file on an illness caused by drinking raw milk from one of these sources.

But beware the stuff on supermarket shelves - if the FDA really wanted to warn folks about food hazards, that's where I'd put the labels.

The FDA says it's dangerous. Selling it is illegal. So why does an avid band of devotees swear by the virtues of unpasteurized milk?

(link) [Organic Consumers]

12:39 /Agriculture | 1 comment | permanent link