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Raw Milk, Pasteurized Milk and Listeria

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

The Listeria outbreak linked to pasteurized milk products from Whittier Farms has brought to light the dangers of pasteurized food.  Health officials believe that the contamination of the Whittier Farms milk happened during processing, after pasteurization.  Although pasteurization killed any pathogens in the milk, contamination still occurred during the bottling process. 

Even though post-pasteurization contamination can occur, pasteurized milk is still safer than raw milk.

The pasteurization process effectively kills many pathogens, including Listeria, in milk,  Food safety advocates are generally pro pasteurization and against the sale of raw milk.  The FDA has nothing good to say about raw milk:

Pasteurization, since its adoption in the early 1900s, has been credited with dramatically reducing illness and death caused by contaminated milk. But today, some people are passing up pasteurized milk for what they claim is tastier and healthier "raw milk."

Public health officials couldn't disagree more.

Drinking raw (untreated) milk or eating raw milk products is "like playing Russian roulette with your health," says John Sheehan, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Division of Dairy and Egg Safety. "We see a number of cases of foodborne illness every year related to the consumption of raw milk."

More than 300 people in the United States got sick from drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk in 2001, and nearly 200 became ill from these products in 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Raw milk may harbor a host of disease-causing organisms (pathogens), such as the bacteria campylobacter, escherichia, listeria, salmonella, yersinia, and brucella. Common symptoms of foodborne illness from many of these types of bacteria include diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever, headache, vomiting, and exhaustion.

Proponents of raw milk believe pasteurized milk is unhealthy, as indicated by this passage found on the website BecomeNatural.com:

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.

The raw milk debate has been brought before federal courts. According to Marketwire,

The public health community has been united in stating that consumption of raw milk is not healthful, but, in fact, is harmful. This matter has been litigated and, in the matter of Public Citizen vs. Heckler in 1986, the Federal District Court concluded that the record presents "overwhelming evidence of the risks associated with the consumption of raw milk both certified and otherwise."

Currently, the United States bans any interstate commerce dealing with raw milk.  Some states have banned the sale of raw milk. We stand with the FDA, the courts and legislative bodies on this issue--the consumption of raw milk poses far too many dangers to not be regulated by state and federal food safety agencies.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on January 26, 2008 (boomark / email).