raw milk rally

milk and cookies necklace on etsy

From what I've been able to find, there wasn't any direct response by the FDA to the Raw Milk Freedom Riders today in support of interstate raw milk trafficking. They did, however, issue a statement about the dangers of consuming raw milk: "Since 1987 there have been 143 reported outbreaks of illness...". So I did a little searching on their website for the actual reported cases which I couldn't find except for 3. It struck me too that in actuality 143 cases in 24 years is not a whole lot. Especially if people only suffered flu-like symptoms like the 3 cases reported in July, 2011. I don't agree with them when they say the health benefits of raw milk haven't been substantiated. This is simply and obviously not true. That's why when milk is pasteurized, they add vitamin D back in! My other observation is that people have been drinking raw milk in very large numbers for centuries... even modern times on farms right now. Compare the small number of reported cases with the outbreak of E. coli in spinach: 199 cases by Oct. 6, 2006 (from FDA website) and in Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough: 76 cases by July 10, 2009 (from FDA website), and the most recent Listeriosis outbreak in cantelope: 133 persons by Sept. 2011 (from FDA website). Each of these outbreaks could be tracked to a single source and a single occurrence. The 143 supposed reported cases of "illness" from raw milk have occurred over 24 years!  Not being a mathematician, I can still tell that the statistics say that raw milk is pretty safe to drink! The percentage chance of getting sick is so minimal, it is amazing that they spend lots of government dollars on patrolling it. If that doesn't convince you, then the numbers I will tell you next will:  In 1982 alone, there were 17,000 persons who became ill with Yersinia enterocolitica from pasteurized milk bottled in Memphis, Tennessee. And there are a long list of many other outbreaks in pasteurized milk and other foods here. I remember reading about the outbreak in 2007 of over 1,644 illnesses among inmates linked to pasteurized milk at a local prison dairy.  An irrational conclusion would be to avoid dairy, but again, that conclusion would have to be applied to the many cases of food poisoning and illnesses that so many different foods have caused. Food will spoil if not properly collected or contained and we should expect shorter spoilage dates, unless fermented. Food has been shown to have the most vitamins at it's freshest state.  Our other choice would be to live off of formula or pills. Not my idea of a good solution.

You might remember that recently I mentioned that a judge in Wisconsin ruled that we do not have the fundamental right to drink milk from our own cow (here)? Well, guess what?!-- That judge resigned and  is now working for one of Monsanto's law firms! (here)  It makes one wonder if he had connections to Monsanto all along or if Monsanto sees one of it's own type and goes after them! The conclusion: Monsanto is bad news. But we knew this!

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To my point:
If a sample of clean raw milk is suitably covered and left at room temperature for several days it will ferment or sour.

Any pathogenic bacteria present will be killed by the action of the Lactobacillus and associated beneficial bacteria.

Fermentation or souring is a much better means of extending shelf life of milk than pasteurization. Fermented milk is tolerated better than pasteurized milk by many individuals.

Fermentation starts digesting the milk protein casein, and digests some of the lactose. Souring of milk does not destroy any of milks beneficial properties.

Treat a sample of pasteurized milk in the same way as above and putrefaction will make the milk unfit for human consumption. This is due to disease producing bacteria surviving the pasteurization process.

The beneficial lactic acid bacteria do not survive pasteurization.

Milk is also homogenized. Homogenization serves no useful purpose. Whatever useful property of milk that survives pasteurization is completely destroyed by homogenization.

It also serves to hide from the consumer the presence or absence of milk fat or cream.

The ability to add questionable additives to cover up taste or odors is beyond most consumers imagination.