Raw Milk Is Highly Infectious

It has been recently revealed that raw milk is a source of infection. Drinking raw milk has been frowned upon since a long time now, but the actual height of risk of the same is sometimes unknown to people. In a recent study conducted, it has been revealed that raw milk is about 150 times more harmful than pasteurized milk, according to exact figures.

This has been revealed in a report by the Center for Disease Control. They are of the view that unpasteurized milk is extremely harmful and has led to a number of illness cases in the past. This is the reason there is need for banning the use of unpasteurized milk in the time to come.

What is even worse is that the ill effects of this type of milk are seen commonly in children and people that are below the age of 20 years. This makes it all the more important to set certain safety measures so that they can be safeguarded from the effects of raw milk.

The reason why raw milk is so dangerous is that it has the presence of different types of bacteria in it, which tend to upset the digestive system of the consumers. It is essential that there is some sort of a ban placed on consuming any type of raw milk. There are many states that have already banned the sale of unpasteurized milk in the same wake.

“Restricting the sale of raw milk products is likely to reduce the number of outbreaks and can help keep people healthier”, said Robert Tauxe, Deputy Director of the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases.

Raw milk is the natural unaltered milk usually from cows, goats or sheep but in some countries it is camel or buffalo. It is not heated above the animal’s highest body temperature which is usually 101-105 degrees F. (38 degrees C.) Raw milk is not pasteurized, homogenized or frozen, nor has it been altered with additives, chemicals, light or homogenization.

Processed dairy is any dairy that has been altered from its raw state by heating the dairy above a cow’s body temperature. Pasteurization, irradiation, boiling or homogenization are the most commonly known forms of processing. Also, the processes of chemical treatment are used to enhance flavor, fortify and preserve bad-tasting milk that has been heat-treated and putrefactive. The common store type of milk is processed to the extent it turns blue. They add large amounts of dolomite (mined calcium carbonate, that is rock) to make it white and add irradiated hydrogenated vegetable oil as Vitamin D. Hydrogenated oil has the same molecular structure as plastic unlike natural raw milk. Additionally, irradiated oil is not Vitamin D yet the FDA allows them to call it that. The following processes are used to treat dairy:

Pasteurization - heating milk to, at least, 130 degrees F. (54 degrees C.) for at least 45 seconds, or 160 degrees F. (71 degrees C.) for at least 15 seconds. Boiling means cooking the milk until is begins to vaporize, usually for at least 5 seconds.

Irradiation - Exposing milk to destructive light such as high-intensity ultraviolet or radioactive contamination; also called cold-pasteurization

Homogenization - Subjecting the milk-fat (cream) to high pressures and forcing it through a tight-meshed screen that causes the fat-molecules to rupture, turn rancid and spoil. Homogenization originated to hide milk that was low in fat. In early years, low-fat milk was considered less desirable and unhealthy. Homogenization today is performed to keep the cream from separating from the milk so that it will not sour and the milk looks even.


What are the risks associated with drinking raw milk?
Raw milk can carry harmful bacteria and other germs that can make you very sick or kill you. While it is possible to get foodborne illnesses from many different foods, raw milk is one of the riskiest of all.

Getting sick from raw milk can mean many days of diarrhea, stomach cramping, and vomiting. Less commonly, it can mean kidney failure, paralysis, chronic disorders, and even death.

Many people who chose raw milk thinking they would improve their health instead found themselves (or their loved ones) sick in a hospital for several weeks fighting for their lives from infections caused by germs in raw milk. For example, a person can develop severe or even life-threatening diseases, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis, and hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in kidney failure and stroke.

- Illness can occur from the same brand and source of raw milk that people had been drinking for a long time without becoming ill.
- A wide variety of germs that are sometimes found in raw milk, can make people sick, including bacteria (e.g.,  Brucella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Mycobacterium bovis (a cause of tuberculosis), Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli [e.g., E. coli O157], Shigella, Yersinia), parasites (e.g., Giardia), and viruses (e.g., norovirus).
- Each ill person’s symptoms can differ, depending on the type of germ, the amount of contamination, and the person’s immune defenses.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Submitted by Neeraj Shahane

Provided by ArmMed Media