Raw Milk: What Are the Risks?

(I have included names/nicknames of my family members over the past seven years.  I think it makes us a little more real for those of you who will never meet us.  However, I spent some time on how AI can negatively impact my family, and I feel the need to guard them a little.  Changing their online identity here might not do much, but then again, it might.  So here are the changes:  My oldest, who will now be referred to as the Professor, is married to Belle.  King of the Picky Eaters (KOTPE) and Engineer Extraordinaire is married to Buttercup.  Oldest daughter is Blueberry Girl, at least until I think of something I like better.  Queen of the Picky Eaters (QOTPE) is married to Doc, who is in medical school.  So many of you gave generous gifts to Ellie, my youngest, and Cowboy when they married early last year.) 

Last weekend, all of my out-of-town children decided to visit at once.  I thoroughly enjoyed every minute, to the point where I forgot to post an article for Saturday until very late that night.  Sorry!

Anyway, you know that my family are all along the spectrum when it comes to herbal and conventional medicine.  The same holds true with food.

Cowboy and Ellie are now ranch managers in the Middle of Nowhere.  They’re currently renting a Jersey cow from the ranch owners, which cow generously provides 2 gallons of milk each day.  And while they are quite fond of milk, it’s a little much to digest on a daily basis.  So Ellie brought 4 gallons when she came last week to share with all of us.  Jersey cows don’t provide as much milk as Holsteins.  However, their milk is prized for having more cream.  Professor and Aaron didn’t care that it was unpasteurized and downed it immediately.  I think Buttercup and KOTPE didn’t hesitate, either.  Buttercup’s uncles and grandfather are/were dairy farmers.  Doc was a little hesitant; QOTPE was along the lines of “Oh, heck, no,” but with lls to replace the ck in heck.

And this time, I was leaning more with Doc and QOTPE.  But should I have been so prejudiced?

The raw foodies all say that unpasteurized milk is healthier.  (Of course, they do.  Well, actually, it does contain a lot more vitamin B2.)  On the other hand, pasteurization kills pathogenic bacteria that make us quite sick.  And truthfully, Americans are the most fragile people on the planet because we have had clean water and food for so long that our immune systems don’t fight off pathogens very well. 

So naturally, I was curious about what to do with this bounty of creamy, raw milk. Does it truthfully present a health hazard?  What would I do in the future if I had the opportunity to acquire raw milk?  And that’s what I think pertains to all of you.  Even if you don’t have access to raw milk now, something might change in the future.  Maybe you’ve got a plethora of junk silver dimes to trade for a gallon of fresh milk.  Does it really need to be pasteurized?  What are the risks of not pasteurizing?

An article by Elizabeth Noelia Williams, et al., published in the Journal of Food Protection “Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, and Campylobacter spp. in raw milk in the United States between 2000 and 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis” sheds light on the topic.[1]

Their review of 20 studies on the presence of pathogenic bacteria in raw milk yielded the following results:

Percentage of milk samples containing pathogenic bacteria
Pathogen	Bulk tank milk	Milk filter
Campylobacter spp.	6.0	17.5
Listeria monocytogenes	4.3	13.1
Salmonella spp.	3.6	16.0
STEC (Shigella-toxin producing Escherichia coli)	4.3	49.9

 

Yes, these are all from commercial operations.  Perhaps only one cow on the lot was sick, but with all the milk mixed in the tank or sharing the same filter, then all the milk was contaminated.  Surely someone who has only one cow would know if their cow was sick and thus wouldn’t consume (or sell) tainted milk.  Or would they know?  Can cows be asymptomatic carriers of these pathogens?

Yes, they can be asymptomatic carriers of listeria[2], campylobacter[3], salmonella[4], and STEC.[5]  So judging by appearance, homesteaders may believe their animals are perfectly healthy and that the milk they give is safe to consume.  And maybe it is for them.  Maybe they have stronger immune systems.  Maybe they’ve been raised on ranches. 

All of those pathogens pose a threat to infants, the elderly, and the immunocompromised.  Listeria is often fatal to the unborn and sometimes their mothers.  And it has a long incubation period.  And it incubates so well in the refrigerator.  If people contract any of these food-borne pathogens, those aged from 5 years to about 60 years will likely recover without long-term consequences.  The others may not be so lucky. 

Links to related posts:

Listeria 

Salmonella 

E. coli and STEC infections 

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[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X2200014X

[2] https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/11/21/3472

[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11053475/

[4] https://www.dvm360.com/view/salmonellosis-adult-dairy-cattle-proceedings

[5] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7355788/