Unpasteurized milk

[Biggsy]

It's just a question of information and labelling.  Tell consumers what's in the stuff, then people should be allowed to eat what they like, in my opinion, with the possible exception of classified drugs and endangered species, etc.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

But people have contracted toxigenic E.coli, Campylobacter, Yersinia, Group A streptococci, etc. from raw milk, as well as TB & Brucella, straight from the farm. It certainly can be very hazardous at source (taking that as the farm, not the udder - it's not just the animal which might be the source of organisms).

I think it's only a matter of time before someone gets ill from this; wonder what the local EHOs think? I wouldn't touch it with your bargepole, let alone mine. Raw milk cheeses, yes (fermented products) - raw milk, no.

As I said earlier, our milkman supplied us with raw milk so I drank it for probably 12 or 13 years with no problems at all, and I'm not aware of any problems from that dairy in that time.

[Kim]

It's just a question of information and labelling.  Tell consumers what's in the stuff, then people should be allowed to eat what they like, in my opinion, with the possible exception of classified drugs and endangered species, etc.

While I'm generally inclined to agree, I'd draw the line somewhere before infectious diseases.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

From the Food Standards Agency

Current controls: England and Wales

1. The current controls on the sale of raw cows' drinking milk in hygiene and food labelling regulations are:

a) the milk may only be sold direct to consumers by registered milk production holdings (at the farm gate or in a farmhouse catering operation) or through milk roundsmen. Sales through other outlets have been banned since 1985 (although sales by the farmer at farmers markets are allowed);

b) the supplying animals must be from a herd that is officially tuberculosis free, and either brucellosis free or officially brucellosis free;

c) the production holding, milking premises and dairy, must comply with hygiene rules;

d) the milk must bear the appropriate health warning;

e) compliance with a) to d) above is monitored by inspections twice a year; and

f) the milk is sampled and tested quarterly under the control of Animal Health Dairy Hygiene to monitor compliance with standards for total bacterial count and coliforms.

2. The sale of raw drinking milk from sheep, goats or buffaloes:

a) is not subject to the restriction at 1a) above;

b) raw drinking milk from buffaloes has to comply with the herd status requirement at 1b) above;

c) raw drinking milk from sheep and goats must come from animals belonging to a production holding that is either officially brucellosis free or brucellosis free;

d) raw drinking milk from these 3 species must comply with dairy hygiene rules and microbiological standards;

e) In England, raw drinking milk from sheep and goats, but not buffaloes, has to carry the health warning. In Wales, raw milk from all three species has to carry the appropriate health warning; and

f) compliance with these requirements is monitored at inspections programmed on a risk basis.

3. The sale of raw cream:

a) is not subject to the restrictions at 1a) and d) above;

b) must comply with all the requirements that apply to milk based products under dairy hygiene rules and microbiological standards;

c) must be made with milk meeting the herd status criteria described in paragraphs 1b) and 2b) and c) above;

d) raw cream is not required to carry the health warning; and

e) compliance with these requirements is, again, monitored at inspections programmed on risk.

[Kim]

It would appear that they're weaselling around 1. a) somehow.

[Biggsy]

We're already allowed to buy and eat raw meat and eggs that contains risky amounts of risky bacteria in some cases.  I don't see any difference in principle with milk, as long as consumers are informed of the risks.  "Warning: This milk smells of sick and might make you ill".

[L CC]

Me happy at work. I love unpasteurised milk.

But I like to see where it comes from. Not sure I'd buy it from a shop.

And- I have built up resistance.

(Salmonella, Staph & Strep you see the infection in the cow. It shouldn't, if you're a good stockman, get in the bulk tank. E Coli is a faecal contaminant, poor practise to get shit in your milk. Listeria tends not to be in milk as milk has the wrong conditions for growth- it needs a different pH and oxygen level.)

The main nutritional change in the milk on heat treatment is destruction of the vitamin C. Most of us get that elsewhere. Full fat milk has more vit A & D in, but only because they're the fat soluble ones.

[sas]

Does anyone know what the risk is of getting ill from consuming raw milk, compared to consuming a soft boiled or raw egg, or raw fish?

[Feline]

Most of us eat a bit of cow shit anyway when we drink from our bidons riding on country lanes 

[Exit Stage Left]

I worked for a while on a very strange dairy farm, it was owned by the GLC and was half reclaimed landfill, they had a very flash rotary parlour, which had viewing for visitors, mainly school groups. About half the weeks production was for kosher ice cream, so a rabbi was in attendance, he sealed the tank with ice cream box sealing tape, but we ignored that to get our milk for the tea. Happy, if slightly odd days.