On 6/7/2012 8:47 AM, Paul M. Cook wrote:
> "A Moose in > wrote in message
> ...
>> I understand that raw milk has a higher probability of containing
>> pathogens than pasteurized milk.
>> Can the raw milk not be tested for these pathogens?
>
> All depends on how it is stored. It's not the miit is the vessel. More
> people get sick from pasteurized milk every year.

And the vessel includes the cow it came from, specifically, its teats.
We've had raw milk producers here caught running unsanitary
operations, including filthy barns and failure to adequately clean
their cows' udders and teats before milking. In those cases, it isn't
just the milk that is a potential hazard, it's the farmer's lack of
care for his cows' and customers' well-being that also puts them at risk.

Folks who think food was better or safer or more nutritious back in
the good old days *really* need to read some historical and medical
texts. Our regulatory practices didn't come from nowhere; they arose
to deal with widespread, dangerous issues related to food production
and supply.

One of the nation's most influential proponents of milk pasteurization
was Dr. Charles Mayo, of the famous Mayo brothers. The Mayo clinic
dealt with so _many_ cases of people afflicted with tuberculosis from
infected milk that Dr. Charlie built his own dairy on his own property
to research and propose sanitary handling practices for the public's
safety. He did an awful lot of lobbying to promote passage of the
pasteurization laws because of the toll raw milk consumption took on
so many families.

My family was one of them. One of my aunts and her father both died
from milk-transmitted tuberculosis. My aunt was not quite three years
old at the time. My grandmother never got over losing her youngest
child and her daughter from it.

TB in cows is making a comeback, by the way. It's not surprising,
because it is increasing in the human population, too, and cows are
cared for by humans. Strains of TB resistant to antibiotics are
becoming more prevalent, too. The odds are quite good that TB is once
again going to become a major health issue, and it won't be confined
to humans. Considering the reality of antibiotic resistant TB strains,
I wouldn't be confident in the safety of raw milk now or in the future.