RAW MILK:

Hazardous or Healthy?

Hazardous or Healthy?

By: Michelle LancasterFinal Project for ENMT 321 - Environmental HealthProfessor Page - UMUC

Historical Context

• Pasteurization became mandatory in 1917 for milk from cows NOT tested free of

Tuberculosis• Used to combat poor sanitary conditions on some

farms• By mid-1900’s, pasteurization became the “norm”

Meanwhile, a group of people kept drinking un-pasteurized milk /milk products,

commonly referred to as “raw milk” products,much to the consternation of the government.

Potential human health concerns

• Potential of passing disease from animal to human:Examples: – Bovine Tuberculosis (modern testing = very few cases

today)– Brucellosis (Government vaccination program = essentially

eradicated)

– Johnes (Survives pasteurization, so “moot point”)– Other bacteria from improper handling/cleanliness such

as: Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria, or E coli(Keep reading to find out more about the last group…)

Factors in Favor of Raw Milk

•Building immunity to bacteria is safer than trying to avoid the unavoidable:

“Summary Evidence suggests that frequent and direct exposure to domestic

animals has made farmers less susceptible to symptomatic Escherichia coli O157

infection than other members of the community.” From: Quilliam, R. S., Chalmers, R. M., Williams, A. P., Chart, H., Willshaw, G. A., Kench,

S. M., Edwards-Jones, G., Evans, J., Thomas, D. Rh., Salmon, R. L., Jones, D. L. Seroprevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Escherichia coli O157 in a Farming Population. Zoonoses & Public Health; Mar2012, Vol. 59 Issue 2, p83-88, 6p [Retrieved through UMUC Library Database]

Factors in Favor of Raw Milk

•Raw milk decreases allergic symptoms: A study of school aged children: “reported raw milk consumption

was inversely associated to asthma, atopy [hypersensitive allergies], and

hay fever, independent of other farm exposures.”

Gabriela Study Group. The protective effect of farm milk consumption on childhood asthma and atopy: The GABRIELA study. (2011 Oct). Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 128, 4, p. 766-773.

Retrieved from: http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(11)01234-6/fulltext

Editing history to prove a point?

The CDC published a paper in 2012 about the harms of raw milk. Unfortunately, their data range from 1993 to 2006 stopped one year before a Listeria outbreak killed 2 people from pasteurized milk, even though the information was public and available online.

Why is that?

Problem encountered:

• As the previous slide indicated, I had a really hard time finding objective materials. While most of the individual states allow raw milk sales in some capacity, the FDA stance of zero tolerance is not exactly helpful.

• Preparing a database of information from the CDC Foodborne Outbreak net gave me a clearer picture of raw milk and pasteurized milk’s role in foodborne illness.

• People are going to drink raw milk, so instead of propaganda to scare and intimidate people, the FDA needs to promote safe products.

• It’s really not their place to limit what we can or cannot eat…Unless Pepsi and Coke really are healthier drinks…

CDC. Foodborne Outbreak Net. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/foodborneoutbreaks/Default.aspx

Hot Dogs killed 21 people from Listeria

in one outbreak.

Meanwhile, every major city has hot dog vendors

selling meat from tiny booths in the open air.

(Meat alone accounted for 42 of

48 deaths from Listeria!)

Raw milk can protect you from harmful bacteria:

“With the objective of verifying the performance of the official analytical methodologies for the isolation of

Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella in milk, different concentrations of these pathogens were

inoculated in raw milk treatments with different levels of mesophilic aerobes, and then submitted to the traditional isolation procedures for the inoculated

pathogens… The results indicated that recovery was not possible or

was more difficult in the treatments with high counts of mesophilic aerobes and low levels of the pathogens, indicating interference of raw milk autochthonous

microbiota.” Nero, Luís Augusto; Rodrigues de Mattos, Marcos; de Aguiar Ferreira Barros, Márcia; Beloti Bernadette Dora Gombossy de Melo Franco, Vanerli.

The fate of indigenous microbiota, starter cultures, Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua and Staphylococcus aureus in Danish raw milk and cheeses determined by pyrosequencing and quantitative real time (qRT)-PCR. Microbiological Research 2009 164(5):529-535

From: http://www.fda.gov/Food/ucm292218.htmRetrieved: March 20, 2012

Raw milk has caused 2 deaths (1.4%),

pasteurized milk has caused 4 deaths (2.9%),

meat/greens/prepared food has caused 134 deaths (95.7%).

Where would you like the FDA to spend your taxpayer money protecting you from

foodborne illness?

Is raw milk

really

the correct

emphasis?

Raw milk is not even on the top ten riskiest foods regulated

by the FDA:

• Leafy Greens

• Eggs• Tuna• Oysters• Potatoes

• Cheese (soft)• Ice cream

(eggs)• Tomatoes• Sprouts• Berries

Center for Science in the Public Interest. The ten riskiest foods regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved from: http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/cspi_top_10_fda.pdf

How to Protect People from Foodborne Illness:

• Stricter enforcement of food processors:– Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points

(HACCP) – Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

• Encourage IMMUNITY over STERILITY• Always keep your milk products at or below

40F to stop the growth of bacteria• Promote a healthy digestive system (that

can fight off harmful bacteria) by eating raw/unrefined foods (preferably home grown), balancing yeast and bacteria in the gut via probiotics and oil of Oregano.

• Don’t trust the FDA: Do your own research!

If you buy/produce raw milk:

• Before consuming raw milk, be sure to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the product:– Ask if the animals have been tested for TB and

Johnes, vaccinated against Brucellosis, and checked for routine somatic cell and bacterial culturing of milk.

– Only purchase milk from farm you have been to and from people you feel confident in (that they are following HACCP and SOP procedures in the dairy AND creamery)

– Ask to watch them milk one night! Is it clean?– Take preference: pastured animals over confinement

operations.– If you see something you don’t like…Don’t buy!

Report freely available upon request

(In case you are wondering, we have consumed raw milk our whole lives and have

never had food poisoning.)

Raw milk cheese that I made from my cow Rose: tested free from TB, Brucellosis, Johnes, Mycoplasma,

Anaplasma, Pathogenic bacteria in milk, with a somatic cell count of

90(k).

Ha ha: Enjoying potluck dinner in the dairy barn at the

Howard County, MD fair 2011 after a hard day of showing

our Jerseys!

References:• CDC. Foodborne Outbreak Net. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from:

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/foodborneoutbreaks/Default.aspx • Colonna, A.; Durham, C.; Meunier-Goddik, L. Factors affecting consumers’ preferences for and

purchasing decisions regarding pasteurized and raw milk specialty cheeses. Journal of Dairy Science 2011 94(10):5217-5226

• Center for Science in the Public Interest. The ten riskiest foods regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved from: http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/cspi_top_10_fda.pdf

• Gabriela Study Group. The protective effect of farm milk consumption on childhood asthma and atopy: The GABRIELA study. (2011 Oct). Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 128, 4, p. 766-773. Retrieved from: http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(11)01234-6/fulltext

• Langer AJ, Ayers T, Grass J, Lynch M, Angulo FJ, Mahon BE. (2012 Mar). Nonpasteurized dairy products, disease outbreaks, and state laws—United States, 1993–2006. CDC:EID Retrieved from: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/11-1370_article.htm

• MacDonald, L.E.; Brett, J.; Kelton, D; Majowicz, S.E.; Snedeker, K.; Sargeant, J.M. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Pasteurization on Milk Vitamins, and Evidence for Raw Milk Consumption and Other Health-Related Outcomes. (2011 Nov). Journal of Food Protection 74, 11, p. 1814-1832, 19p.

• Moltó-Puigmartí, Carolina; Permanyer, Marc; Castellote, Ana Isabel; López-Sabater, M. Carmen. Effects of pasteurisation and high-pressure processing on vitamin C, tocopherols and fatty acids in mature human milk. Food Chemistry 2011 124(3):697-702. [Retrieved through UMUC Library Database]

• Nero, Luís Augusto; Rodrigues de Mattos, Marcos; de Aguiar Ferreira Barros, Márcia; Beloti Bernadette Dora Gombossy de Melo Franco, Vanerli. The fate of indigenous microbiota, starter cultures, Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua and Staphylococcus aureus in Danish raw milk and cheeses determined by pyrosequencing and quantitative real time (qRT)-PCR. Microbiological Research 2009 164(5):529-535

• Quilliam, R. S., Chalmers, R. M., Williams, A. P., Chart, H., Willshaw, G. A., Kench, S. M., Edwards-Jones, G., Evans, J., Thomas, D. Rh., Salmon, R. L., Jones, D. L. Seroprevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Escherichia coli O157 in a Farming Population. Zoonoses & Public Health; Mar2012, Vol. 59 Issue 2, p83-88, 6p [Retrieved through UMUC Library Database]