Drinking Raw Milk

I know people who drink raw milk, and I have heard no horror stories. My autn drank raw goat milk while she was terminally ill, and it always made her feel full and invigorated.

ETA: We know and trust the people who farm the goat milk.

i drive 100 miles round trip to get it every week. maryland is draconian about it, so i have to go to PA.
but it's worth it.
raw milk is not only delicious, it's so nutritious that you could actually live on it and nothing else for a long time. and if you're thinking about a cleansing fast of some sort, it's way easier to do than the master cleanse!
yes, there is a risk. there is a greater risk from buying USDA ground beef from the grocery store, or spinach that was grown on a factory farm.
now that none of us raise our own food, eating is inherently risky. i know my raw milk farmer and can walk through his facility, visit his cows and know his testing regiment. it's not perfect. but i know him and his farm better than i know any of the rest of my food providers'.
for me it's a risk i'm willing to take, and i'm angered that the government doesn't trust me to do so. if i am expected to trust the guys who let pink slime into our foods, why can't i trust my own judgment?
khairete
S.

I live in Oregon where sales were recently outlawed. Several people became seriously ill and a couple of kids died within a month. It doesn't matter how many people have become sick or died if you're the one who gets sick. The reason sales have been outlawed is there is no way of knowing in advance if the milk is free of pathogens unless it's tested several times during the process of bottling it. Dairies cannot afford to do that. I wouldn't take the chance.

BTW My grandparents and my Dad were dairy farmers. I remember watching them milk cows and process the milk. they were scrupulously clean. Very small farms probably still are this way. There is a big difference in the environment between then and now. Our air now carries so many pathogens over which we have no control. The farmer with the milk may be clean but if his neighbor isn't the pathogens come in the air to his cows. And we've now learned that we don't even know where all the toxins come from. Being scrupulously clean doesn't mean one will never have milk carrying pathogens. The farm, here in Oregon, had a really great reputation. The inspectors who visited the farm couldn't find the source. But yet people got sick and died.

My aunt's family had a dairy farm in Door County WI and we drank milk fresh from the cow most of my childhood. When we went there or they came to visit my aunt always brought milk with them. I used to watch my aunt take the cream off the top and make whipped cream.
I know that farm had been a working farm for 4 or more generations and they all drank the raw milk. I never heard of anyone getting sick from the milk.

We haven't used raw milk, but the local produce co-op often sells it. The vendor is a huge proponent of it and has this three inch thick binder with information about how wonderful. But when I spoke with her, she occasionally threw in things about how she wouldn't get it from just anywhere because other places weren't necessarily as hygienic as the one she works for. The whole thing came off as being too good to be true, so we have not purchased anything.

I don't do raw milk.
It's not something I care about.
But I like the occasional dozen oysters or clams on the half shell and sushi.
And there are some soft cheeses I like once in awhile.
So - it's not like I don't take risks.

"Nonpasteurized, raw milk, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), was responsible for 86 reported food poisoning outbreaks between 1998 and 2008, resulting in 1,676 illnesses, 191 hospitalizations, and two deaths. Improperly handled raw milk is responsible for nearly three times more hospitalizations than any other foodborne disease outbreak.

Diseases pasteurization can prevent include tuberculosis, brucellosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and Q-fever; it also kills the harmful bacteria Salmonella, Listeria, Yersinia, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli among others.".

I don't believe raw uncooked foods are any better for you than cooked foods.
The killing of harmful bacteria for the most part is a beneficial side effect of pasteurization.
The main reason it became common/required practice was to prolong shelf life.
Other things besides milk are pasteurized.

Most cheese
Canned food
Dairy products
Juices
Low alcoholic beverages
Syrups
Vinegar
Water
Wines

If it's something you want to do, go for it.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/raw-milk-myths-busted/

I live in a big dairy farming community, and I'd esitmate that 80% of my children's classmates drink or have drank raw milk. Everyone here drinks it. And the kids who were raised on dairy farms and have been on it since turning a year old are by far the tallest, strongest, and healthiest kids in school. You can literally walk into a classroom and tell just by looking who lives on a dairy farm. Never have had an illness in the community from it, but there's a lot of common sense around here too. Like "Wash and Sanitize your milk bottles after use" and "Refrigerate".

I have a bunch of friends that get raw milk from a farm in Glen Ellyn. They've had no problems.

My daughter had raw milk a few months ago at her uncle's farm. She got hives.

There is a reason milk and other things are pasteurized and a direct correlation to why people are living longer!

I wouldn't risk giving my kid anything out of an animal that wasn't cooked or pasteurized.

But I myself will eat a raw oyster. So go figure. :)

I think it's legal here (WI)...don't really know...don't care. My grandparents both run dairy farms and drink raw milk...but they grew up with it (so did my parents). I just don't think the benefits outweigh the risks. I apparently tried it as a child and got sick, but don't remember this. Haven't wanted to try as an adult.

Honestly, after seeing the cows and watching the milk come out the thought just grosses me out.

You can get the same benefits from other sources at much less risk.

I drink skim...but that's just my opinion.

I grew up on raw milk. I grew up in rural Europe, we had a dairy farm across the street from us where we went three times a week with a metal can and picked up a quart of milk. I have never gotten sick from it, neither have my mom, sister, my nieces or my daughter.

Here is the deal, where I am from you cannot feed antibiotics to the cattle (it's illegal), the cows do not stand in a way too small space, tied to the same spot in their own feces all day. They graze outside and are milked twice a day. The dairy across the street from us had maybe 40 cows - not 1000 as the average US farm (the largest farms have up to 15000 cows!).

I was never aware about any controversy regarding raw dairy products until I moved here.... I have done a lot of research about the way we produce food in this country and let me tell you: there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with it. I would never buy raw milk here... even the smaller organic farms... the system is just rigged against them.

Good luck.

I grew up on a dairy farm and my dad used to let us drink the raw milk from the tank. Not very often - It was a special treat - But we never got sick.

I just wanted to let you know that in most states it is illegal for a farm to sell the raw milk directly to you. They can sell it to you if it is going to be used to feed other baby animals, but not if you plan on drinking it yourself.

Well, I don't know about the legality of it. But growing up on a farm who happened to have a milk (dairy) cow most of the time... up to a point in time. I'm sure we drank the milk. I'm still living.

Like my mother pointed out about getting sick from 'undercooked' eggs. Unless the egg came from a sick chicken (or was too old etc), it's not going to hurt you. I'm sure the same goes for pure cow milk.

This is not to say that everyone can tolerate pure/raw cow milk, just as some can't tolerate dairy at all.

As with any food and activity, it's a calculated risk. Chances are you'll be fine, but nothing seems to be 100% nowdays. Just the way society is now days, I'd be more inclined to drink milk from a cow I knew... rather than from a random stranger.