Is Raw Milk Safe to Drink?

It’s common knowledge that milk is a drink that can provide a lot of nutrition to humans. Milk contains a decent amount of protein, as well as a variety of vitamins and minerals that can contribute to good health. However, there’s often a lot of debate about whether raw milk is safe to drink in its natural form.

What is Raw Milk?

Before the 1950’s, virtually all milk that was packaged, sold, and consumed in the United States was raw. However, with the invention of pasteurization, raw milk came off the market and today, the milk we see on most store shelves is pasteurized.

Raw milk refers to cow milk in its unprocessed state. Simply put, raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized to remove the bacteria that exists naturally within the cow. Raw milk most commonly comes from cows, but people have been known to consume raw milk from other animals like goats or sheep.

Raw milk, much like pasteurized milk, can be use to make products like cheese and yogurt. It can even be used to make ice cream.

What are the Benefits of Drinking Raw Milk?

Given the trend of consumers wanting more local and naturally-sourced products, raw milk has started to rise again in popularity since its virtual elimination in the mid-1900’s.

Proponents of raw milk argue that there are many healthy contents within raw milk that are destroyed in the pasteurization process. The alleged health benefits of raw milk include a high content of amino acids and antimicrobials, alongside the usual protein, vitamins, and minerals that pasteurized milk contains. Furthermore, many fans of raw milk claim that is has a much more delicious taste and palatable texture that pasteurized milk.

Raw milk has also been argued as a great option for those who are lactose intolerant. It can also be a commendable option for those with certain food allergies or even autoimmune diseases. For example, some limited scientific evidence has shown that children who consume raw milk have exhibited a slight decrease in conditions like asthma and eczema.

However, even with all of those supposed health benefits, many people still finds themselves asking the question: is raw milk safe?

What are the Dangers of Drinking Raw Milk?

Many government officials argue against those who claim that raw milk is beneficial to your health. In fact, many federal agencies have outright declared that raw milk is dangerous to consume. One of the reasons for this is that, of course, raw milk has not been pasteurized. Pasteurization removes bacteria from the milk, so raw milk still contains that bacteria. A lot of that bacteria can be harmful to humans.

Pasteurization was first introduced in the milking process due to an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis that ended up killing over 60,000 individuals over a 25 years span. When raw milk is pasteurized, bacterium like that which cause diseases like tuberculosis are killed, thereby making it much safer to drink. In short, when you drink raw milk, you could be putting yourself and your family at risk of ingesting extremely harmful bacteria and other germs.

After all, tuberculosis isn’t the only kind of illness that can be caused by drinking contaminated raw milk. A shocking range of deadly bacterium have been found in raw milk, such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria. The reason for this is because milk (and cow milk in particular) is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, so it thrives in that environment. Pasteurizing the milk significantly decreases the risk of consuming contaminated milk and becoming very ill.

So, is raw milk safe? With the growth of modern medicine and a sharp decline in tuberculosis occurrences in the United States, one might not be too deterred by the possibility of drinking raw milk that is contaminated by a hazardous kind of bacteria. However, that doesn’t mean that the supposed benefits of consuming raw milk outweighs the potential risk of a deadly sickness.

Is Raw Milk Legal in the USA?

Perhaps just as important as the question of whether or not raw milk is safe is the question of whether or not raw milk is legal. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has outlawed the sale and distribution of raw milk across state borders. Individual states are allowed to create their own guidelines about the level of legality involved with the production of raw milk.

Currently, it is legal to consume raw milk in all 50 states in the country. However, this does not mean that it is legal to sell raw milk in every single state. Some states only allow raw milk to be sold on farms and others permit raw milk to be sold in stores. A number of states prohibit the sale of raw milk totally. Furthermore, on the federal legislative level, any milk that is being transported and sold from one state to another must be pasteurized. If the raw milk is produced in a particular state, it must also be disbursed and sold within that same state.

So, all in all, is raw milk safe? Before you consider drinking raw milk, be sure to review the potential dangers of consumption, as well as the specific laws that have been put in place by the state in which you reside regarding the sale and distribution of raw milk.