Raw milk consumption has potential health risks and benefits that are still debated. While pasteurization was introduced to address sanitation issues, some claim raw milk can boost immunity. However, raw milk poses risks of transmitting diseases like tuberculosis, brucellosis, and E. coli from cows to humans. Supporters argue raw milk consumption may decrease allergies and build immunity to bacteria. However, many foodborne illness outbreaks have been linked to raw milk, prompting mandatory pasteurization laws. The health effects of raw milk remain unclear with arguments on both sides.

1. RAW MILK:
Hazardous or Healthy?
Hazardous or Healthy?
By: Michelle Lancaster
Final Project for ENMT 321 - Environmental Health
Professor Page - UMUC

2. 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.

3. 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…)

4. 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]

5. 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

6. 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?

7. 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…

8. CDC. Foodborne Outbreak Net. Retrieved March 18, 2012 from:
http://wwwn.cdc.gov/foodborneoutbreaks/Default.aspx
Hot Dogs killed 21 people
from Listeriain 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!)

9. 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

10. From: http://www.fda.gov/Food/ucm292218.htm
Retrieved: 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?

11. 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

12. 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!

13. 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!

14. 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!

15. 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]