The U.S. Centre for Disease Control (CDC), based in Atlanta, Georgia, has issued a warning over the consumption of raw milk. The rate of disease outbreak caused by drinking raw milk was 150 times greater than outbreaks caused by drinking pasteurized milk, based on data from 50 states over a 13 year period from 1993 to 2006. Their report, published in the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal on Tuesday, also indicated that states where the sale of raw milk is legal have more than twice the outbreak rate as states that realize that drinking raw milk is, well – kinda really dumb, and have refused to legalize it.
“While some people think that raw milk has more health benefits than pasteurized milk, this study shows that raw milk has great risks, especially for children, who experience more severe illnesses if they get sick,” said study co-author Dr. Barbara Mahon in a release. “Parents who have lived through the experience of watching their child fight for their life after drinking raw milk now say that it’s just not worth the risk.”
The CDC also points out something that should be obvious to anyone, but apparently still isn’t – that “looking at, smelling or tasting raw milk won’t signal if it’s safe to consume,” because that’s not how all bacterias work! The report also adds, according to CBC, that “even under ideal conditions of cleanliness, collecting milk introduces some bacteria and that without pasteurization – heating milk to extreme temperatures – bacteria can multiply and grow.”
“Pasteurization is the most reliable and feasible way to render dairy products safe for consumption,” the study concludes.
Yup – but did the U.S. need an expense study to tell them that raw milk increases the likelihood that you will get sick from consuming milk in the middle of a recession? ‘Cause that seems really straightforward to me, and not in a the-government-can’t-tell-me-how-to-run-my-life kind of way, but in a this-won’t-make-me-super-sick-now-like-it-would-have-in-the-18th-Century kind of way.
Andrew Reeves writes the Morning Cable (and other stuff) for Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @reevesreport.
