Raw Milk is Inherently Unsafe and Responsible for Repeated Outbreaks
In my line of work representing victims of foodborne illness, I have frequent contact with food safety experts including microbiologists, epidemiologists, sanitarians and infectious disease physicians. Not once have any of these experts ever recommended consumption of raw milk.
Why? Because EXPERTS, the people who have studied, trained, conducted experiments, treated patients and written peer-reviewed articles (not pseudo-scientists who BELIEVE something to be true), know that raw milk is inherently unsafe. Raw milk is responsible for repeated outbreaks and will continue to cause injury and death no matter what its proponents claim to the contrary.
Need proof? Look no further than this month’s raw milk outbreak involving fourth graders at a public school in Wisconsin.
In Racine County, Wisconsin a parent (!) brought raw milk to a school event. Sixteen people, including at least nine children, were poisoned with Campylobactor jejuni bacteria after consuming the donated milk.
According to Wisconsin officials, this incredibly stupid action on the parent’s part was not illegal. Apparently, any person who lawfully purchases raw milk can give it away to anyone with impunity.
Proponents claim that consumption of raw milk is healthful, nutritious and a matter of personal choice. Their argument is that if a person knows of the risk (which they claim is de minimis) and chooses to encounter it, it is that person’s choice and the state should not intrude.
Fair enough. Except, that a) there is no proof raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk; b) the risks associated with raw milk are not de minimis; c) when people become ill from raw milk, as some inevitably will, we all (not just the victim) have to pay for it, and d) as this case tragically illustrates, “freedom of choice” does not prevent innocent children from being harmed.
According to a Wisconsin newspaper, “bills to legalize the sale of unpasteurized milk have been introduced in the Legislature in the past. One passed last year, but former Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed it citing the danger to public health.” Enough said.
Attorney Fred Pritzker represents campylobacteriosis victims and their families nationwide. He is currently representing a man who consumed raw milk contaminated with Campylobacter, developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and is now paralyzed. Mr. Pritzker can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or by submitting our contact form.
The Raw Milk Story in Wisconsin Keeps Churning
News photojournalist Mike Fisher interviewed me for an in-depth report on the aftermath of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle’s veto of a bill that would have legalized on-farm sales of raw milk and other unpasteurized dairy products.
His video aired this week on the NBC network affiliate NBC26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Despite the uncontroverted scientific evidence that raw milk harbors E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter, Salmonella and other potentially deadly pathogens, producers of raw milk and people who buy it are clamoring for a reversal of the ban.
I gave the reporter my insights based on all the families we represent who are in physical and emotional pain from bouts of infection caused by contaminated raw milk and other unpasteurized dairy products.
Here’s the NBC26 news clip:
Man Paralyzed with Guillain-Barré after Drinking Raw Milk Contaminated with Campylobacter
Last week I was retained by the family of a Pittsburgh-area man on life support after consuming raw milk adulterated with Campylobacter bacteria.
My client was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a severe complication of a Campylobacter infection in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. Except for minimal head and eye movement, he is totally paralyzed.
Several days prior to the onset of his illness, my client consumed raw milk purchased at the McGinnis Sisters Special Foods Store in Mars, PA on March 16, 2010. The raw milk was produced by Dean Farms doing business as Pasture Maid, LLC, a creamery located in New Castle, PA.
According to a recent press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, “the permit for Pasture Maid Creamery in New Castle, Lawrence County, to sell raw milk for human consumption was suspended April 5 after testing found Campylobacter in its raw milk samples.”
Stool samples obtained from my client also tested positive for Campylobacter. Milk from the bottles produced by Dean Farms doing business as Pasture Maid, LLC and purchased at the McGinnis Sisters store tested positive for the pathogen as well.
The fact that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture obtained positive samples from Pasture Maid at about the same time Mr. Orchard became ill coupled with his positive stool and milk samples makes the chain of causation very strong.
This was not the first time Pasture Maid drew the attention of Pennsylvania officials. Just a year earlier, in February 2009, the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Agriculture advised consumers who purchased raw milk from Dean Farms DBA Pasture Maid Creamery, LLC, to immediately discard raw milk purchased there due to potential bacterial infection.
Although some organizations and individuals fervently believe in the benefits of raw milk consumption, scientists and food safety advocates are virtually united in condemning its sale to the public. Promoting the consumption of raw milk is the equivalent of promoting consumption of raw hamburger. It’s irresponsible and dangerous, no matter what advocates claim.
A summons and complaint brought on behalf of the Orchard family will be served and filed on Dean Farms DBA Pasture Maid Creamery, LLC and McGinnis Food Center, Inc. DBA McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores in the next few days. Companies that sell unsafe products have to be held accountable for the harms and losses they cause.
Wisconsin Issues Advisory Against Farm’s Milk
Pasteurization kills pathogens in raw milk that harbor the potential to create serious illness and death. We know this from science and human experience, including individual cases handled by our law firm.
But some people continue to believe that raw, unpasteurized milk is a healthier alternative and that pasteurization somehow damages milk’s nutritional value. How many raw milk outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Listeria or Campylobacter are required to demonstrate the danger?
In the Dairy State itself — Wisconsin — the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has been vigilant in detecting milk problems. This week, the agency issued a press release warning consumers not to drink milk products carrying the brand name Blue Marble Family Farm because they may not be properly pasteurized.
The consumer alert was issued after laboratory tests from a routine inspection showed the presence of an active enzyme in Blue Marble milk that is normally destroyed by pasteurization. Blue Marble is a licensed on-farm bottling plant in Barneveld, Wisconsin.
The products covered in the advisory include whole milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, heavy whipping cream, half and half, buttermilk and eggnog in a variety of sizes. They have sell-by dates of Nov. 27 and later and are believed to be distributed primarily in southern Wisconsin, including the Madison area. At this time, food safety officials are unaware of any illnesses caused by the products.
Earlier this year in Wisconsin, the state reported a raw milk Campylobacter outbreak that sickened at least 35 people, including one who was hospitalized. That outbreak was associated with product from the Zinniker Family Farm in Elkhorn.
Here are facts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that set the record straight on the raw milk debate:
- Raw milk DOES NOT kill dangerous pathogens by itself.
- Pasteurizing milk DOES NOT cause lactose intolerance and allergic reactions.
- Both raw milk and pasteurized milk can cause reactions in people sensitive to milk proteins.
- Pasteurization DOES NOT reduce milk’s nutritional value.
- Pasteurization DOES NOT mean that it is safe to leave milk out of the refrigerator for extended time.
- Pasteurization KILLS harmful bacteria and SAVES lives.
WI Raw Milk Sickens 35 With Campylobacter
Wisconsin food safety officials are taking the opportunity of a Campylobacter raw milk outbreak to warn consumers once again that unpasteurized milk is inherently risky and shouldn’t be toyed with as an alternative to legal dairy milk. In Wisconsin and other states, sales of raw milk to consumers are outlawed because the product has the potential to kill.
The raw milk culprit this time in “America’s Dairyland” has been identified by the state Food Safety Division in the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) as the Zinniker Family Farm in Elkhorn, located in southeastern Wisconsin. Zinniker sold raw milk under a “cow share” program to a defined customer list, which the Food Safety Division says is flatly illegal.
An investigation by DATCP and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services found an outbreak of 35 confirmed cases of Campylobacter jejuni infection was caused by contaminated raw milk from the farm. The outbreak started in August and sickened 21 individuals under age 18. One person was hospitalized and all patients had consumed unpasteurized milk before falling ill. Thirty of the patients identified Zinniker as the source of their raw milk and testing found Campylobacter in manure samples of milking cows on the farm. The identical molecular strain of the bacteria was found in 25 of the outbreak victims, state officials reported.
Victims of the outbreak can protect and assert their legal rights by contacting an attorney. Our firm, PritzkerOlsen, P.A., has represented victims in Campylobacter outbreaks around the country and is one of the country’s foremost practitioners in the area of foodborne illness litigation.
In DATCP’s press release, Food Safety Division chief Steve Ingham was blunt about the dangerous of ingesting raw milk, which some people stubbornly swear is not only better tasting but more healthful than pasteurized milk.
“So far we’ve been fortunate that the infections have not been life-threatening,” Ingham said in the press release. He said raw milk is just as capable of transmitting diseases more dangerous than Campylobacter — which itself in extreme cases can lead to paralysis and respiratory failure.
One of the known risks of consuming raw milk is E. coli O157:H7 , which kills an estimated 60 people a year in the U.S. and can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, the leading cause of kidney failure in children.
From a page out of the federal government’s new emphasis on food safety, here’s a list of facts to fight the fiction surrounding raw milk:
- Raw milk DOES NOT kill dangerous pathogens by itself.
- Pasteurizing milk DOES NOT cause lactose intolerance and allergic reactions. Both raw milk and pasteurized milk can cause alergic reactions in people sensitive to milk proteins.
- Pasteurization DOES NOT reduce milk’s nutritional value.
- Pasteurization DOES kill harmful bacteria.
- Pasteurization DOES save lives.
Fred Pritzker On Newsmakers
