Sale of Raw Milk Should be Banned in U.S.
Last week I was invited to Vancouver, British Columbia to speak to a group of Environmental Health Officers from the Fraser Health Authority. They were interested in how we select and prove foodborne illness cases (and how their work as sanitarians impacts on what we do).
As often happens in such presentations, the conversation turned to raw milk. Under Canadian law, it is apparently illegal to sell or purvey raw milk in any fashion (unlike in the US where many states allow some commercial raw milk sales). One of the officers of the Department raised an interesting question about raw milk in the context of personal freedom vs. governmental regulation of a potentially dangerous commodity. He asked me whether it is appropriate to regulate a commodity like raw milk if a consumer, knowledgeable about its risks and dangers, nevertheless chooses to drink it. In other words, treat it like “informed consent” in the context of a medical procedure: there is utility with attendant risk. If the risks are fully explained and the consumer/patient judges there to be sufficient utility to justify the risk, why should the government intrude?
So let’s assume a consumer goes to a dairy intending to purchase raw milk and is handed a form that fully and fairly sets out all the risks associated with raw milk. The consumer reads the form, signs the waiver and purchases raw milk. If s/he later gets sick, no one can complain (and no lawyer can sue on their behalf) because the consumer made an intelligent choice and is now fully responsible for the harms and losses that occurred.
Okay. But like most anti-government conceptual bullshit, the execution of the concept and the real-world implications of it are something else altogether.
So what happens, for example, when the bottle of raw milk that was “intelligently and knowingly” purchased ends up in the consumer’s refrigerator and is then poured on two bowls of corn flakes, one eaten by the 10-year-old child of the purchaser and the other by his neighbor/friend who was at the house on a sleep-over and later developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome and has life-long medical problems as a result(these facts are virtually the same as a real case, by the way)? Or what about another raw milk proponent who is sickened despite his knowing and intelligent waiver and then proceeds to incur over $1 Million in medical expenses (which we as a society end up paying directly or indirectly)?
Here’s my take: Until we can guarantee no innocent party will ever be harmed by raw milk and no one other than the person who chooses to drink it will have to subsidize the harm resulting from it, we should follow the wisdom of our friends north of the border and not allow anyone to buy it.
Food safety attorney Fred Pritzker can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or via our online contact form.
Consumers Need to be Warned about the Dangers of Raw Milk
One of the troubling issues about the sale of raw milk is that consumers are not adequately warned about the risks. I represent people sickened by raw milk due to contamination with Campylobacter jejuni, E. coli O157:H7 and other dangerous pathogens. Raw milk can cause kidney failure, paralysis and death. I know because I have stood by the bedsides of people who innocently drank raw milk and ended up hooked up to life support fighting for their lives.
I don’t frankly care if raw milk advocates drink it at their peril. But I do care, passionately, when they harm people who are simply curious about raw milk, don’t realize their milk and dairy products are unpasteurized, are too young to protect themselves, or didn’t even consume any raw milk products (but were infected by someone who did). Since it is impossible to indulge the former and protect the latter, raw milk will remain a public health hazard. It is therefore, critical that sellers of raw milk be required by law to post information about the risks of consuming raw milk, including the risks of kidney failure, paralysis and death. This warning should be posted on every bottle of raw milk sold and on every raw milk product.
In addition, before raw milk can be distributed, sold, or in any way provided to a consumer (this includes consumers who buy a “share” in a cow), the following information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should have to be provided to the consumer:
Raw (Unpasteurized) Milk
Raw milk can carry harmful germs that can make you very sick or kill you. If you’re thinking about drinking raw milk because you believe it has health benefits, consider other options.
Trying to decide about raw milk?
Developing a healthy lifestyle is a process with many decisions and steps. One step you might be thinking about is adding raw milk to your diet. Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized to kill harmful germs. Germs include bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It’s important to understand the risks of drinking raw milk, especially because you may be hearing claims about the supposed “benefits” of raw milk.
Raw milk contains bacteria, and some of them can be harmful. So, if you’re thinking about consuming raw milk because you believe that it is a good source of beneficial bacteria, you need to know that it isn’t and you may instead get sick from the harmful bacteria. If you think that certain types of bacteria may be beneficial to your health, consider getting them from foods that don’t involve such a high risk. For example, so-called probiotic bacteria are sometimes added to pasteurized fermented foods, such as yogurt and kefir.
Milk and products made from milk need minimal processing, called pasteurization, which can be done by heating the milk briefly (for example, heating it to 161°F for about 20 seconds). When milk is pasteurized, some bacteria remain in it, but the disease-causing ones are killed. Harmful germs usually don’t change the look, taste, or smell of milk, so only when milk has been pasteurized can you be confident that these germs are not present. To ensure that milk is safe, processors rapidly cool it after pasteurization, practice sanitary handling, and store milk in clean, closed containers at 45°F or below.
Remember, you can’t look at, smell, or taste a bottle of raw milk and tell if it’s safe to drink. Make the best decision for the health of your family. If you want to keep milk in your family’s diet, protect them by not giving them raw milk. Even healthy adults can get sick from drinking raw milk. If you’re thinking about drinking raw milk because you believe it has health benefits, consider other options.
Who is at greatest risk of getting sick from drinking raw milk?
The risk of getting sick from drinking raw milk is greater for infants and young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems, such as people with cancer, an organ transplant, or HIV/AIDS, than it is for healthy school-aged children and adults. But, it is important to remember that healthy people of any age can get very sick or even die if they drink raw milk contaminated with harmful germs.
What are the risks associated with drinking raw milk?
Raw milk can carry harmful bacteria and other germs that can make you very sick or kill you. While it is possible to get foodborne illnesses from many different foods, raw milk is one of the riskiest of all.
Getting sick from raw milk can mean many days of diarrhea, stomach cramping, and vomiting. Less commonly, it can mean kidney failure, paralysis, chronic disorders, and even death.
Many people who chose raw milk thinking they would improve their health instead found themselves (or their loved ones) sick in a hospital for several weeks fighting for their lives from infections caused by germs in raw milk. For example, a person can develop severe or even life-threatening diseases, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, which can cause paralysis, and hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in kidney failure and stroke.
Aren’t raw or natural foods better than processed foods?
Many people believe that foods with no or minimal processing are better for their health. Many people also believe that small, local farms are better sources of healthy food. However, some types of processing are needed to protect health. For example, consumers process raw meat, poultry, and fish for safety by cooking. Similarly, when milk is pasteurized, it is heated just long enough to kill disease-causing germs. Most nutrients remain after milk is pasteurized. There are many local, small farms that offer pasteurized organic milk and cheese products.
I’ve heard that many organic and raw milk producers are creating sanitary and humane conditions for raising animals and producing “safe” raw milk and raw milk products (like cheeses and yogurts). Does this help reduce milk contamination?
Adherence to good hygienic practices during milking can reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of milk contamination. The dairy farm environment is a reservoir for illness-causing germs. No matter what precautions farmers take, and even if their raw milk tests come back negative, they cannot guarantee that their milk, or the products made from their milk, are free of harmful germs.
- Germs such as Escherichia coli O157, Campylobacter, and Salmonella can contaminate milk during the process of milking dairy animals, including cows and goats. Animals that carry these germs are usually healthy.
How does milk get contaminated?
Milk contamination may occur from:
- Cow feces coming into direct contact with the milk
- Infection of the cow’s udder (mastitis)
- Cow diseases (e.g., bovine tuberculosis)
- Bacteria that live on the skin of cows
- Environment (e.g., feces, dirt, processing equipment)
- Insects, rodents, and other animal vectors
- Humans, for example, by cross-contamination from soiled clothing and boots
Pasteurization is the only way to kill many of the bacteria in milk that can make people very sick.
Information about raw milk-related outbreaks
States that allow the legal sale of raw milk for human consumption have more raw milk-related outbreaks of illness than states that do not allow raw milk to be sold legally.
Among dairy product-associated outbreaks reported to CDC between 1973 and 2008 in which the investigators reported whether the product was pasteurized or raw, 82% were due to raw milk or cheese. From 1998 through 2008, 86 outbreaks due to consumption of raw milk or raw milk products were reported to CDC. These resulted in 1,676 illnesses, 191 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths. Most of these illnesses were caused by Escherichia coli O157, Campylobacter, or Salmonella. It is important to note that a substantial proportion of the raw milk-associated disease burden falls on children; among the 86 raw dairy product outbreaks from 1998 to 2008, 79% involved at least one person less than 20 years old.
Reported outbreaks represent the tip of the iceberg. For every outbreak and every illness reported, many others occur, and most illnesses are not part of recognized outbreaks.
Wisconsin Should Drop Raw Milk Bill
This press release went out from out office earlier this week. The bill in question has passed a committee vote and could possibly go to a floor vote in the Assembly, but leaders could still stop it:
Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) March 31, 2010 — National food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker is calling on the Wisconsin legislature to kill a bill that would allow public sale of unpasteurized milk.
The Wisconsin bill that would allow raw milk sales direct from farms licensed by the state runs counter to what the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been warning for decades: Raw milk is a health hazard that can cause serious illness and wrongful death.
“This legislation would not only allow a dangerous product into the stream of commerce, some proponents want the bill to carve out almost all liability for raw milk producers,” said Pritzker, a leading food poisoning attorney who has represented victims of contaminated raw milk. “This would be virtually unprecedented and dangerous. If supporters think raw milk is so safe, why do they want immunity from lawsuits?”
Even if the bill moves forward without the immunity clause, America’s Dairyland would be setting a shameful example for the rest of the country by passing a law that its own public health officials have labeled as irresponsible, Pritzker said.
With microscopic fecal contamination from cows unchecked by pasteurization, outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to raw milk are inevitable.
Less than a week ago, FDA alerted consumers to a raw milk Campylobacter outbreak in Michigan associated with products from Forest Grove Dairy in Middlebury, Indiana. At least 24 people have been sickened in the outbreak and state epidemiologists from Michigan, Illinois and Indiana have been joined by FDA in their investigation of the outbreak.
The federal agency said in its latest consumer alert that contaminated raw milk was to blame for 1,614 illnesses in the U.S. from 1998 to 2008. Two of the victims died and 187 were hospitalized.
The FDA advisory said harmful bacteria in raw milk is especially dangerous for pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. Besides Campylobacter, raw milk can carry E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella or other potentially lethal pathogens spread by the feces of cows.
“It’s irresponsible for the Wisconsin legislature to give farmers the choice of selling raw milk when science has proven that raw milk is no more nutritious than pasteurized milk,” Pritzker said. “It’s a trap that will inflict an enormous toll on families who are certain to be stricken by illness.”
Mr. Pritzker is a nationally recognized food safety lawyer who has represented victims in practically every major outbreak of food poisoning in the U.S. He has recovered millions for victims of campylobacteriosis and other foodborne diseases.
For more information, contact Fred Pritzker at 1-888-377-8900 (TOLL FREE) or 612-338-0202, email Fred at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com or visit our website, www.pritzkerlaw.com. The firm represents food poisoning victims nationwide and has offices at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, MN.
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