Regina White
Nov 5 · 2 min read

Raw milk is nutritionally superior to pastuerized milk and is perfectly safe if purchased from a reputable source. It contains immune factors and the minerals in raw milk are more easily absorbed by our bodies than those in pasteurized milk, making it better for children and older adults.

https://academic.oup.com/jn/article-abstract/112/7/1329/4755227

While both the FDA and the CDC warn that raw milk can carry disease-causing bacteria, they completely overlook the fact that these bacteria are the result of industrial farming practices that lead to diseased animals, which may then in turn produce contaminated milk.

I realize that the cost of small farm-produced milk is prohibitive for many. Large-scaled industrial farming brings low cost foods to the masses, and yes, if you are buying milk at the supermarket, the laws requiring pasteurization make sense.

Interestingly, small, family-owned and operated farms are heavily subsidized in Europe, where most farm products seen in supermarkets at affordable costs come from. But that’s a different issue…

Also within a 13 year period there were 3 deaths attributed to raw milk and 2 deaths to pasteurized milk. Granted, massively more pastuerized milk is consumed sothe rate for raw milk is much greater, but still. It’s not terribly risky to drink raw milk. Far more deaths are due to the contamination of other food groups:

It really comes down to risk vs benefit. Personally, I don’t go out of my way to drink raw milk, although I do vastly prefer cheeses made from raw milk. But I’ll take my chances with raw oysters because I love them.

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/rawmilk/rawmilk-outbreaks.html

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