Controversy over raw milk reflects the push-pull the Trump administration faces in rolling back regulations and offering consumers more choices. For now, the CDC still recommends against consuming raw milk and the FDA bans its interstate sale.
Raw milk can carry dangerous bacteria such as salmonella, e-coli, listeria and campylobacter.
A 2019 Public Health England review finds raw milk responsible for 26 outbreaks of intestinal infectious disease in England and Wales between 1992 and 2017. These involved 343 people and resulted in 41 hospitalisations. There were no outbreaks between 2003 and 2013, but seven occured between 2014 and 2017.
Pasteurised milk was the cause of 12 outbreaks during the same 25-year timeframe: 10 due to pasteurisation failures and two to post-pasteurisation contamination.
“In terms of food safety, from a microbiological point of view, drinking raw milk is not safe", says Dr Jorge Gutierrez-Merino, a lecturer in food microbiology at the University of Surrey. “Raw milk may contain many different pathogenic microbes, including some deadly bacteria, which could cause fatal infections, mainly in children, the elderly and immunocompromised people", adds Dr Gutierrez-Merino.
A representative of FSA says “a ban of raw cow’s drinking milk was introduced in Scotland in 1983", adding it poses“a high risk to public health […] with 12 potentially associated deaths in Scotland in the early 1980s".
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, raw milk is sampled and tested four times a year by hygiene inspectors. The farms are inspected twice a year and the herd must be healthy and free from brucellosis and tuberculosis.
If testing detects the presence of harmful bacteria or is ‘inconclusive’, the relevant local authority must be informed and sales of raw drinking milk must cease immediately. The cause of the problem must be identified and corrective action taken. Sales can resume after at least two consecutive tests from different batches of milk proving its safety.
Some odd use of the word “fine” I’m not familiar with:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/raw_milk
Is raw milk safe?
Raw milk can carry dangerous bacteria such as salmonella, e-coli, listeria and campylobacter.
A 2019 Public Health England review finds raw milk responsible for 26 outbreaks of intestinal infectious disease in England and Wales between 1992 and 2017. These involved 343 people and resulted in 41 hospitalisations. There were no outbreaks between 2003 and 2013, but seven occured between 2014 and 2017.
Pasteurised milk was the cause of 12 outbreaks during the same 25-year timeframe: 10 due to pasteurisation failures and two to post-pasteurisation contamination.
“In terms of food safety, from a microbiological point of view, drinking raw milk is not safe", says Dr Jorge Gutierrez-Merino, a lecturer in food microbiology at the University of Surrey. “Raw milk may contain many different pathogenic microbes, including some deadly bacteria, which could cause fatal infections, mainly in children, the elderly and immunocompromised people", adds Dr Gutierrez-Merino.
A representative of FSA says “a ban of raw cow’s drinking milk was introduced in Scotland in 1983", adding it poses“a high risk to public health […] with 12 potentially associated deaths in Scotland in the early 1980s".
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, raw milk is sampled and tested four times a year by hygiene inspectors. The farms are inspected twice a year and the herd must be healthy and free from brucellosis and tuberculosis.
If testing detects the presence of harmful bacteria or is ‘inconclusive’, the relevant local authority must be informed and sales of raw drinking milk must cease immediately. The cause of the problem must be identified and corrective action taken. Sales can resume after at least two consecutive tests from different batches of milk proving its safety.