I almost hate to say it too loud, but there sure hasn’t been a lot of news over the last year or so about raw milk outbreaks.
It may well not be my imagination, because there’s a new study out suggesting that ever-more-widespread good-hygiene practices are responsible for significantly reducing the number of illness outbreaks from raw milk.
The downward trend is something we first got formal wind of in 2018, with word that a study showed something on the order of a 74% decline in outbreaks from 2005 to 2017.
Now, a new study about to be published in the academic journal, Epidemiology and Infection, by two European researchers, concludes that the decline documented in the 2018 paper was no accident, but rather because of “the increased awareness and attention to milk hygiene and safety in production in North America. There are dedicated raw milk producers that have become highly qualified and methodical in the production of hygienically produced safe raw milk and organisations are developing to assist raw milk producers. “
The authors of the new study, A.C. Berge and T. Baars, credit America’s Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI), with 18 members, and Canada’s British Columbia Herdshare Association, with 10 members, with helping establish and spread to nonmembers the tough hygiene standards being used to produce raw milk much safer than that commonly produced a decade and more ago.
They blame a lack of interest by regulators in training raw dairy producers for having slowed the hygiene gains of recent years. The authors says that “most outbreaks associated with raw milk are associated with dairy farms that have not received specific training in hazard reduction and hygienic milking procedures. Several generations of farmers have now become used to the system where bulk tank milk is pasteurised, and there is no direct link between the producer and the consumers. Thereby sub-optimal hygienic practices have unfortunately over time become established.”
They conclude that “good biosecurity, animal management, hygienic milking techniques, quick cooling and thereafter a good cold chain can provide hygienic and safe raw milk, similarly to other raw foods. Furthermore, regular microbiological controls of the raw milk can continually evaluate the systems. Safe and hygienic raw milk can be accomplished in various dairy farm systems ranging from small family cow systems to very large dairies with state-of-the-art equipment.”
It may be that raw dairy farmers are finally getting the hang of producing safe raw milk.
Thank you David,
This week the RAWMI board will be attending PASA and providing additional high standards training to many more raw milk producers.
Much more to this story. Stay tuned.
Mark
Progress in reduction of illness in the USA is directly related to dairy farming practices.
Although few farmers have fully invested in becoming Listed at RAWMI, many have started to use RAWMI standards and practices. Much credit goes to Edwin Shank. He has trained so many farmers to use on farm testing systems.
I strongly urge readers to read both of the recent peer reviewed studies.
Much to learn from them. Ultra low risk is here and now.
Mark
David,
Well kept animals and cleanliness is important… However, and here I go again, we dare not focus on and put too much emphasis on the methods described in your article… especially that so-called concept of “biosecurity”. The best biosecurity is competitive exclusion and a healthy diet. What also should be considered is that there are other factors that could very well explain and are likely responsible for the reduction in these illness outbreaks that were apparently linked to raw milk …
How many of the illness outbreaks prior to 2005 were indeed related to raw milk? I am of the belief that there was a blitz by government bureaucrats at the time to set an example and for this reason raw milk was singled out and falsely implicated with some if not many of those illness outbreaks…
The more that people drink raw milk and the longer they do it, the healthier their gut microbiome and their immune system becomes… Indeed, and those people would therefore be significantly less susceptible to illness…
I like this idea of a “microbial cloud” used in the following article to describe the vast array of microbes that are unique to each individual.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/09/you-re-surrounded-your-own-personal-cloud-microbes
“We leave traces of bacteria on everything we touch—SkyMall catalogs, elevator buttons, the office coffee pot—but physical contact isn’t the only way to make a microbial mark. Humans unknowingly shed swarms of bacteria that linger in the space around them, creating a “microbial cloud.” Now, new research published online today in PeerJ, reveals that the clouds of airborne bacteria may be entirely unique to each person, like a microbial fingerprint. To reach this conclusion, the scientists ran two experiments in which they placed participants in a sanitized room and surrounded them with rings of petri dishes and suspended air filters to catch floating microbes. They compared the captured samples with the microbes of a humanless, but otherwise identical room, and showed that the two spaces were microbially distinct. This provoked another question: If a person’s microbial cloud can set two rooms apart, can it set two people apart? For six of the eight participants, the answer was yes. The researchers sequenced the microbial cloud samples and saw that many of the participants had the same bacteria in their clouds, but in different concentrations. Although they’re not entirely sure how far an individual’s microbial fog extends, the team estimates that our microbes float within a 90 centimeter radius—meaning that in any semicrowded space (a subway, grocery store lines, or the morning meeting at your office) there’s a high
Ken,
I don’t buy the notion that the government has some how, all of a sudden,decided not to crack down on raw milk.
This is not what it driving fewer illnesses.
All across America farmers now realize that liability is huge and they must change practices. Farmers also realize that they lose business when consumers get sick. Farmers want to do well and create safe good food.
When farmers do a quick google for best practices they find RAWMI. We know because we get lots of calls.
There are other efforts that help farmers as well. FTCLDF has sponsored training and Dr Ted Beals published a book on best practices
The world has awoken to clean raw milk. Consumers want it! That’s exactly why fewer consumers are becoming ill.
Trust me…. the public health police have not gone on vacation.
Ken, bio-security has little to do with our gut microbiomes and everything to do with keeping our herds protected from disease. Plus it a politically relevant issue is here in Canada = last year, a federal committee’s lack of awareness about biosecurity methods torpedoed an effort to a study of raw milk legalization going.
Last year, a motion was introduced by MP Alistair MacGregor (NDP, Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) at a meeting of the Federal Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, that the committee “undertake a study on the current regulations prohibiting the commercialization of raw (unpasteurized) milk in Canada; that this study include hearing from witnesses regarding the current consumption of raw milk in Canada, how other jurisdictions regulate the sale of raw milk; and that the committee report its findings with recommendations back to the House of Commons.”
When this motion was presented, this was the response from two committee members:
Mr. Jean-Claude Poissant (La Prairie, Lib.): “I’m not sure that would be a good idea. There have been cases of bovine tuberculosis detected in British Columbia, and milk may be contaminated. I’m not sure I want us to do a study on this to allow people to have access to raw milk. Public health has to be our top priority in any study.”
Mrs. Eva Nassif (Vimy, Lib.): “I agree.”
Mr. Jean-Claude Poissant: “There were cases in the past. Raw milk was used to make cheese that wound up on shelves, and it caused serious problems. Some producers also drink their milk raw, directly. They are unwittingly exposing themselves to this sort of problem, but the government is not responsible for their actions. More thought has to be put into protecting citizens’ health.”
Mr. MacGregor’s motion then failed with a vote of 6-3 against.
So what is happening in BC to cause bovine TB incidents? Contact between cattle and cervids (deer and elk). Details on these 3 incidents (2011, 2016, 2018) are at https://www.inspection.gc.ca/animal-health/terrestrial-animals/diseases/reportable/bovine-tuberculosis/herds-infected/eng/1544030894737/1544030894977 .
What can protect our pasture-fed dairy herds from TB transmitted to them from cervids? Biosecuriy protocols such as keeping a closed herd, quarantining new animals for a minimum of 21 days, limiting contact with cervids, not purchasing livestock from auction, and routine TB testing such as is done annually for all licensed raw milk farms in Washington State.
Those committee members were unaware that the risk of transmission of bovine TB to dairy herds can be mitigated via biosecurity methods, such as what RAWMI teaches. If they had been aware that biosecurity protocols could deal with the TB issue, maybe they wouldn’t have sunk the motion. Meanwhile, here is the current committee membership: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/AGRI/Members so if one of these people is your MP, please ask for a meeting and educate them prior to the issue being raised again.
Canada exports many millions of dollar$s of dairy cattle per year. The boast of the govt. of Canada, is : “Canadian dairy herds are TB free”. That’s because when they come across a cow which tests positive for bovine tuberculosis, dairy farmers here follow the 3 SH protocol : SHoot, SHovel, and SHutup
I take a dim view of the term “biosecurity”… It is a militaristic term that more often then not, promotes the use of antagonistic, toxic, invasive methods that in many cases disrupts the overall ecosystem… including the gut microbiome of all living creatures… cattle, humans and the overall environment. Indeed, many of the current methods used in an attempt to establish so called “Biosecurity” negatively disrupts microbial ecology and ecosystems as a whole.
Dr. Shiv Chopra, B.V.Sc. & A.H., M.Sc., Ph.D. is a world-renowned scientist, Health Canada Whistleblower and author of the book, “ CORRUPT TO THE CORE”.
In his above mentioned book written on January 25th, 2010, can be found the following excerpt from page 228 under the heading, “The 5 Pillars of Food Safety”…
“The source of FBD (food born diseases) during approximately the last 50 years is reported to originate from indiscriminate application of the following five substances in food production:. The types of FBD that these substances induce include cancer, antibiotic-resistant infections, neurological conditions, including BSE/CJD, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and immune, reproductive and other disorders.” Emphasis in brackets is mine…
http://shivchopra.com/?p=228
Of the five pillars of food safety listed in Dr Chopra’s book, (hormones, antibiotics, slaughterhouse wastes, Genetically Modified Organisms and pesticides) he failed to mention the most insidious and invasive of all… vaccines. Dr Chopra took part in the approval process of numerous vaccines in Canada yet over time grew to be leery of them, eventually recognizing them to be both ineffective and harmful… for this he was labeled an antivaxxer.
Health and agricultural officials with the aid of the drug, chemical and biopharmaceutical industries give the erroneous impression that we can’t do without their so-called biosecurity interventions. Interventions I dare add, that demonstrate a gross contempt for the laws of nature and human rights and is evident in their continual violation of those same natural laws and in how they treat individuals who oppose their reductionist approach to health. Hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep etc., are being invasively manipulated and needlessly slaughtered around the world at the hands of federal government officials who are making rules without consideration for their overall effects.
Ken, before you form an opinion about how “militaristic”, “toxic”, or “invasive” biosecurity protocols are, I recommend you take one of Dr. Berge’s excellent webinars on biosecurity, as I did (2013?). There is nothing militaristic or invasive about any of these practices. They are simple common sense.
Birds, wildlife, rodents, insects and their concomitant microbes are oblivious to human biosecurity measures and more or less render the process impractical…
If the powers that be truly cared about healthy food and disease free animals they would encourage less intensive food production practice that in turn reduce stress, encourage diversity, a healthy gut flora and a vibrant immune system. This can only be accomplished via sustainable agricultural practices that allow for a diverse microbial ecology as apposed to manipulating microbes with invasive and questionable practices that nurture imbalance and more often then not disease itself.
There’s a fine line between biosecurity and medical insanity/tyranny…
Ken,
Thank you for your enlightened input to the conversation. We are living in the age of the Microbiome. Nothing good can come from attempts to manipulate it by eliminating the diversity in it.The diversity is it’s intelligence. It is restoring balance to the system even before it is noticed by anyone that something is out of balance.
In the 25 years I’ve been using fresh cows and goat and sheep milk, I have not experienced a problem, know anyone who has (and there are hundreds in my dairy group.) Nor have I read about a verified problem. I’ve read about farmers being raided by local authorities, their product, including food from their personal pantrys dumped, and all carried out in an abusive manner.
Can anyone point me to legitimate documentation showing fresh milk causing health problems?
I trust the fresh milk I use much more than I trust any food from a grocery store.
There is no indication that there were more cases attibuted to Raw milk in previous decades compared to the most recent decades. I disagree with Ken that biosecurity can be replaced by a holistic microbial beneficial or commensal flora. There are numerous examples indicating that the highest risk of introducing pathogens like Salmonella on a farm is through the trade in live animals. I believe that you are not an expert on raw milk safety, and you likely have a somewhat more naive view that the good gut flora or a good commensal flora on a farm is enough. I would love it to be that simple, but helas, it is not. Indeed a good immunity is created by a good microflora, but that does not negate the importance of keeping manure out of food, or prevent hazardous bacteria from entering or spreading around the farm. The holistic approach embraces all concepts.
Catharina, Note that I did say, “Well kept animals and cleanliness is important”. And I certainly agree with you that the “holistic approach” does indeed “embrace all concepts”, which is why I stated, “we dare not focus on and put too much emphasis on the methods described” in David’s article.
I milked Jersey cows for over 50 years, was raised on raw milk, raised nine children on raw milk, fed/feed it to my grandchildren, to friends, neighbours, relatives, fed it to school bus loads of kids on field trips to the farm and to exchange students from around the world (Thailand, India, Africa and England) who stayed and work on the farm for several weeks during the summer, none of whom became ill. In fact most of the people who purchased milk form me for over 25 years and raised their children on it without ill effect were urbanites (teachers and nurses etc.). Indeed and I did all of this without a RAWMI and biosecurity plan… In fact, I was just one among many farmers who did the same and continue to do so.
The greatest threat to biosecurity is this ongoing relentless endeavour to manipulate microbes in an attempt to either eradicate them or use them to develop novel technologies and then foolhardily release them into the environment or inject them into humans…
Mark, I was not suggesting what you implied; namely, “that the government… all of a sudden, decided not to crack down on raw milk”!!!
What I did state is that, “I am of the belief that there was a blitz by government bureaucrats at the time to set an example and for this reason raw milk was singled out and falsely implicated with some if not many of those illness outbreaks.” What I was in fact implying is that the bureaucrats eased off during the above study’s indicated time frame (2005 to 2017) at looking for excuses to implicate raw milk and raw milk farmers.
Gordon’s suggestion in his comment above that, “ The vaccine and raw milk issues intersect’ is certainly correct. The assault on freedom of choice in regards to vaccination and likewise raw milk consumption is fuelled by the same insane, fear driven, irrational eradication of microbe narrative… a reductionist narrative that fundamentally violates natural process…
Thank you for sharing this promising news, David!
Dr Cat Berge and Dr Ton Baars,
I have read your study several times just to let it all soak in. So well done.
Love the pie charts with hard data.
Ultra low risk raw milk is here and now we can prove it.
When ever farmers and consumers approach the legislative process to change laws it will the PLOS 2018 and Berge Baars 2020 research that will be the proof. Up
Until now, there has been no evidence in the literature.
With one caveat: if the farmers use: high standards, get training and do some routine testing .
Peer reviewed published studies are the hard evidence we all need.
Mark
“Fighting cancer with microbes”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00199-x
“Part of the funding is earmarked for finding new ways to eliminate the prime suspects — F. nucleatum, B. fragilis and E. coli — without disturbing the entire microbial ecosystem inside the gut.”
Good luck with that!!!
They just can’t seem to get beyond this militaristic and knee jerk focus of blaming and assaulting (”fighting” and “eliminating”) the illusive microbe. All microbes including those deemed essential are merely responding to the environment nurtured by toxic drugs, toxic chemicals, toxic vaccines, and highly adulterated essentially toxic processed foods… all of which disrupt balance and nurture inflammation throughout the body…
As the article states, “The biological explanation remain elusive” Indeed, and a biological explanation will continue to remain elusive if they can’t get beyond their control and antagonistic driven mentality. One can only hope that they will be humbled enough by the lowly microbe to see the light. I’m not about to hold my breath however, because the solutions they propose via “more targeted approaches” using antibiotics and vaccines etc. is not tenable.
All that said these two paragraphs in the article are a sign of hope that some scientist are beginning to see the light…
“Amy Moran, an immunologist at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, thinks that the different treatments that people with different cancers receive might explain the discrepancy. “So many other types of drugs that these patients take might be impacting the composition of the microbiome,” she says. She suspects that, for prostate cancer, the hormone therapies commonly used as first-line treatments might be to blame. Uncertain of which bacteria will be best in this context, Moran and her colleagues are starting by trying to boost immunotherapy response with complete faecal transplants.
Elsewhere in the oncology clinic, researchers are turning to microbiome therapeutics to manage some of the immune-related toxicity associated with checkpoint-blocking drugs. At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, gastroenterologist Yinghong Wang is using faecal transplants to manage cases of immunotherapy-induced colitis. In 2018, she described how a woman with bladder cancer and a man with prostate cancer, both of whom developed side effects including bloody diarrhoea after receiving checkpoint inhibitors, saw their symptoms resolve after one or two transplants of stool from a healthy donor11. Wang has since treated another dozen or so people. “All of them seem to benefit from this treatment,” she says.”
While in Pennsylvania today, Sarah Smith ( rawmi Director ) and I visited some Amish dairies and saw Amos Miller’s Organic Farm.
I was impressed. It was clean and well managed. I was greeted with a smile and welcomed to a tour. His 13 year old son Samuel showed me the cows and milk management areas.
First time at Miller’s. I wish he would get a Pennsylvania raw milk permit and become RAWMI Listed. I have never seen a bigger storage area with as diverse a selection.of Whole Foods being shipped all over America.
Little Samuel is awesome.
Mark, I’m glad you finally got to visit Amos Miller’s farm, and appreciate that he’s a serious producer of raw dairy products. I’m also glad you got a sense of how important he is to the health of so many people. The problem with your “wish” for Miller (that he get a PA raw milk permit) is that he couldn’t serve the real food needs of so many people if he became enmeshed in PA’s regulatory system. I think that by this time you know the reasons. It’s just an unfortunate contradiction of America’s food regulatory system. You can’t officially be part of it if you’re going to serve people who are prevented by the system from accessing real food. Many of us are fortunate that Amos Miller is as brave as he is to do what he does.
Portable device for on-site E. coli tests created
https://fruitgrowersnews.com/news/purdue-creates-portable-device-to-do-on-site-e-coli-testing/
NPR Program on Raw Milk
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/07/803780511/episode-970-raw-milk-deal
The ecoli test is fascinating.
My one concern is that it requires enrichment. That step can create an on farm biohazard that could then create a disaster all by itself.
The data takes ten hours for s result. That’s faster than BAX PCR by four hours. We are going in the right direction for sure.
Look forward to the verification and sensitivity trials. We will all want to see the data on false negatives and false positives. Cost will also be a factor. I wonder what each sample will cost to test.
Mark
You want to be careful of what you are toying with…
“Did you know that the germs in your intestines have sophisticated machines inside of them? Like all living things, E. coli bacteria contain DNA, which requires sophisticated machinery to read the DNA and turn the information into proteins, which are the major components of all living things.”
https://youtu.be/2ou0hbKdkns
Question for David Gumpert,
Since you are a journalist, what advice can you give to us farmers and scientists on talking to a journalist to help them get an accurate story out about raw milk.
Take for example Mary Childs at NPR. She did this pod cast on Raw Milk
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/07/803780511/episode-970-raw-milk-deal
By talking with Mark McAfee and others, she was made well aware of the latest science (Whitehead and Lake PLOS 2018 and Berge and Baars Journal of Epidemiology 2020) showing that raw milk can be done safely when farmers are well trained.
She apparently decided not to put the very important development into her podcast. Why?
I’ve pretty much given up on discussing raw milk with mainstream media. Also with not-so-mainstream media, notably Mother Jones. They may do good work in a number of areas, but when it comes to raw dairy, they have a total and complete blind spot. I can’t tell you how many mainstream media I’ve spoken with over the years who sound very reasonable when interviewing me, thank me for sending them the research on raw milk countering allergies and asthma, and then use nothing of it or belittle it, and rely totally on CDC, FDA, dairy associations and scientists receiving support from the previous. So when a major TV network show called me recently, I waited a good while to return the call, and then told them I had nothing to add, but if they want the real story, they should speak with Joseph Heckman. Not sure if they called you, but basically my advice would be to simply tell the media you don’t have time to waste speaking with journalists you know are going to be biased in what they write, and if they want someone knowledgeable, speak to Joseph Heckman. And Joseph, if you decide you don’t want to be bothered, just tell the journalists you don’t have time for them, either. I know, that’s not the optimal advice, but I can’t come up with any other way. People who are interested in raw dairy know not to listen to the mainstream media on this, in any event.
David,
Thank you for your reply. I suspect that after we are interviewed by journalists they go onto the FDA and CDC websites and follow that lead.
If a reporter calls I will talk with them but not waste much time. I will give them some key references to science of raw milk. The good news is that we now have studies like these: (Whitehead and Lake PLOS 2018 and Berge and Baars Journal of Epidemiology 2020)
In the case of Mary Childs I just happen to meet her at the New Hope, PA drop site for The Family Cow while I was there to pick up my cooler of raw milk. As I recall, she had in her hand a pint size bottle of Family Cow raw milk and she was drinking it. After meeting her I emailed her several good raw milk references.
Back in 2011 The Star Ledger – New Jersey major news paper called. I gave them this quote which they ran on the front page above the fold: “If you’re going to criticize raw milk on the basis of safety, then let’s look at pasteurized milk and its record. It’s not a perfect record,” he said. “They like to say pasteurization guarantees safety and it does not.“ J Heckman
The Star Ledger, Nov, 14, 2011 Front Page Story: Got (raw) milk?
Shortly there after The Star Ledger started running very negative editorials about raw milk. I suspect they got complaints from big dairy.
Dr. Heckman, you are one of the best informed and educated people with a science basis, why aren’t reporters knocking on your door we wonder… wouldn’t be because it’s not the message they want to send or get fired over?
I listened to the NPR podcast. It was a hatchet job, portraying raw milk as a very dangerous substance. They certainly listened to the CDC and FDA and discounted all other perspectives.
One of the speakers sampled raw milk in the podcast and disliked the taste – said it tasted like “cheese”. This reminded me of something: A colleague of mine spoke with a family who recently moved from Canada to Texas. The children refused to drink conventional (pasteurized) U.S. milk — they hated the taste. It differed from conventional (pasteurized) milk which the children had in Canada. Their new neighbours in TX informed them that to find milk in the U.S. that tastes like “Canadian milk,” they need to buy organic milk. It seems that conventional non-organic milk on grocery store shelves often has had proteins (casein?) removed to sell separately to manufacturing companies. This would be illegal in Canada. The new neighbours in TX said that Americans are used to the (lack of) taste of their own conventional milk and find Canadian milk to be unusual in flavour.
Thus, the speaker on this NPR podcast may not be familiar with “whole milk” of any sort, pasteurized or not. She should compare the taste of raw milk to pasteurized, non-homogenized organic whole milk, and see how it compares. She may find it closer in taste to the organic milk than to conventional dairy.
David,
I am in amazement and a little in shock. When NPR contacted me they wanted the personal and real story of raw milk. They interviewed for hours. They even visited a drop off point in Pennsylvania. Dr Heckman was able to meet with them. My major emphasis was on the EU studies of raw milk health benefits and the latest studies on the positive impact of high standards, farmer training and testing. Safety is now documented and in the literature.
None of that important information was used for the story. Instead it was a Cute Little piece about a food rebel.
The story I told them was not the story they told America.
I was fooled. Hours of questions. Email after email with tons of data and peer reviewed science. To no avail!!!
This NPR team has won awards.
But where is the integrity. The short quote from the CDC was long ago discredited. The recent Meta Analysis of all EU raw milk studies shows that raw milk does in fact decrease asthma in city kids. Not just farm kids. The CDC lied to America.
I gave this study to NPR. I take raw milk safety seriously.
It was a cute little story for them. Instead of asking real customers about their experience with raw milk, they joked about it and asked for a Coke to wash down the sip they took of raw milk. I was under the impression that NPR was reputable
Sadly, I was mistaken. My question is this. How do we really know what a journalist will do with our data, our study’s. Our truth.
In this NPR skit, we were made the fools. At least that’s how I feel.
Why else would an interviewer spend hours to investigate science and safety and then ignore it all?
It comes down to integrity in my book.
I have asked for a second pod cast to get the rest of the story. No return email.
Silence.
Sounds a bit fascist.
“but it’s all good” >>>> when you’re at the very centre of a media story which publishes the absolute opposite of what you know to be the facts …. known among us “cranky conspiracy theorists” as – the moment when The sky falls in – it turns into a ‘teachable moment’
now apply your new-found understanding, to how the same media “professionals” treat other controversies in Ham-merica. A good primer, being = Into the Buzzsaw : Leading journalists expose the myth of a free press. Krista Borjesson experienced that same treatment when she put together an expose of how cows’ milk is polluted with Recombinant Growth Hormone
Leading journalists from Fox News, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, newspapers, and other outlets-including Dan Rather, Ashleigh Banfield, Robert McChesney, Greg Palast, Pulitzer Prize and Emmy winners, and more -recount the press censorship they experienced in the wake of 9/11 security concerns.
With a foreword by Gore Vidal and edited by former CBS and CNN producer Kristina Borjesson, this highly acclaimed anthology has been described as “fascinating and disturbing,” “uplifting” and “infuriating,” and a “penetrating collection of powerful essays.”
The original edition won the National Press Club’s Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism and was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the most extraordinary titles of 2002.
Important notice. Thank you for this. But I want to ask: why drink raw milk at all? In this case, there is always a chance to get sick. It needs to be boiled.
ALL food is inherently dangerous, do you boil your lettuce?
At least I wash it in warm water
Milkfrothertop, why eat or drink anything at all? No matter what you choose, there is always a chance to get sick unless you grew it from scratch and even then. Point being, either you have a choice, or you don’t which would you prefer assuming you have that choice to begin with. I have news for you, boiling is not a cure all for milk or any other food. Would you like to try my rock soup? yum…
No thanks 😉 So maybe you don’t wash your hands before eating? Haha, why are you reacting so negatively? I just assumed, and I really think that boiling in many cases is a good solution!
Do you boil breast milk???
Raw milk is a whole food that contains living immune factors that are not available in any other food
In a world filled with immune threats and depressed immunity…. you want a strong immune system.
That’s why you drink raw milk.
Amen. I don’t pray much.
Food safety considerations in integrated organic crop–livestock systems: prevalence of Salmonella spp. and E. coli O157:H7 in organically raised cattle and organic feed
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/renewable-agriculture-and-food-systems/article/food-safety-considerations-in-integrated-organic-croplivestock-systems-prevalence-of-salmonella-spp-and-e-coli-o157h7-in-organically-raised-cattle-and-organic-feed/EA1713BD8DFA932ABD67D90F265243E8/core-reader
If you look at the process of real milk versus soy milk, it’s fundamentally different. In real cow milk, the sun grows grass; the cows eat the grass; the grass turns into milk; the dairy farmer harvests the milk; you drink the milk. In soy milk, you have to either plow or kill the grass, plant the annual crop, get it germinated and keep weeds out of it, then harvest it, dry it, transport it to a laboratory, extract the protein through a labyrinth of expensive infrastructure, then bottle the fluid. The ecological differences are extreme, and yet Starbucks refuses to use the solar-driven real milk. Why doesn’t Starbucks get real milk instead of spurning all milk as if it’s the same thing? Starbucks could use this as a great teaching moment; instead, it joins the planet haters who want to grow monocrops and chemicalize everything. Really sad, really sad.
https://www.thelunaticfarmer.com/blog2/2/12/2020/endangered-cow-milk
Ken,
Thanks for posting the blog link; no one tells it like Joel. The numerous blog comments are worth reading too.
Joel’s recommendation about advertising through the use of medical claims and proven health benefits is great. However, it’s a great way to get your website shut down and get a visit from the FDA. It is illegal to make medical claims on a commercial website about Raw Milk!
That’s one of the reasons why Raw Milk Institute was founded. We can promote and use the peer reviewed literature from the EU to educate and outreach.
It’s insane that peer reviewed studies that are published at Pubmed and NIH can not be shown to the public.
There is a place in hell for those that think nutrition is not the basis of health and the immune system. To suggest that only drugs cure is sick unto itself.
Drugs are the source of more death than any other single thing in American Life.
Biome First Medicine must be practiced first and foremost.
Kansas
https://www.cjonline.com/news/20200213/kansas-ag-department-seeks-new-consumer-labeling-for-raw-milk
Campylobacteriosis associated with the consumption of unpasteurised milk: findings from a sentinel surveillance site
G. Davys, J. C. Marshall, A. Fayaz, R. P. Weir, J. Benschop
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2020, e16
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection/article/campylobacteriosis-associated-with-the-consumption-of-unpasteurised-milk-findings-from-a-sentinel-surveillance-site/DD369E3F5ADE6F8F437F08CF47A5A41E
Select Campylobacter outbreak associated with raw drinking milk, North West England, 2016
Campylobacter outbreak associated with raw drinking milk, North West England, 2016
J. Kenyon, T. Inns, H. Aird, C. Swift, J. Astbury, E. Forester, V. Decraene
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2020, e13
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection/article/campylobacter-outbreak-associated-with-raw-drinking-milk-north-west-england-2016/A23D1EECBDE93474D78950B15A79C44A
Joe, do any of these raw milk safety researchers ever look at differences in outbreaks due to raw milk vs. lacto-fermented raw milk products? Is there some protection in drinking home-cultured raw milk kefir as compared to raw milk?
Safe Processing, Safe Food: Food Processing Infosheets for Extension Educators
https://joe.org/joe/2020february/tt7.php?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020february
Dear friends,
It’s treason!
Our top US intelligence agencies are reporting that Russia is again actively subverting our 2020 election process in support of Trump. Trump just fired the person who reported this information to congress.
Trump is actively working with Putin to get re-elected.
How is that not straight up Treason?
There is a time when being silent is appropriate when it comes to politics. Now is not one of those times.
Well Mark, according to Hillary Clinton the Russians are currently “grooming” Tulsi Gabbard to champion their interests… So which is it??? I am sick and tired of this Russian collusion BS/deception…
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18/politics/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard/index.html
Mark, I’m afraid it’s not just one leader’s treason. The entire Republican party (with the except of Mitt Romney) is complicit in supporting America’s shift to fascism (via debasing of rule of law in DOJ, ignoring Congressional subpoenas, purges, bribing foreign leaders, neglecting national security, etc., etc.). Will America come to its senses? I’m not so sure.
“shift?! to fascism” ?
…. the Republic of the united States of America is predicated in fascism = as announced by the fasces carved in stone on each side of the speaker’s chair in the House of Representatives
https://www.quora.com/In-the-US-House-of-Representatives-why-are-there-maces-on-the-wall-behind-the-Speakers-podium
confer with : Rulers of Evil by Tupper F Saucy : required reading for those who care about America as a white Christian nation
I always know I can play fast and loose with my political and historical interpretations because Watson will be there to supply the hard facts. 🙂
The food safety experts seem to only look at the supposed safety benefits of pasteurization and ignore the negative effects. What is the full story on cold plasma treatment – what are the deleterious effects they’re not telling us about?
Raw milk
Hey Mark, do you think the Russian people are screaming ah AGH carumba? Never mind, I don’t get it.
in Russia, inter-provincial distribution of raw milk is perfectly legal. So woulds’t thou like us to believe that what the those tricky Ruskis are up to, is … compromising FDA head John Sheehan into rescinding the law against interstate sale of raw milk in the US of A whilst attention is focussed on the Democrat Punch&Judy show?
From now on, on this forum, you’re handle is = “Marky Malarkey” frantically spouting “conspiracy theory”. As my old man used to say : “stick to your knitting” = ie your area of expertise. Geopolitics is NOT your strong suit
Betrayal of loud adversaries is one thing. Silence of friends is truly quite another.
tooo deep for me, Marky M’Larkey.
Get back to us when this fit of Trump DeRangeMent passes … your paranoia subsides … you have something intelligent to contribute re the Campaign for REAL MILK
And the best comedy in all airwaves, is right here on a raw milk blog. Go figure, bye… wayving and crying isn’t that cruel.
Gordon, thanks for your DeRangement, I couldn’t have put it better meeself. Just goes to show any fool with lots of money can be successful. Even if they’re peeing up the wrong tree tsrump butt my dogs can sniff that out in no time. Unfortunately, I live with a foolish deranged fool that watches politics on TV nonstop so there’s no escaping it except for the compouter.
This one was so easy. I didn’t even have to be fully conscious to figure it out.
Raw milk studies from the EU clearly show that raw milk consumption decreases the incidence of colds ( which are virus’s ). It also reduces ear infections allergies and asthma.
All immune system related illnesses.
Strong resilient adaptive immune systems simply don’t allow virus’s to get the better of you.
Coronavirus is a virus. Just like the flu or colds. It is a virus. A weird and virulent one but non s thx less a virus.
The CDC states it’s actually quite mild, but takes over those with weaker immune systems. In general, lThose are the ones that die. There is also evidence that the high dose corticosteroids used to treat them may be decimating the immune system and actuality killing them. This was described as the treatment aftermath when a doctor died after he was treated with high dose corticosteroids for his respiratory complications.
Raw milk is the world champion and gold winner of immune building. It’s been a champion for a million years ever since mammals began to nurse their young.
Raw milk and it’s uncounted immune factors, and specialized proteins, good fats, Anti inflammatory enzymes, bio available minerals and vitamins builds a strong immune system. One that does not over react. But instead calibrates the reaction just right. That’s it role as the first food of life. For those that use it in all stages of life. Life ( verses illness or death ) is the reward!!
Modern man is a damn fool and a bunch of idiots. Hail to the conscious people!! That can read and do their own thinking.
Prevention is the name of this game. That means building a strong immune system before Coronavirus or the flu or the cold gets your number.
Super simple isn’t it.
Try telling CDC or FDA.
Today I am speaking at the Sourdough Festival at Cherry Valley CA.
This will be a central theme. Build your immune system!!
In addition to raw dairy, various supplements can help bolster the immune system. Sally Oh lists these on an excellent Facebook post about trying to build immunity to coronavirus:
PREVENTION
Here’s what we do now:
▶️ Vitamin C 2500-5000mg daily
▶️ Vit D3 5,000iu daily
▶️ Vit A 25,000iu daily
▶️ No, I ain’t takin’ any untested cobbled together jab.
▶️ Keeping my fluids to myself & away from yours
▶️ Washing my hands
▶️ The top 3 are specifically for preventing colds, flu. Here’s everything we take: https://vitalityhealthworks.com/daily-supplements/
Is there any new news about farmer Sam Girod?
Why Sam Girod’s Martyrdom Does Us All a Disservice
https://www.davidgumpert.com/sam-girods-martyrdom-us-disservice
This is a diss service provided to you at no extra charge as part of your free daily entertainment subscription. Be sure to czech back tomorrow lest the world chnges and you wouldn’t even know it. Darn, where did I put down that white glass?
Interesting take, David. Strange how quiet can and is often louder than screaming.
At the Sourdough Festival we had a packed room with 50 people. I brought enough raw butter for each to take home one pound. My deal was that if they took the pound they had to tell five people about our message of immune system building through whole food nutrition. 100% takers to the deal.
For a hour and a half it was intensive focus. Several CA WAP chapter leaders invited me for lectures to their groups.
Can not wait.
By the way …. the FDA is due to respond to our federal litigation deadline next week on our raw butter interstate ban challenge.
If they don’t respond, the entire weight of the federal court system is going to come down on their heads.
“Modern man is a damn fool and a bunch of idiots.”
Speak for yourself Mark.
Glad to hear action may actually, you know, activate. And that so many people are showing up and care. I’m one of your harshest critics yet so glad you bear that torch. What does FDA stand for anyway, frolic dunce anonymous? Spread the butter!
Ora,
Explain to me how modern man is brilliant and smart.
All I see is evidence of laziness, following fads, obesity, a trance like behavior of doing things that hurt themselves, hurt the next generations, addictions, and voting for unethical really greedy selfish people. Those voters don’t even vote their own self interests. They vote for those that rip them off. Then follow them like they have been hypnotized. Those voters will not read or determine right from wrong.
How is that anything but lazy, foolish immoral and unethical idiocy?
Of course I do agree many are smart and conscious. But why are so many just damn foolish, lazy and down right stupid.
Answer me that question and I will send you a pound of free raw butter?? From some very happy cows.
Mark, do I get free shipping? If not, maybe not but.
Forget the man behind the courtain I NEVER EXISTED
I will make a personal bet. Not one raw milk drinker in the world will get severely sick or die from Coronavirus.
Why do I think this?
The science says so. Colds are virus’s. Raw milk studies say clearly that kids that drink raw milk in the EU have a much reduced incidence of colds, ear infections inflammation and allergies.
It’s the immune system!! Built it now. It’s the best bet to prevent viral infections. Not to mention all illnesses and illness associated with immune depression.
What you say could very well be true… that said, current accumulated knowledge with respect to the microbiome is extremely lacking and in my opinion beyond thorough human understanding… Focusing on a single microbe in an attempt to control it is ludicrous and perilous.
There are as many bacteria in and on the human body as there are cells that make up the human body… Also worth noting is that there are more viruses in the human gut then there are bacteria! In fact, the viral population (‘virome’) plays an important synergistic role in regulating the number and types of bacteria in the body… where there are bacteria, the virome exists in spades… without them life would not be possible.
As the following article states, “Despite its predominance, the virome remains one of the least understood components of the gut microbiota.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6435874/
The inter kingdom mutualism between the virome and the bacterial biome is a new frontier.
One big secret is that raw milk drinking kids suffer frantically lower incidence of colds.
Colds are a virus!!!!
That means that raw milk effects the adaptive immune system. That untold story of the deep science of a healthy immune system is known by raw milk! When you study raw milk, you begin to appreciate what “infinity “ means. It’s a huge body of information and we have just begun to scratch the surface of this knowledge.
Drugs don’t do this. Pasteurized milk does not do this.
Breast milk and Raw milk are super immune system building foods. Infinity is a food called raw milk!
I am honored.
I spent an hour reading the CDC FDA anti raw milk bashing website. It is packed with bias and very old studies. Studies that are 30 and 40 years old. Nothing new. None of the most recent EU studies are quoted.
Guess what. The don’t use any personal names except for me. They call me out personally. They call out my company Opdc.
I guess I take it as a badge of honor. They must take me as a personal and agency threat.
It’s a barometer of winning. The FDA has some very bad news. Consumers don’t trust them. They trust the most recent science and the truth we share at RAWMI. They trust safe delicious immune system building raw milk. They don’t trust FDA drugs! Or the drug ads. The trust their farmer and the cows.
Are you familiar with this PhD dissertation on raw milk’s potential to target allergic diseases?
https://www.melkvee.nl/site/assets/files/0/02/29/418/138142_suzanne_abbring_pdf_melkvee_nl.pdf
by Suzanne Abbring: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanneabbring/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Suzanne_Abbring
You are really endangering people with this pseudo-science. Raw milk has been shown to contain H5N1 from infected cows and cats that have consumed this milk have died.
Birds to humans yes and perhaps cows to humans, yet despite a great deal of rhetoric based on assumption there is no peer-reviewed evidence supporting the transmission of H5N1 from raw milk to humans… I’ve drank raw milk for over 65 years and I do not intend to stop because of the unsubstantiated claims of fearmongers. And by the way cats do eat birds…
you’re late to this party, Mr Iluru. And that’s giving the benefit of the doubt = that “you” are not a robot, programmed to foment trouble
in the 29 years that I’ve been involved in the Campaign for REAL MILK, we’ve seen more than a few dirty tricks pulled, by the industrial dairy cartel … outright, shameless lying
the bird-flu thing is utter non-sense. Transparently >>> fear-mongering of the first order put out by Big Dairy, in its frantic death throes as informed consumers vote with our dollars
Nature abhors a vacuum. As pasteurized milk was revealed as THE single most allergenic foodstuff, producers of REAL MILK rose to meet demand for the good stuff. Mark McAffee Organic Pastures led the way = re-inventing dairying in America.