Raw milk safety is a hotly contested topic these days within the health food community. The truth is that CDC data proves the safety of this most nutritious and traditional of foods as analyzed and published by researcher Dr. Ted Beals MD in a 2011 edition of the Wise Traditions Journal.
Raw Milk Risk Extremely Small Compared to Risk of Other Foods
WASHINGTON, DC June 22, 2011: Data gleaned from U.S. government websites and government-sanctioned reports on foodborne illnesses show that the risk of contracting foodborne illness by consuming raw milk is much smaller than the risk of becoming ill from other foods, according to research by Dr. Ted Beals, MD, appears in the Summer, 2011 issue of Wise Traditions, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
“At last we have access to the numbers we need to determine the risk of consuming raw milk on a per-person basis,” says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a non-profit nutrition education foundation that provides information on the health benefits of raw, whole milk from pastured cows.
The key figure that permits a calculation of raw milk illnesses on a per-person basis comes from a 2007 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) FoodNet survey, which found that 3.04 percent of the population consumes raw milk, or about 9.4 million people, based on the 2010 census. This number may, in fact, be larger in 2011 as raw milk is growing in popularity. For example, sales of raw milk increased 25 percent in California in 2010, while sales of pasteurized milk declined 3 percent.
In addition, Dr. Beals has compiled published reports of illness attributed to raw milk from 1999 to 2010. During the eleven-year period, illnesses attributed to raw milk averaged 42 per year.
“Using government figures for foodborne illness for the entire population, Dr. Beals has shown that you are about thirty-five thousand times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk,” says Fallon Morell. “And with good management practices in small grass-based dairies offering fresh unprocessed whole milk for direct human consumption, we may be able to reduce the risk even further.”
“It is irresponsible for senior national government officials to oppose raw milk, claiming that it is inherently hazardous,” says Dr. Beals. “There is no justification for opposing the sale of raw milk or warning against its inclusion in the diets of children and adults.”
According to Pete Kennedy, president of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, “Where raw milk is concerned, the FDA has an agenda apart from protecting the public health. The agency wants to restrict and discourage the sale of unprocessed dairy products. This will have the effect of denying freedom of choice.”
“Every time there is a possible connection between illness and raw milk, government officials issue dire press releases and call for bans on raw milk sales,” says Fallon Morell. “However, these numbers fail to justify the government opposition and prove what we’ve known all along, that raw milk is a safe and healthy food.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Raw Milk Pathogens, What You Should Know, by Dr. Ted Beals MD
This shows that, according to numbers I looked up over the weekend, that the risk of illness from PASTEURIZED MILK is at least 10x as great as the risk from raw. I’ll stick to raw, thanks.
"Data gleaned from U.S. government websites and government-sanctioned reports on foodborne illnesses show that the… http://fb.me/IVyGnTzz
Those are some impressive figures. I got that WAPF email this morning and was thinking about how much controversy something like milk can cause. All the fears and all the governmental posturing and there is no problem. Between the unfair treatment of raw milk and the agressive swine flu vaccine programs more and more Americans are becoming comfortable with a potentially totalitarian regime.
Government Data Proves Raw Milk is Safe
I wish I could get raw milk in our area.
Gotta love our government… hiding healthy news, glad this dr and others like him know where to look and do for our betterment. Never mind that for thousands of years people survived off of raw milk before lobbyist groups, grocery stores, and ambulance chasers got their grubby greedy paws into everything.
I’ve been drinking raw milk and cooking with it for about 4 years now and my health has only gotten better post menopause/GYN surgery…
Got my first cow 25 yr’s ago.I hate it when I gotta buy the crap from the store.I’ll have another fresh one in a yr or so.Seems like time is standing still.
My children drink raw goat milk daily and have not gotten ill from it yet. In fact, I’ve seen improvements on my daughter’s eczema and yeast issues since switching from store bought cow milk.
As a child of 6 I drank raw milk from a cream separator, I suffered no ill effect, it was delicious.