One of the most exciting things that has happened with this blog over the past year is a large increase in the international readership. This is exciting to me as they bring a unique perspective to the discussion, contribute suggestions and ask questions that those of us living in the United States have perhaps never considered before.
One question that I’ve been getting recently, particularly from readers in India and Eastern Europe, is how to consume raw dairy safely when the cleanliness of the source is questionable.
People in these countries typically boil their raw milk first before drinking. Â However, the information they were reading on this blog and elsewhere about the health benefits of raw milk had prompted them to reconsider this practice. Â They wanted to start consuming fresh dairy in order to enjoy the significantly improved nutritional profile of milk that has been completely unheated.
What to do in this situation? Â I put this question to Tim Wightman, President of the Farm to Consumer Foundation and grassbased farmer extraordinaire to see what he had to say.
Three Methods for Ensuring Raw Milk Quality
If you are unsure of your raw milk source or are using it for the first time and are not yet 100% comfortable with your decision, try one or all of these methods to set your mind at ease:
- Buy only small amounts of raw milk at a time and use up within one to three days. Bacteria that cause food borne illness with the exception of Campylobactor require more than a few days to develop in the quantities necessary to cause human illness.
- Make homemade (unheated) kefir with the raw milk before consuming. Â If the milk is of questionable quality, the kefir won’t set right and the end result will be whey and milk solids or a very runny kefir that won’t be desirable for consumption.
- Probably the best way to drink raw milk and have peace of mind even if you are not completely sure of the cleanliness of your source is to freeze the milk for two weeks first before thawing and then drinking. Â Food or drink frozen for that period of time is considered safe to consume. Â As a bonus, raw milk that is frozen and thawed that ends up quite close to its original form with only just a few very small milk solids floating around is a good indication of quality milk.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sarah- thank you so much for this post! I live in Moscow, Russia and just this past week found a market where I could buy raw milk. The question about the quality of source has kept me from buying, but now I am very excited to go back to the market this week and buy some raw milk armed with methods to make the source quality not such a deterrent!
I didn’t know you could freeze raw milk — I will pass this info on to friends who are concerned about bacteria and refuse to drink raw milk even though the farm we frequent is clean and trustworthy.
And, as an afterthought, I think you always handle discussions in your comments with dignified objectivity. I’m glad you block useless comments that don’t contribute to rational discussion. There are plenty of forums out there for arguing.
I do take issue with fear mongering comments as this blog is supposed to cut through that and provide another school of thought that is thought provoking and sometimes, yes, even downright uncomfortable. What good is this blog if it allows raw milk propaganda to reign with equal footing as rational, data supported information?
I appreciate your vote of confidence.
Florida is like that, too.
Man Neeli! Yes there is a risk in drinking raw milk, but the risk is small, and the return is great. Store-bought milk is almost worthless to drink, if not harmful. The pasteurization removes the nutrients which must then be added back in. I drink at least 3 glasses of milk a day and have never felt better. I am also losing weight, although I am not hungry. However, if I lose my raw milk source, I will not return my family to store-bought milk. It’s just not worth it. I am very thankful for this article, as my breastfed baby needs some additional milk from time-to-time, and my pediatrician was concerned about the safety. I now plan on freezing enough for my baby for 2 weeks, then I don’t need to worry about him ever getting sick. Thanks Sarah for another great article! I really enjoy reading your posts!
This will be the last time I post a comment on your blog since it’s obvious to me that you can’t handle when people have different views and opinions from yours. I am not a troll, fearmonger, or employee of the big dairy industy. I believe in real, wholesome, organic foods, but am not bias when it comes to information on the internet. I think it’s petty that you felt the need to block me for speaking my own opinions about raw milk. I’ve read some negative comments about the WAPF and it’s members and I am starting to believe what other people have to say. I was blocked and banned from posting any more comments because you can’t hand the fact that I am not naive and believe everything that you have to say. I do my own research and figure things out for myself. Funny how you asked me about my scientific data, but when I called you out and asked you if you were a nutritionist or a follower of outdated Weston A. Price information that you removed that comment to make it appear as if I was a fearmonger and spreading information to scare people. If you can’t handle other people’s different views and beliefs, then you shouldn’t have this blog. I think you are biased, blind, and childish for attacking others who speak their minds when they don’t agree with you. I see how it is, you only want comments on your blog when people blindly follow your advice. If you can’t handle the heat, get out the kitchen.
One last thing, @ D, if you would’ve taken the time to throughly read my original post, then you would’ve seen that I have no problem with people drinking raw milk. The thing that I have a problem with is the advice given to international readers who don’t have access to sanitary farms. I’m being attacked for speaking my opinions, yet you can speak yours and falsely accuse me of trolling? If someone wants to drink raw milk, then have at it, but don’t give advice when the conditions of the farm aren’t up to clean standards I think you’re filtering my comments to make it appear as if am an alarmist and fearmonger when I’ve supported this site for months. I think it’s a shame that you felt the need to attack me and post such petty comments. Shame on you and Sarah for your negative attitudes toward people who don’t share your views.
Someone is having a rather bad start to the New Year it seems. LOL
I think I would have to agree, Sarah. Cranky. Cranky.
In all honesty, I don’t understand why someone who thinks the Weston A Price foundation is “outdated” is reading the blog of a WAPF chapter leader.
Great ideas! Thank you for sharing.
Angie, for how long can you use the thawed milk?
Hmmm. Looks like there are a couple of BigDairy trolls here trying to upset people. The bottom line for people like neeli is this – if you don’t want to drink raw milk, don’t. If you think Joe Blow down the street shouldn’t be drinking raw milk, recognize that it’s none of your business what Joe Blow does and let Joe Blow do his own research.
When I read the post from the gal about her family being sick, I knew instantly it was going to start something – and it did. But my first thought was not that raw dairy caused their illness, but that this is the time of year for all sorts of illnesses to be out and about and you can catch things at the grocery store, from school kids, from day care settings – I mean, the possibilities are endless. Just because they all drank milk from the same place doesn’t make milk the culprit. Lots of people are sick year ’round who drink pasteurized milk from the grocery store and no one is blaming that junk for everything that goes wrong within families.
The thing to do is contact the farmer and see if ALL of his families were ill. Then you’d have something on which to base an argument. Until then, people like neeli will continue to be seen as trollers for BigDairy in my eyes. Big Dairy is running scared, and so they should be.
Exactly D. And in the case of our group that got sick last winter, there were plenty of families that did not get sick that drank the same milk. AND, there were cases where some within the same family got sick and some did not. It was all over the board and there was no consistency to it at all. Clearly not a case of a food borne illness outbreak but just a bug going around like always happens this time of year.
Well said. My thoughts on this are that there are risks everywhere we go. I got E.Coli from a local restaurant a couple years ago. THAT WAS AWFUL. In high school I had a friend who got Hep A from a local restaurant (as did many others around town.) There are often peanut butter, beef, chicken, and other recalls because of some kind of contamination problem. And even Big Dairy milk can spread disease because there are some bacteria that aren’t killed by all of their Big Dairy processing. Wherever we buy our food from, the fact is that it’s all grown outside in the dirt, and it all comes from animals that live outside, and there is always some measure of risk involved. But we have to smart, store and prepare foods properly, use safe kitchen habits, choose brands wisely, pay attention to recalls and when we do occasionally get sick, fight it the best we can. The benefits of raw milk far outweigh the risks for me, especially when chosen from a trusted dairy.
Thanks for the info Sarah! We get our raw milk from a local farm who gets the milk from other farms so we do not know the source. Lately, the milk has been going sour within a week, not sure if that is an indicator of fresh milk or not. We’ll start freezing our milk as you suggested.
Sarah,
Im in India. The reason that the tradition of boiling raw milk began in India was Tuberculosis. It is disease still quite widespread in South Asia and the bacteria is carried in cattle and transmitted through raw milk. Boiling completely destroys this pathogen and that is real reason Indians boil raw milk. Raising Tuberculosis free cattle is now possible in the west by it is still some decades away, if at all, in the developing world.
Hi Sam, below is from Tim Wightman. It seems that the notion of TB being transferred from cows to humans is erroneous as there are no studies proving this mode of transmission.
“TB can be transmitted in raw milk but is most often thought to be infected by humans not cows. The same reason in in western cultures bus drivers for children cannot be TB carriers, closed environment and easily transmitted. I have yet to see any studies that Bovine TB has been proven to transfer to humans.”
Tim also adds that, “Lack of adequate trace minerals is a key aspect to both human and bovine TB infection.
Just what lack of minerals and or extreme presence of a few effecting other minerals has yet to be discovered or researched.
It just easier to kill off infected herds rather than promote prevention. IE western medicine.”
Believe it or not, TB & brucellosis are not just a problem in the developing world. Both are widespread in Ireland. My farmer gets tested for both on a regular basis.
This is a great explanation for beginners! http://t.co/UiJqwz2u