http://www.care2.com/greenliving/raw-milk-easy-greening.html
Raw Milk: Easy Greening
By Melissa Breyer, Producer, Care2 Green Living.
One day my husband announced that he wanted to buy a cow so that we could drink raw (non-pasteurized) milk. Now this wouldn’t be a new animal for our farm, since we live in New York City. Hmmm. And, isn’t pasteurization a good thing? The debate about raw milk versus pasteurized is a heated one, and comprises the second part of our series on milk. Here’s what I found about raw milk (and whether or not we bought the cow).
The Raw Milk Laws
As it turns out, my husband didn’t want to install a cow in our urban garden, he wanted to join a cow-share program; a covert way of gaining access to a beverage pretty difficult to buy in our state. Drinking raw milk is not illegal, but in many areas, purchasing it for human consumption is. Each state determines the details of raw milk sales. It is illegal to sell it for human consumption in 15 states, and available with restrictions in 26 states. Around these restrictions raw milk lovers have been scrambling to set up clandestine routines to get their milk. One of several loopholes used by consumers is a cow-share program, which allows the shareholder a percentage of milk from “their” cow. The cow lives on a dairy farm and is cared for and milked by a farmer, the milk is then delivered to you-thus no money is actually exchanged for the milk itself.
Why Pasteurize?
When I first starting hearing about raw milk my mind went straight back to a grade school black and white educational film about the miracle of pasteurization-how treating milk with heat followed by rapid cooling would kill all of the evil pathogens lurking in there. And looking at the history of the dairy industry, pasteurization was indeed a bit of a miracle. With 19th century industrialization came very unsanitary dairy farms. When pasteurization was introduced to dirty Victorian milk, infant survival rates saw a dramatic increase. By 1917, pasteurization was legally required or officially encouraged in most big cities.
By eliminating most of the pathogens that cause disease, including E. coli, salmonella and listeria, health official say that pasteurization has helped lower infectious-disease rates in the U.S. more than 90 percent over the past century. So pasteurization seems good-but I am also inclined to have a deeper trust in food that has seen as little processing as possible, albiet from clean farms, so the idea of raw milk was very intriguing. And if it’s so unhealthy, why are so many seemingly intelligent people drinking it?!
Types of Pasteurization
There are four types of pasteurization, each with a designated minimum temperature to which the milk must be subjected for a minimum amount of time. They range from Vat Pasteurization which requires that milk be held at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, to Ultra Pasteurization (UP) which requires a minimum temperature of 280 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 seconds. Most national brands of milk are ultra-pasteurized because it is quick and dramatically increases shelf life (UP milk can stay fresh for up to two months). Vat pasteurization, the most gentle of the methods, is a costlier process and the milk has a shorter shelf life. (Hence it is not viable for large-scale dairy farms.) Vat pasteurization is the method for preparing milk for starter cultures in the processing of cheese, yogurt, and buttermilk-that suggests to me that the vat process leaves some life in the milk.
Why Raw?
Advocates for raw milk claim that the process of pasteurization destroys the beneficial bacteria, proteins, and enzymes that aid in digestion. Specifically, raw milk contains immunoglobins, lipase and phosphates that are killed by heat. Raw milk contains vitamins C, B12 and B6, much of which can be lost to pasteurization. Healthy bacteria naturally found in milk, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, is also lost during heat treatment. Raw milk proponents point out that these “friendly” bacteria aid in digestion and boost immunity. According to an article in Time Magazine, some people with a history of digestive-tract problems, such as Crohn’s disease, swear by the curative powers of non-pasteurized milk. Others praise its nutritional value and its ability to strengthen the immune system.
A common observation among raw milk proponents is that the dangerous pathogens found in raw milk are directly connected to the outrageously awful conditions of factory farming-mostly due to diseased animals. It is far easier to pasteurize milk than to stop industrialized farming. When you get milk from a clean, smaller farm where the animals are healthy, raw milk is not dangerous.
Our Cows
Quite frankly, the argument for raw milk makes perfect sense to me, but in the end I just couldn’t completely shake a lifetime of pasteurization dogma. Maybe if my husband and I could buy raw milk legally and locally I would have been swayed-but as it is we ended up with a compromise. We take occasional trips two hours north to buy raw milk at Hawthorne Valley Farm, one of the farms in our state that is certified to sell raw milk. But the bulk of our milk is purchased weekly at our local farmers market. We are fortunate to have an amazing dairy farm that supplies high-quality milk to the city markets. The milk is minimally processed-it is not homogenized (meaning that the cream can separate to the top) and it is vat pasteurized, retaining some of that healthy bacteria.
By purchasing this less processed milk we get clean milk that hasn’t had the daylights zapped out of it, we support a local family farm, cut down on waste with returnable glass bottles, and it is actually cheaper than supermarket organic milk. But the best part? We get to drive upstate to the farm and visit the 55 hormone-free, grass-chomping cows that are making our milk-it’s almost like having our own cows.
For more on milk, see Cow Milk: Easy Greening and Milk Alternatives: Easy Greening”.
More from Melissa Breyer (243 articles available)
Annie B.
Melissa
Jana
Kelly
Lily
Terri
Betsy
Cait
Eric
Andrew
Dave
Deepak
17 comments
add your comment »I grew up on a ranch, and we had a milk cow when I was young. After we sold her, we got "real" (raw) milk from a neighbor. My parents grew up on ranches, and they always had raw milk. We were a very healthy family! I am lucky enough now to live on a farm/ranch, and I grow my own vegetables (love raw carrots straight from the garden - cleaned by rubbing the dirt off with a hand or the tail of a jacket), have chickens for eggs and meat, we have cattle and sheep for meat. So many of you seem worried about how pasteurized, homogonized and dead your milk is, or whether a mammal should be drinking mammal milk - time to start thinking about how much of your food comes from a foreign country where their production standards are not as good as they are in the US. Remember the pet food scare from earlier this year? Do you think that same foreign garbage is not being passed off as human food, maybe vitamins or nutrional supplements or inputs into the making of the aforementioned? Food for thought: buy U.S. grown and produced food, and tell your Congressmen to implement County of Origin Labeling (COOL) for your food now! By the way, baby cows are called calves.
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
As children, we drank raw milk purchased from an Amish neighbor's dairy farm. We were very healthy, and now I am seeking others to join a driving co-op with me to get raw milk for my family, including my 4-year old son. He will not drink the milk from the store, but loves the milk right from the cow. I also have trouble digesting pasteurized milk, but not raw milk, and I love being able to make yogurt and kefir. I'm convinced.
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
I am a little disappointed in the terminology you're using to describe cow-share programs: "covert" and "clandestine"? Most cow-share programs are run with the full knowledge of state governments, and even though some programs have been attacked by state regulators, they have generally stood up to scrutiny by the courts. The Colorado General Assembly even codified cow-share programs into state law!
http://www.realmilk.com/happening.html#co
While cow-share programs were developed to avoid strict prohibitions on raw milk sales in some states, this is simply because these state regulations are so ludicrously restrictive. In the name of protecting "public health", they prohibit individuals from making informed personal choices about the food they eat. I find this "nanny state" approach to be appalling. For people who would like to find local sources of raw milk, go to:
http://www.realmilk.com/where.html
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
This story bought back many memories for me...I lived on a farm in Australia and can remember helping dad milk the cows and mum 'scalding' the milk in a special pan so we could consume the most delicious scalded cream. Nothing quite like bread and jam smothered in scalded cream. She also made our butter and I helped her using wooden butterpaddle type tools to shape the butter. We used to have milk delivered to the schools and all the children had a small bottle of milk for the morning recess....those were the days!!!!
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
When I was having my children-25 years ago,my husband wanted to start drinking raw milk since we lived right beside a dairy farmer out in the country. I was skeptical and fearful because of the pasteurization thing. However I relented after he kept on about how, when he was a child his grandparents own a few cows and they drank the raw milk and were still alive and healthy. So for three years we drank raw milk and I made my own butter and yogurt from the cream.
But now I am a vegetarian and do not eat or drink dairy products as I do not believe a human should consume milk or milk products at all! I think it is asinine to go from one tit to another and I do not miss it one iota!
I do drink organic basmati rice milk when I eat cereal, which isn't too often. I do not agree with those who feel they have to drink cows milk because of all the consumer brainwashing we have been exposed to but if one does drink milk then it should be either or rice milk and not milk from an animal!
If one drinks or consumes dairy products one will most likely be subject to mucous buildup, sinus problems,colds, the flu, stomach and or digestive problems.
I can attest that for 18 years or more since I stopped drinking cow's milk, I have never had a cold or flu!
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
while I agree about raw milk, it would be very difficult to implement over here in England because of our very stringent health regulations.
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
I have trouble digesting milk products and can only drink 1%-milk. It's true: most adults can't digest whole milk correctly--we human-mammals are just not made that way. I saw a special on people who buy raw milk for their "pets" on PBS, and most farmers interviewed said that cows' udders just can't be kept sanitized. I certainly wouldn't feed my kids raw milk, however, if we had one inspected, extremely healthy cow whose udders were washed before each milking, I might consider it. Otherwise, I believe this is a medically-dangerous food in today's world of pollution and chemicals. (PS Some people also eat raw beef, but I don't consider cooking it, processing it too much!)
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
I think it's a little funny that everyone seems older than I and talking about the "good old days" when they used to drink raw milk. Well, I grew up on 140 acres and I still know the local farmers, and I still purchase raw milk at the local farmers' market, and I'm only a few years out of highschool. It makes me feel lucky to be that rural that things like raw milk and homegrown maple syrup are always possible.
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Really we shouldn't be drinking cows' milk at all. It's full of large bovine proteins that are only beneficial to baby cows. Humans cease producing the enzyme that breaks down milks around age 3 - we're the only animal that's weaned off one tit only to be stuck to another for the rest of its life. If milk 'must' be drunk, Goats' milk, however is so similar in formulation to human milk that we can still effectively synthesize it, it does not cause the lactose intolerance cows' milk does and can often be used/bought unpasteurised too. Sheep's milk is a good alternative too. I guess it all depends on where and how you can care for/have access to the animal.
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
I live in the UK, and I too remember that school film shown so long ago, Heck I even remember the narrator had a US accent!
The milk we used to get in the shops used to separate, but now it doesn't and I miss not being able to make my own little bit of butter from the cream at the top. I haven't looked into it, but I think it is illegal to sell raw milk here, full stop. That cow in the garden is looking very good right now lol.
flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?