The Great Milk Debate: To Pasteurize or Not
The French scientist Louis Pasteur is the one who discovered the process now called pasteurization in his honor after he discovered that subjecting fresh milk to a heat process for 30 minutes kills off harmful bacteria.
Louis Pasteur would be appalled.
The FDA has qualms.
And so does the New York’s State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
A century and a half ago, the curious and careful Monsieur Pasteur discovered that heating milk to about 145° F (65° C) and holding it there for 30 minutes would wipe out any bad bugs passing into the liquid as it flowed from the cow, goat, buffalo or yak of your choice.
Today, the word “pasteurized” is prominent on milk labels, but at least 30 States permit the sale of unpasteurized milk inside their borders. In fact, as you read this Massachusetts is or has just decided whether to join that crowd even though their very own Department of Agricultural Resources fact sheet on raw milk clearly states that “pasteurization destroys organisms that may be harmful to human health.”
Since 1987, there have been at least 143 reported outbreaks of illness – some involving miscarriages, still births, kidney failure and deaths – associated with consumption of raw milk and raw milk cheeses contaminated with Listeria, Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that between 1993 and 2006 raw milk or raw milk cheeses felled more than 1,500 people. The risk is especially high for seniors, people with weakened immune systems, children and pregnant women in whom Listeria can cross the placental border to kill a fetus or newborn.
Here in New York, dairies permitted to sell raw milk directly to consumers are certified and inspected once a month. They must also post signs warning that raw milk does not provide the protection of pasteurization. Happily–or luckily–this stringent oversight has protected New Yorkers as recently as two years ago when one of the more than 50 farms approved to sell raw milk was shut down after an Agriculture and Markets lab test found Listeria in their sample.
No surprise then that FDA, CDC and the American Academy of Pediatricians strongly support pasteurization. They also want you to know that keeping milk safe doesn’t stop when you buy the pasteurized product. Milk must be refrigerated at a temp lower than 40, in the back of the fridge not in a shelf in the door where the thermometer may rise. If it’s been out at room temperature for more than two hours, any stray bacteria in the liquid may have multiplied. Toss it.
Is all this worth the trouble? You bet. Milk is packed with virtually every nutrient a mammalian body needs: Calcium. Protein. Vitamin A. B vitamins. Added Vitamin D. Potassium . Phosphorus. All of which is why the Dietary Guidelines for Americans urges adding three 8-ounce servings of milk, cheese or yogurt to your daily diet. Generally that’s taken to mean whole milk, but folks who need to limit their fat and cholesterol can choose from three alternatives– one percent, two percent, or fat-free milks that reduce the fat but not the calcium and protein. And those sensitive to lactose, the sugar in milk, can get lactose-free versions.
Or they can switch to plant-based “milks.”
But that’s a story for another day.