Do you think raw milk should be made legal?

I probably wouldn’t. I believe the pasteurization process is to make the milk safer to drink because it destroys unhealthy organims and things like that before it is sold to consumers. As far as their claims of non-pasteurized milk being perfectly safe and healthy? I don’t believe it. Then again, I’m not a dairy farmer so I’m not an expert. Should it be made legal? I would have to say no.

Hell no. Those people are wack jobs. Pasteurization has significantly improved the safety of the milk supply. Their claims on the health benefits are unfounded, and, more importantly, women and babies can get very sick from unpasteurized milk (and cheeses for that matter).

I raise goats, so I’ve had plenty of raw milk products.

Here’s the deal- raw milk is a perfect incubator for germs- if it’s not handled carefully, you will get sick- for example, an outbreak of E. coli was caused by contaminated raw milk from Dee Creek Farm near Vancouver, WA. So, if you do want raw milk, a certified dairy, or a farmer you trust (prefereably one you can visit) is the way to go.

Absolutely not. Milk needs to be pasturized lest people get very sick.

@crisw People have gotten sick from pasteurized milk as well. But I’m sure you already knew that

Yeah, fucking no.

the last person i knew who was into this “raw milk” thing also thought he had a CIA satellite watching him. coo-coo.

no thanks.

now, hormone-free milk is another story entirely…

@Facade
“People have gotten sick from pasteurized milk as well.”
Yes, but the chances with raw milk are greater. Personally, I never served any raw goat milk products to other people, but I had no qualms using them myself, as I knew exactly where the milk came from. But I also know how easy it is for the milk to get contaminated. There’s nothing like having two quarts of milk in the pail when one of the goats manages to step in it. When I milked goats, my dogs and cats got a lot of milk :>)

@eponymoushipster They probably were watching him~

I think it probably could be made legal but stringent requirements, inspection, testing, and labeling would be involved.

But, unless I know the animal personally and can vouch for its state of health, I think I would stick to pasteurized milk products.

I do agree that the folks being so rabid about the damage pasteurization supposedly does to milk are what are technically referred to as “nut jobs.”

Besides people weren’t designed to drink any milk except human milk, so what are we doing drinking milk from other species? Maybe they should be protesting the drinking of any milk except human. Now that would be an interesting opportunity for grad students to earn money, instead of giving blood or plasma all the time. Become a milch-nurse!

@Darwin lol, I never thought of that. Could we also go as far as to say we shouldn’t eat animals, only humans? =P

Hey! Soylent Green!

@Darwin

You might want to look up a very interesting story by Piers Anthony called “On the Farm.” Its plot revolves around human milk farms…

I drinks raw milk on occasionally, also goat, camel and especially buffalo (it’s wonderfully sweet and creamy and 8–9% fat) all the time. And it doesn’t effect me bran at all. No, not not at all I can imagine.

Pasteurization is for children, babies, old people, and sissies oh and you and city-folk toos.

A lot of women in my “crunchy” group, drink raw milk. They also give it to their children, once their children are off human breastmilk.
I’m not condoning it, but this is their argument for it!

Nina Planck is an advocate for raw milk, a lot of people use her as their source of information on it:
article on benefits
how raw milk got a bad rap

this site is a campaign site for raw milk.
I also don’t think it’s “illegal” because you can get it in some states…it just depends on how you get it. I know there’s a store nearby me that sells it, that gets it from a farm not too far away. Here’s where to get raw milk in your state

@casheroo x2.

@casheroo

It is actually illegal to sell raw milk in many states. Some states only allow its sale if it’s from an inspected dairy. Other states allow direct “from the farm” sales but don’t allow advertising it. There is no Federal law on the issue ion the U.S., however.

I think that people who don’t mind the risk should be allowed to have raw milk if they want it, but I think the “benefits” are overblown.

@crisw Sorry, I’m not too familiar with it’s legality, but I know that link I posted thoroughly goes over each state.
I’m curious though, as a vegetarian (or are you vegan?) do you agree more with raw milk, because the cows are usually treated better? I know that they say non-grain fed cows milk taste much better, so I assume grain is not a natural food source for cows? I figure you’d know more about this than me.

@casheroo

As I mentioned, I raise goats, so I don’t have a problem with all milk. I actually don’t drink liquid milk (just don’t like it) but I prefer cheese and yogurt and the like from small farms- not only are the animals treated better, the products taste better!

As an aside, I am not sure how someone could raise most modern breeds of milk cows or goats without grain. The grain is necessary as an energy source; a milk animal that isn’t getting enough energy will often get ketosis, which can rapidly be fatal. I think that milk production from animals not fed any grain would have to be very limited. It’s true that in nature they would not be getting much grain, but they also would not be producing very much milk.

@crisw Interesting. I’ve seen pictures of cows in the “wild”, and they were all quite scrawny, so it makes sense that they need the grain to produce breastmilk. Thanks for answering!

Pasteurization is a great boon and blessing that we would be foolish to set aside.

I used to drink raw milk all the time. We got it from a family down the street who had a few cows. I could digest it fine, even though I am lactose intolerant. The other cool thing about the milk we got, was it still had the cream that we’d skim off the top to make butter, whipped cream, etc.

I recently got some raw milk (without the cream) from a friend with which to make yogurt. I pasteurized it myself during the “yogurtization”.

I myself, and my siblings, were weaned on goats’ milk (our father kept goats). Raw milk is safe enough, but you have to know where it comes from.

The fact is that raw milk is healthier and easier to digest than pasteurized milk, as long as it’s handled properly, that is. Since the vast majority of milk is produced by woefully unsanitary and crowded factory farms, which produces milk that absolutely must be pasteurized, none of the large agricultural companies ever be able to supply the niche market of raw milk consumers, so they’d prefer to keep it illegal or at least strangled by red tape.

Which is, as we have come to expect from corporate agriculture, fucked.

Oh, I wish I had my own cow. No concern then at all.

@Aster

Where do you live? Even a lot of cities will allow miniature goats. A good Nigerian Dwarf milker can easily supply enough milk for a small family. A cow may not be realistic, but goats are really easy to keep.