Raw Milk - What We Don't Know

Over the next several posts, I will be discussing some interesting tidbits of what I'm learning over the battle between raw vs. pasteurized milk. Most of the milk regulations we have in place today, are based on circumstances that occurred around the beginning of the 20th century. High mortality rates among infants, and the spread of tuberculosis within the population.

In "The Untold Store of Milk" by Ron Schmid, ND., we are given insight into the history as to how we arrived at where we are today. I'll sum up the quick basics this way.

With the start of the industrial revolution, our society went from being farmers, to employees. Moving from farms to cities, many became dependent on others for their food source. Farmers who once only needed to feed themselves and their families, were now faced with needing to provide for a growing and dependent population. The residents of these growing cities were in need of milk to feed their newborn children. We all know what happens when demand strongly outweighs supply. Processes that needed to be in place to assure safety, were just not there. The fallout was that the poor conditions on the farms led to contaminated raw milk sources. The conditions became poor, because farmers were under a bigger demand, and in turn, had to change processes to meet the demand. Many farmers had too many cows for the land to support. This led to unclean conditions in stalls and on the range itself, which in turn led to disease. We can start to see where this is leading.

At the time, two men came up with a solution to the problem. One was to certify the raw milk, the other was to pasteurize it. We know what route was taken.

These two options are still in place today. You can buy certified raw milk and you can buy pasteurized milk. One reason pasteurized milk is more popular is the cost. That's one reason why pasteurized milk won out years ago, the costs. But the benefits of raw milk may far outweigh those costs. We'll get into that next time...