FDA: Raw milk not a healthy choice

Raw milk was blamed for 1,614 reported illnesses, 187 hospitalizations and two deaths in the United States, from 1998 to 2008, according to the FDA.

So, is raw milk not a healthy choice?

Milk straight from the udder, a sort of "stem cell" of foods, was used as medicine to treat, and frequently cure some serious chronic diseases.

Many will even attest that clean raw milk from pastured cows is a complete and properly balanced food.

Back in 2007, the following statements were made in Virginia, "Raw milk can only be sold to processors that will pasteurize it. Animal sharing is monitored to be sure that it involves true ownership and not a scheme to sell raw milk," notes John Beers, dairy program supervisor for the Virginia State Office of Dairy and Foods.

"We certainly have seen an increase in raw milk consumption over the last four to five years," Beers says. "My counterparts in other states are all dealing with this issue of people wanting raw milk, too. It seems like the interest in this area continues to grow."

Recent studies show that drinking raw milk is indeed unhealthy and unsafe.

According to a press release on March 26, 2010, there is no meaningful nutritional difference between pasteurized and raw milk, and raw milk does not contain compounds that will kill harmful bacteria.

Raw milk is unpasteurized milk from hoofed mammals, such as cows, sheep, or goats. Raw milk may contain a wide variety of harmful bacteria – including Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, Campylobacter and Brucella -- that may cause illness and possibly death. Public health authorities, including FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have expressed concerns about the hazards of drinking raw milk for decades.

source: examiner