Legal Raw Milk Consumption

Essay #1: Food Safety

Legal Raw Milk Consumption

Raw Milk

Just like any other thing we eat or drink, milk is one of the several types of food that our body had to adapt, tolerate and assimilate. This although was not an overnight thing, but an evolutionary process of thousands of years in order to make milk part of our normal diet. The human body needed to digest food so it was constantly exposed to several environmental and biological factors that could potentially be harmful for us. Milk was no different, that is the reason why food safety is essential for us to maintain our bodies properly functioning without having major health risks due to food.
A recent news report talks about an E. Coli outbreak in children from Tennessee that consumed raw milk. There are particular points of view in regards of this subject, mainly due to the proven health problems that drinking raw milk can cause to us. Historical data about raw milk clearly support the arguments to ban the sale of raw milk in the market.

The main two stances that could be taken in this matter are very simple:
- The ethicality of selling raw milk in the market (this mainly goes to businesspeople that knowing it could be very harmful they just want to make money.)
- Consumption by choice. To relate it to an odd example, just like birth control, this would support those people that knowing the risks still want to consume raw milk. Either because they do not care or simply think they will be fine.

I have always said, even behind the craziest act or decision there is always a reason. By no means am I trying to compare this to another debatable topic like marihuana, but I am a firm believer that there must be something powerful enough to make it illegal in the first place. The companies and producers of debatable food products (even McDonald’s or Coca-Cola) feel the need to protect their consumers. This is clearly why at least in the America, selling raw milk is illegal. As it was mentioned in class, the process of pasteurization eliminates the threatening pathogens that milk has so it becomes ‘cleaner’.

Going back in time to the 1920’s when dairies began pasteurizing milk in the America; raw dairy products caused a considerable portion of foodborne illness. For example, historical data shows that hundreds of outbreaks of tuberculosis and infections such as Brucella abortus, streptococcal species, etc. Today, raw dairy (especially milk) is directly associated with E. coli, Campylobcater and Salmonella outbreaks. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics 79 percent of raw dairy outbreaks involve at least one person under 20 years old. “Of 121 dairy-related outbreaks reported between 1993 and 2006, 73 (60 percent) were linked to raw dairy, despite only about 3 percent of the dairy products consumed in the U.S. being unpasteurized. And, in those outbreaks, 13 percent of raw dairy drinkers were hospitalized, while only 1 percent of pasteurized dairy drinkers were.”

This is linked directly with another topic about raw milk consumption because it could affect children, pregnant women and people that their health is at risk. There is an article from Jatinder Bhatia (MD) a member of the Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP) states, “Consumption of raw milk products is especially risky for pregnant women, infants, immune-compromised individuals, and the elderly, and the evidence overwhelmingly establishes the benefits of pasteurization on food safety.” This quote supports the process of pasteurization. However, last month at two public hearings held by the Wisconsin Senate, numerous advocates testified that raw milk offers special health benefits. This creates now a debate because both sides have clear evidence of positive effects in milk. Bills are pending in both Wisconsin’s Senate and General Assembly to allow the retail sale of raw milk, but since the hearings, they’ve not seen further action.

Finally, it all comes down to an ethical point of view of either being conscious enough to purchase it (in the event that is sold in the market) or just not producing raw milk at all. Raw milk is sold in several states legally despite the health effects, but the U.S. government should reconsider this if they are trying to support a healthy America.

AC

Sources:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/11/raw-milk-dairy-linked-to-e-coli-outbreak-through-tests/#.Us8nnNJdWSr
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/10/milk-smell-and-taste-may-differ-but-benefits-are-the-same/#.Us-in9JDuSo
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/12/american-academy-of-pediatrics-advises-ban-on-raw-milk/#.Us-ix9JDuSo
http://www.realrawmilkfacts.com/raw-milk-news/story/american-academy-of-pediatrics-advises-pregnant-women-and-children-not-to-c/