Drinking raw milk is currently a hot trend, with sellers even skirting laws to make it available to consumers who believe it’s healthier or more natural than pasteurized milk.
Every consumer has their reasons for their dietary choices, and must weigh the risks and benefits for themselves, but experts advise parents to be cautious when making choices for their kids. When it comes to health fads and dietary and medical decisions, not all options are equal, and some are more dangerous for children than adults.
The latest outbreak of E. coli has sickened 21 people, landing more than half a dozen in the hospital, some with complications that will make recovery even more difficult, and six of the victims are children under age ten.
How Is Raw Milk Different From Milk On My Grocery Shelf?
Your grocery store’s dairy section likely has a wide variety of milk options, from low-fat to chocolate to even milk options that aren’t dairy at all. Most of them have Vitamin D added, and they’re pasteurized.
Pasteurization is simply the process of heating milk to a specified temperature for a specified period (there are a few different time and temp combinations). It kills bacteria in the milk, making it safe to drink. Without pasteurization, there’s a risk of contamination and illness.
Some milk brands marketed as ‘organic’ use lower temperatures for pasteurization and skip some of the other processing that the majority of companies use, so a consumer who wants to minimize the amount of handling and processing their milk goes through but still chooses a beverage that has been pasteurized for safety can seek out these items.
The safety difference is so significant that many states do not allow the sale of raw milk for human consumption. In those states, sellers get around the law by marketing the product as “pet use only,” with a wink and a nod to customers who are purchasing it to drink or pour for their children.
The Latest E. Coli Outbreak
E. coli has sickened nearly two dozen people in Florida, including small children. According to NBC Miami, all the illness is linked to raw milk bought from a single farm, where the health department is now investigating sanitary practices. They have not publicly named the farm responsible.
Florida is among the states that allow raw milk to be sold only for pet or livestock consumption. The effect of this is that regulation is less stringent compared to food and beverage products sold for humans.
There are other ways that sellers and consumers dodge laws intended to keep human food products safe, such as by buying a ‘herdshare,’ so that on paper, they’re not buying milk but a ‘share’ of the cows, entitling them to a portion of the milk. This way, the regulations for selling milk safely can be sidestepped, since no milk is (strictly) being sold.
Now at least 6 kids are sick, along with adults, and E. coli can be especially dangerous for kids, according to Novent Health.
“When a child gets sick from bacteria found in unpasteurized milk, such as E. coli or listeria, the illness can include vomiting, fever and diarrhea. It can spread quickly, and your child can get really sick. Young kids can even develop a blood infection called sepsis that goes throughout their whole body, including their brain and their heart. The complications of a bacterial infection can be liver failure, kidney failure, paralysis or even death.”
Rights & Risks
Health experts say there are no special benefits to drinking raw milk compared to pasteurized.
Adults still have the right to evaluate that information for themselves and make their own choices, although it’s clear that in many states, if the choice in question is drinking raw milk, it does involve weaseling around food safety laws. For most healthy adults, the risks of raw milk are probably relatively low, as long as the farms maintain sanitary standards at the level required for human consumption.
However, ‘relatively low’ isn’t zero, and that risk is higher if one is buying raw milk to consume regularly. It’s also much higher for those with compromised immune systems, and for small children whose immune systems are still developing.
Considering medical and safety recommendations and making the best choice for our children is a regular part of parenting. When it comes to raw milk, the evidence says that it’s a bad idea for kids.