If you read my recent post, Raw Milk: 9 Facts You Never Knew and you’re anything like me, then you might be wondering why most people think raw milk is so dangerous, despite its many health benefits. I started looking into the history of milk to answer this question and it all started to make sense. In short, raw milk – natural milk, because let’s be honest, that’s exactly what it is – has been used as medicine dating as far back as the Greek physician and philosopher, Hippocrates. And in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, it was used as a legitimate medical treatment. But, during the Industrial Revolution, the reputation of natural, raw milk took a hard hit, and fear and uncertainty paved the way for pasteurization.

For those of you who are not big history buffs, I will try to make this long story short. But, if you want to learn more, I highly recommend the book, The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. It is an excellent and surprisingly easy read that will provide a very thorough understanding of the history of milk.

So What Happened Between Then and Now?

In the early 19th century during the Industrial Revolution, cities like New York City were booming. New York alone grew from a town of 33,000 to 650,000 in just 60 years. As cities grew, dairy cows lived closer to urban environments in smaller quarters. They spent less time on pastured land and consumed swills, a grain mash byproduct from liquor distilleries. The cows that ate the swills saw a dramatic increase in milk production, but this wasn’t without consequence. Before long, many of the dairy cows and those who consumed their milk began to experience health problems. And on top of that, it was not uncommon for distillery milk to be adulterated with “starch, sugar, flour, plaster of Paris, and chalk.”¹

At the time, milk was a staple in the American diet. Many families consumed as much as a quart a day, and even more consumed between 2 and 3 times that amount.² The swill milk, unbeknownst to many, would soon be a source of sickness, especially for children under the age of 5.

Swill Milk Begins to Kill

The combination of swill milk and the unsanitary conditions of the dairies coincided with the rising mortality rate of children. In New York City, the mortality rate of children under 5 rose from 32.14% to 50.02% in just 26 years.³ Contamination of the milk from unsanitary living conditions, milking by unclean hands, and unregulated transportation systems, led to the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis. Everyone knew that something had to be done to combat the rising mortality rate. And in an effort to do so, two solutions emerged: Pasteurization and Certified Milk.

An interesting fact: In 1914, Dr. Ralph Vincent a doctor who wrote a letter to the Times arguing against the notion that tuberculous was of bovine origin and from consuming cows milk, states that since 1904 he had been looking for a single case of a child developing tuberculosis meningitis who also consumed raw milk. But he had not found one. All the patients that contracted tuberculosis were those who had been consuming pasteurized milk.⁴ And interesting facts like these are why it’s important that we have the whole picture when it comes to facts in history.

Now Back to Our Brief History:

Pasteurization

Pasteurization is the process of heating milk to a minimum temperature of 162 degrees Fahrenheit (72.2 degrees Celsius) in order to kill any harmful bacteria. Following the introduction of pasteurization, there was a decline in the mortality rate of children. They also saw a decrease in the frequency of infectious disease. Many were very excited to see the number of diseases diminish. But, it is worth noting, that there is not enough information to confirm whether or not pasteurization was the sole reason for the decline. At the time as there were other improvements in various areas of sanitation. And while many were glad for the decline, they also knew pasteurized milk was not the same as fresh certified milk.

Another benefit of pasteurization is the increase in milk’s shelf life. Raw milk will keep in the refrigerator for about a week. Pasteurized milk lasts between 30 – 90 days after opening. The difference being: raw milk does not spoil the same way that pasteurized milk does. Due to the microbes and bacteria in raw milk, it will continue to ferment and become yogurt or clotted cream. Once pasteurized milk is past its best by date, it begins to rot. Yes, rot, because the pasteurization process kills the very microbes and bacteria that keeps milk from spoiling. And no one wants to drink that.

By extending the shelf life, dairy farmers and grocery stores lose less profit to spoiled milk. Thus, there is a financial incentive for pasteurization to become the preferred method of milk consumption. Even more so, some large dairies known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), tend to keep their dairy cows in close quarters. And many of them are left standing in the same manure-filled spot for months at a time with no fresh air, or grass. These unnatural living conditions leads to a constant need for antibiotics.

If pasteurization kills off most, if not all, harmful pathogens, then farms do not have to be as concerned with the animals’ living conditions. This, in turn, requires less investment on their end. Keep in mind, though, that there have been more food borne illness outbreaks in pasteurized dairy products than natural ones. See my post, Raw Milk: 9 Facts You Never Knew for more.

Certified Milk

Certified Milk looks a lot like what the organic raw milk movement looks like today. The herds graze year round in their natural environment and do not eat distillery slop. Their natural milk retains all of its beneficial vitamins, nutrients, and bacteria because it is not tampered with. And at the time, the primary motivation for the certified milk movement was for medical treatments.

In the UK, when give the choice, 26 out of 27 physicians chose natural milk for their treatments. And Dr. James C. Thompson, a nature cure practitioner and the director of the Kingston Clinic and the Edinburgh School of Natural Therapeutics wrote, “pasteurized milk is an unbalanced article of diet. Even in the healthiest of individuals it produces great viral strain.” He then goes on to claim that pasteurized milk can be deadly, not only for tuberculosis patients whom he was writing about at the time, but “for anyone whose health is below par.”⁵

But, at the time, pasteurization was a temporary necessary evil until the sanitation standards and transportation issues could be solved. Those advocating for certified milk sought to solve the milk problem at its source. Encouraging a higher standard of sanitation and milking practice on the dairy industry and ending distillery dairies as a whole. The invention of the closed system automatic milking machine in the 1920s made it even easier to obtain milk free of contamination, without losing its nutrients.

So What Changed?

Up to this point, I have given you a brief synopsis of the history of milk and the introduction of pasteurization. Now, I want to turn our attention to why we view raw milk as something that is dangerous to consume. During the introduction of pasteurization, many were skeptical of pasteurized milk. So why is it the opposite today?

I have two words for you: Crossroads, U.S.A.

As early as 1912, the call for mandatory pasteurization of all milk, including certified milk, had begun. Between then and 1945, there were repeated attempts to instill fear around the consumption of fresh milk. And Crossroads U.S.A was just one of those attempts.

In 1945, a magazine called Coronet published an article called, “Raw Milk Can Kill You.” In the article, they blamed an outbreak of brucellosis that killed one third of Crossroads, U.S.A.’s inhabitants on raw milk.

Scary right? But here is the kicker, despite Readers Digest picking the article up and running it a year later, this story was FAKE. Yes, fake, it didn’t happen, it wasn’t real. And what is even worse, Crossroads U.S.A is not a real place. I didn’t accidentally leave out the state when I wrote that. They actually ran a fake story based in a fake place in a magazine, twice, two years apart. The unfortunate result is that this lie led to the first laws against the sale of raw milk, beginning in Michigan in 1948. And essentially, no one ever looked back.

Since then, raw milk has been the subject of unfair bias. They are constantly making claims that it is dangerous to consume or creating stories like the one above to scare people away from drinking it. They have done such a good job that many people probably don’t realize that you can purchase unpasteurized milk.

But raw milk is not dangerous to consume. And like I cover in my other post, Raw Milk: 9 Facts You Never Knew, I do not believe raw milk is a high risk food. In fact, I believe it is one of the most beneficial foods God has ever given us.

The fear mongering that occurred in 1945 with Crossroads, U.S.A. didn’t end there. They have been trying to instill fear around natural milk consumption for decades. The most recent attempt took place in March of this year. An official press release by the USDA warned against the consumption of raw milk because some of the milk from sick cows in Kansas, Texas, and New Mexico tested positive for “highly pathogenic avian flu.” However, despite numerous demands for proof of an isolated avian flu virus, there is none. And there are no other health agencies in the world that can provide it either. For more information on this, I highly encourage you to visit the Weston Price Foundation site and read more. It is truly mind blowing.

The Takeaway

I believe that the biggest take away is understanding that milk, in its true and purest form, is an incredibly healthy and beneficial food. Throughout history, cows and the nourishment they provide through their meat and milk have been a sign of prosperity. Consuming milk in its natural state was normal and unquestioned. Pasteurization was supposed to be a temporary solution, with the long-term goal being to raise the standards of the dairy industry so that safe consumption could be ensured. Today, we have organizations like The Raw Milk Institute whose sole purpose is to help train and equip farmers to produce safe raw milk for consumers. With organizations whose sole purpose is to educate and ensure safe natural milk consumption, hasn’t pasteurized dairy served its purpose?

With all this said, why wouldn’t large dairy operations want to switch their farms from pasteurized operations to raw? Because they want to be able to limit the amount they have to spend in order to make the most money. Pasteurization allows them to cut corners. It allows them to use various filler ingredients and chemicals in feed and other areas of their farms without concern that they will get in trouble later. They may care about their animals, but they care about their profit margin more. If pasteurization kills all the harmful pathogens, then the need for everything to be perfectly sanitary and clean is not as important.

Milk should not be the enemy. The health benefits of raw milk far exceed that of pasteurized milk. There are numerous studies showing that many of the proteins and vitamins are either damaged, destroyed, or are unusable by the body when exposed to heat. If that’s the case, then what is the point of consuming milk? The Got Milk campaign that I am sure many of us remember promoted the importance of having milk everyday. But, in reality, the milk they promoted was not providing the same nutrients and health benefits they promised.

Final Thoughts

I believe milk – in its natural and original form – is extremely beneficial, and my entire family drinks it daily. But, with that said, you or someone in your family may have different health circumstances, or have another reason that you are not comfortable with trying raw milk, and that is completely okay. As a more familiar alternative, consider looking into a low-temperature pasteurized milk that is also non-homogenized – like Kalona, for instance – which can be found at many local grocery stores. As is so important with many of the issues I write on, please do your own research and rest assured that you are making the most informed decision possible for you and your family.