raw milk

This is a veritable exercise in the illusion of choice: there are hundreds of brands of milk available in the United States; there are hundreds available in your state; there are dozens available at your grocery store. You can choose to buy organic, conventional, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, lactose-free, fat-free, cheap, expensive, chocolate, strawberry and/or some random number more types of milk.

But all of it is pasteurized. Almost all of it is homogenized. Why?

Pasteurization, in a nutshell, is the process of heating a substance to a high enough temperature that all the organisms in it die.

While there are many different methods of pasteurization, the end result is basically the same. See foodsafetysite.com for more information.

Why is raw milk pasteurized? "John F. Sheehan, JD, Director of Plant and Dairy Food Safety at the US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, stated the following in his Mar. 15, 2007 testimony before the Health and Government Operations Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates, available at www.fda.gov: '...Raw milk is inherently dangerous and should not be consumed. Raw milk continues to be a source of foodborne illness and even a cause of death within the United States'" (milk.procon.org).

So raw milk is inherently dangerous? That would mean that the danger is a permanent and inseparable element from the milk. That would mean that raw milk is bad for you just because it's milk.

"The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated the following in a July 16, 2011 press release, "Foodborne Outbreak Associated with Raw Milk from Tucker Adkins Dairy of York SC," available at www.fda.gov: '...Proponents of drinking raw milk often claim that raw milk is more nutritious than pasteurized milk and that raw milk is inherently antimicrobial, thus making pasteurization unnecessary. There is no meaningful nutritional difference between pasteurized and raw milk, and raw milk does not contain compounds that will kill harmful bacteria'" (milk.procon.org ).

If there is no meaningful nutritional difference between raw and pasteurized milk, then how can the danger be inherent to the milk? The FDA seems to be claiming here that the ONLY difference between raw and pasteurized milk is that, "Pasteurization, a process that heats milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time, kills bacteria responsible for diseases, such as listeriosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria and brucellosis..." (milk.procon.org).

So, then the problem is inherent to the bacteria, or other disease-causing pathogens, NOT the milk. That would mean that raw milk is not inherently dangerous; however, listeriosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and brucellosis are. And while we're on the topic of bacteria, let's get a few things straight.

Not all bacteria are bad for you. Bacteria are a required ingredient in making both cheese and yogurt. Helpful bacteria, called flora or probiotics, live in our intestines and help us digest food. In fact, "A stable, healthy intestinal microflora is thought to contribute to overall health by excluding foreign, potentially harmful bacteria" (probiotic.org).

So what about the bacteria in raw milk? Are they helpful or harmful?

Lactic Acid Bacteria are normally present in milk and can be added to milk to make cheese or yogurt. "LAB is one of the groups of bacteria that occur physiologically in the digestive tract of mammals. These bacteria influence the distribution and the numbers of lymphoid cells in lymphatic tissues associated with the gut, ensure the balance in the composition of the gut microflora, and through their activity are able to maintain the integrity of the gut mucous membrane" (Lactic Acid Bacteria). Basically, these bacteria already exist and take part in maintaining healthy intestines. These strains of bacteria are also sold as probiotic supplements that people can take to help improve their digestion.

Spoilage bacteria are also found in milk. "Spoilage is a term used to describe the deterioration of a foods' texture, colour, odour or flavour to the point where it is unappetizing or unsuitable for human consumption" (Food Science). The spoilage bacteria in milk are not pathogenic, disease-causing bacteria: if something is "spoiled" it is a quality issue, not an infection issue.

Pathogenic, or disease-causing, bacteria can also be found in milk. These bacteria are not inherently present in the milk as it is sterile while in the udder (Milk Hygiene), but can enter the milk through contamination. The CDC lists the following sources of contamination of milk (and I quote):

• Cow feces coming into direct contact with the milk
• Infection of the cow’s udder (mastitis)
• Cow diseases (e.g., bovine tuberculosis)
• Bacteria that live on the skin of cows
• Environment (e.g., feces, dirt, processing equipment)
• Insects, rodents, and other animal vectors
• Humans, for example, by cross-contamination from soiled clothing and boots

(Raw Milk FAQ at CDC).

So, inherently speaking, milk is sterile. Once bacteria do enter the milk, the Lactic Acid Bacteria are good for you, spoilage bacteria just make your milk undesirable or undrinkable after a while, and only through contamination by specific exposure does raw milk become a bearer of food-borne illness causing bacteria.

So then why do we pasteurize? If as long as our farms are sanitary the milk is safe, shouldn't we be able to drink clean, raw milk?

"In the early 19th century, the alcohol distillery business in the United States began to grow. Large amounts of swill (spent-grains) were produced as a byproduct of whisky and other alcohol production. Many distilleries opened dairies and began feeding their dairy cows with the waste swill. The low nutritional content of the swill lead to sickness in the cows and in the humans who drank their milk. 'Confined to filthy, manure-filled pens, the unfortunate cows gave a pale, bluish milk so poor in quality, it couldn't even be used for making butter or cheese'" (milk.procon.org). Pasteurization was a sanitation miracle. Louis Pasteur aided in proving the "germ theory", which showed that pathogens cause disease. By heating these organisms until they died, food-borne illness was drastically reduced without having to understand exactly where these pathogens came from our how they got into our food. Thus, by 1917, mandatory pasteurizing had begun in parts of the country and grew from there (milk.procon.org).

But today, we understand pathogens better. We know where they come from, and how they get in our food. The CDC even has a helpful list. So why are we still pasteurizing? Why don't we just change our farming methods to create sanitary conditions for our cows so that they can produce milk without it becoming contaminated?

Although there are probably multiple reasons, one main issue is profit. "Dianne Feinstein, Senator for the State of California, stated on her website in an Apr. 4, 2006 article titled "Senator Feinstein Co-Chairs Newly Formed Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus" that: '...Milk accounted for about $27 billion of cash receipts for producers in 2005. Americans drink more than 6 billion gallons of milk per year, and another 10 billion gallons of milk are used to produce cheese'" (milk.procon.org). $27 billion is a lot of money. What do they do with it all? Of course the money funds expenses, etc., but in 2011, the dairy industry as a whole also spent over $6 million of their profits to lobby the government (opensecrets.org).

Pasteurization allows dairy corporations to relax sanitation standards at their huge dairy farms because even if the milk is contaminated, the pathogens are killed by the pasteurization. I, for one, would prefer that the cows were just given sanitary and healthy living conditions, and I didn't have to worry about what was once in my milk.

Finally, pasteurization affects the quality of the milk. "Linda Melos, ND, primary care naturopathic physician, stated the following in her article "The Health Benefits of Raw Milk," available at www.lindamelosnd.com (accessed Aug. 15, 2011): '...Pasteurizing milk kills off all bacteria, including the health-giving lactobacilli [Lactic Acid Bacteria]. This allows milk to putrefy with bad bacteria over time, rather than sour or ferment from good lactobacilli. Pasteurization also destroys vitamins, especially C, B6 and B12, and denatures fragile milk proteins. It destroys 20% of the iodine, and makes insoluble the major part of the calcium content'" (milk.procon.org). Basically, pasteurization also kills the Lactic Acid Bacteria that help us with healthy digestion. It also destroys vitamins, minerals, and even *gasp* makes it difficult for our bodies to use the calcium in it.

Melos's opinion is a mild one. The Weston A. Price Foundation states in their article, "What is Real Milk?" that pasteurization can be linked to "...allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer..." (milk.procon.org).

In fact, multiple PubMed articles show a correlation between consumption of farm milk and a decrease in allergies and asthma in children: PubMed, PubMed, PubMed.

This information is interesting at the very least.

Homogenization is the mechanical process of pushing milk through a small hole at high pressures which causes the fat molecules to be decreased in size.

Just as oil separates from water, so does the fat, or cream, separate from the rest of the milk. Homogenization allows the milk to stay homogeneous, or evenly mixed, without requiring shaking (milk.procon.org).

Some advocate that homogenization causes normal digestive processes to go awry as it confronts these miniature fat particles and claim that this process can cause cancer and/or heart disease. Others claim homogenization has no effect on these diseases (milk.procon.org).

However, science aside, are we really just doing this because we're too lazy to shake a bottle? Even if you're not ready to give up pasteurization, go to the store and buy a bottle of non-homogenized milk and just give it a good shake before you pour. That way, you don't even have to read about whether or not it will give you cancer, it's a non-issue.

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Now, whether you side with the raw milk advocates or the government organizations, the above information is cause for some concern on a public and personal level of health.

Also, I want to be clear: of course raw milk can make you sick if it's contaminated. So can any other food you eat. The news is peppered with stories about recalls, salmonella outbreaks, and the like. The solution is not to give up these foods all together. Instead we can (A) get cleaner and focus on the health and sanitation of our animals, plants, and farmers and (B) buy from farmers we trust. When you know your farmer, you know what kind of person is responsible for making sure your spinach isn't contaminated with pathogens from manure, you know who is making sure the cow's udder is clean before he/she starts the milking process, and you know exactly what ingredients are in what you are buying because you can ask the person who produced it. This makes shopping a whole lot simpler, and it puts the responsibility of preventing contamination into fewer hands which leaves less room for mistakes. For more information on reasons to buy local, see my previous article: Eating Local: Knowing Where Your Food Comes From.

To conclude, at the writing of this article, 46 of 50 states have adopted the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, at least in part, which states: "only Grade "A" pasteurized, ultra-pasteurized or aseptically processed milk and milk products shall be sold to the final consumer, to restaurants, soda fountains, grocery stores or similar establishments" (See link below). However, through legal loopholes such as buying raw milk for "pet consumption" or taking part in a herd share where the consumer buys a cow or part of one in a farmer's herd and then receives milk from his/her cow or partial cow (legally speaking) as if they were drinking raw milk from a cow they raise on their own land, raw milk is available for distribution or purchase in 32 states (milk.procon.org).

This means that it is illegal or at least very difficult to drink raw milk in the United States, which, considering the dangers of other legal products, take tobacco for example, seems a bit silly. So despite the hundreds of brands of milk we have to choose from, when it comes to pasteurization, we have very little choice in the matter, which is of course just a small part of the grander scheme that I like to call the choice illusion.

If you are interested in finding raw milk in your area, try: http://www.realmilk.com/where.html.

eating local: knowing where your food comes from

I had never been to the farmer's market. The Saturday farmer's market is quite an affair in Bloomington, with around 50 participating farms and, depending on the day, miscellaneous vendors, arts and crafts stalls, musicians, chess tournaments, and even a man with a parrot. By July, and nearing the end of the summer, after missing Saturday after Saturday, I finally got my act together and visited the considerably smaller Tuesday market (I kept sleeping too late on Saturday, and Tuesday afternoon seemed like an easier goal than Saturday morning). Upon arriving, despite there being only a dozen stands available to choose from, I immediately knew that I should have come sooner. I walked from stand to stand and bought blackberries, a cucumber, an eggplant, peaches, a zucchini, tomatoes, onions, green beans, potatoes, and way too much corn. Okay fine, I bought way too much food period, but I was so entranced by the selection! All local and all organic! Well... at least the first part is true. It turned out that I had a lot to learn about farmer's market shopping. Actually, I had a lot to learn about farmers, and, I'll be honest, food.

First lesson: Not all food at the farmer's market is organic. Some local farmers rely just as heavily on synthetic chemicals as big industrial farms do to get rid of bugs and weeds (of course in smaller amounts), especially if they grow produce that isn't well suited to the climate. For example, one farmer told me that the humidity in Indiana makes his peaches ripen too quickly, and he loses too much product if he doesn't spray (now, how peaches are able to grow in Georgia if this is the case is beyond me, but that's what he told me, or at least something like it). Farmers that choose in-demand products over local-climate-suited ones are more likely to need to spray due to climate-produce incompatibilities. Additionally, some bugs are more common in certain areas than others. Indiana seems to have trouble with cabbage worms. Even the most natural and organic farmers I've spoken with still spray their cabbage with Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, a bacterium that kills cabbage worms, but is basically harmless to everything else: Wikipedia will give you the general idea and Pesticideinfo.org will give you the details. Insects also like some foods better than others. Berries are soft, sweet, and easy to get to. What bug wouldn't take a bite? In any case, when it comes to questions about pest and weed control, ASK. The answers may surprise you. Even some certified organic farms use sprays for pest control, and I tend to prefer more sustainable methods that discourage pests while still encouraging beneficial insects and plants.

This brings me to my first point: You can't ask your grocery store what kind of farmer they are. No two farmers do things exactly alike. While slapping the label "organic" on some tomatoes might be enough for some,  I want to know HOW organic they are. Were they sprayed with organic sprays? If so, are these sprays toxic to other beneficial insects, plants, animals, the earth, or even people? Were they planted on a giant farm that uses fossil fuels and rototillers to till its beds? Or were they grown in a smaller patch that can be tilled by hand? Were they covered with hard-to-recycle plastic to protect them from the frost in early spring? Or were more recyclable/reusable materials used? What is their farmer's philosophy about farming? Does he/she try to coexist with nature, or dominate it? The next time you eat a sandwich, think for a second: who grew that tomato you just put in your mouth? What kind of person is he/she? Do you even care? That works both ways. If you don't know/care who they are, they certainly don't feel any closer or more obligated to you. When you aren't involved with the people who buy your products, it's you hardly wonder if they're having a healthy and happy experience. Having the ability to talk to farmers about the veggies I'm putting in my soup later is freeing. I don't have to picture industrial-potato-farm-with-a-million-potatoes-that-were-driven-100-miles-to-get-here-and-who-knows-what-happened-between-the-farm-and-my-mouth scenarios as I'm eating. This thinking applies doubly when you consider products like eggs and meat (which are also available at many farmer's markets): it's especially comforting to know where these often contaminated products originated.

Second lesson: If they aren't selling bell peppers, it's because there aren't any bell peppers. Surprise! Food only grows certain times of the year! Bell peppers don't grow in February in Indiana. So unless the farmers preserve, store, or grow their produce indoors or in greenhouses, they can't sell you bell peppers in February.

This brings me to my second point: The produce at the grocery store did not arrive by magic. It arrived by truck, boat, plane, train, whatever you want to picture traveling thousands of miles to make it to your local produce aisle. "We're consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen--about 17 percent of our nation's energy use--for agriculture...Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles" (Kingsolver, 5). Not only this, but buying food from another country, is NOT helping the workers/farmers that live there. "Developed nations promote domestic overproduction of commodity crops that are sold on the international market at well below market price, undermining the fragile economies of developing countries...Global trade deals negotiated by the World Trade Organization and World Bank allow corporations to shop for food from countries with the poorest environmental, safety, and labor conditions. While passing bargains on to consumers, this pits farmers in one country against those in another, in a downward wage spiral" (66-7). This means that you're not helping the local farmers, AND you're not getting a high quality product. You're getting the cheapest stuff that big name produce distributor company could find regardless of safety/health concerns, bought for the lowest price possible (thus supplying very little income at the bottom of the farm hierarchy to your average worker), and sold to you at a price that is making them rich: "...the CEO of Dole Inc.... [is] worth $1.4 billion" (66). When you buy from the farmer's market, your produce probably traveled less than 30 miles (and probably more like 10 miles), and it IS helping the farmer you buy it from. You get to watch them put the whole $1.50 in their pocket when you buy a butternut squash.

Third lesson: It's easier to be creative when you have random vegetables in the house. After enjoying the browsing and buying of the market and getting to know a few of the farmers, I did some research online to supplement what I already knew, and decided to buy a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) winter share. I paid about $80 for six weeks, and each week I go to the farmers market to pick up a half bushel of produce. I'm on the fourth week, and I have never eaten so interestingly or deliciously in my life. Granted, it takes a little recipe research to keep up, but after an adult life full of repetitive meals of spaghetti and pizza (and the occasional pad thai or matar paneer, okay I was already a little creative), it is awesome to make a tenth variety of home-made soup, or figure out what you're supposed to do with two heads of cabbage (I recommend stuffed cabbage, super delicious, seriously, I know it doesn't sound great, but really it is), or what sunchokes are, or how to eat radishes, or turnips, or the greens that come attached to them. Plus, the more variety, the more vitamins. If my hard-working organs could talk, I bet they would be thanking me for the $10 raise they get every time I eat a bag of mesclun mix for lunch.

Which, of course, brings me to my third point: Vitamins are complicated and they work better together when you get them from natural sources. "Both vitamin pills and vegetables are loaded with essential nutrients, but not in the same combinations. Spinach is a good source of both vitamin C and iron. As it happens, vitamin C boosts iron absorption, allowing the body to take in more of it than if the mineral were introduced alone... Our bodies aren't adapted to absorb big loads of nutrients all at once... but tiny quantities of them in combinations--exactly as they occur in plants. Thousands of the phytochemicals [chemicals that occur naturally in plants] we eat haven't even been studied or named yet, because there are so many, with such varied roles, finely tuned as fuel for our living bodies. A head of broccoli contains more than a thousand" (Kingsolver, 60). The Mayo Clinic also supports diet over supplements, stating, "Supplements aren't intended to be a food substitute because they can't replicate all of the nutrients and benefits of whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables" (Mayo Clinic on Vitamins). The article goes on to discuss additional nutrients, such as the aforementioned phytochemicals, that occur naturally in fruits and vegetables but are not in vitamin supplements.

In conclusion?
For me, doing my part to make a difference when it comes to carbon footprints and poverty is enough reason to eat local. But the heavy stuff aside, I also like to eat local for the relationship it gives me with food and the way it make me feel about eating. I have already learned so much about how plants grow and which parts of them we eat (i.e. a potato is a root, a tomato is a fruit that grows in the place of a small yellow flower, etc.), or even if I already knew the information from a text book, I feel like I understand the information better now that I'm interacting with these phenomena on a more intimate basis. I get to be a bigger part of the food process (including all of the cooking), and I get to make clearer decisions about what I eat and what I don't. I also get more variety due to changing availability of produce over the season (both due to climate and the farmer's planting choices). Plus, going to the farmer's market is just plain fun! Honestly, I'm the kind of person who likes grocery shopping, and the supermarket pales in comparison to the joys of the farmers market and its quaint stalls and friendly farmers (and not-so-friendly ones). So, whether you want to save the world or just change up your diet a bit:

Look for local farms and farmer's markets in your area at http://www.localharvest.org/.