General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Another "raw milk" incident... [View all]moriah
(8,312 posts)... because it's not as easily prevented as contamination with shit -- which is how this particular outbreak happened... fecal contamination of the milk.
Yes, I have spent a lot of time in MANY dairies. Properly sterilized milking machines, latched to properly sterilized udders, can withstand even the cow shitting in the middle of being milked and not get fecal contamination.
But since the bacteria that cause brucellosis are blood-borne, not fecal born, if the animal that's being milked has it, it's very difficult not to get the bacteria in the milk. Testing herds is a gamble and feeding preventative antibiotics is generally not exactly what "raw milk" consumers want in their milk.
If I ever find another dairy like the one I drank raw milk from, where I could inspect the entire operation and knew the people running it, knew that they watched their cows for signs of mastitis and would not allow them to be milked if they showed ANY signs of bad health... then maybe I'd drink it again.
For now I'll trust Louis Pasteur, who certainly helped prevent much disease caused by milk being stored at improper temperatures or for too long, and who helped make milk a staple that could survive the food chain. Raw milk will curdle when poured in hot coffee three days from the cow.