African livestock offers 'untapped genetic resource' (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News

The genetic diversity of Africa's indigenous livestock needs to be tapped before it is lost forever, researchers have warned.

They said native breeds had adapted to tolerate parasites or produce "robust" milk yields in harsh conditions.

Writing in the journal science, they added that these traits had yet to be unlocked by the scientific community.

But indigenous breeds were dying out as farmers switched to "exotic" cattle from developed nations, they observed.
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"But rather than unlocking the genetic secrets of these breeds and using what is already there, there is a tendency within sub-Saharan Africa to move across to the highly developed breeds from Europe."
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10403254.stm

[tabatha]

1. Maybe this is why raw milk could be drunk, and was.

"This is a very important point," he said. "We have lost, for example, many adaptation traits in European livestock, but it may still be present in Africa.

"A typical example is resistance to gastro-intestinal parasites in small ruminants. This is a world-wide issue that has an economic impact in sheep farming.

"There are a number of ways that you can tackle this, one of which is to use drugs, but some African breeds are actually resistant to these parasites."

[trotsky]

3. Actually it had a lot more to do with being close to the source

and drinking it within minutes to hours of milking. There are nasty bacteria on the udders of these African animals, too.

[tabatha]

4. They did not drink it within minutes to hours of milking.

(DO you have a source for that?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amasi

Traditionally, Zulus believe that amasi makes a man strong, healthy and desired. Milk is hardly ever drunk fresh ('green milk'), but it is sometimes used to thin amasi which has gone too thick to be used.<3>

[trotsky]

9. And that's not milk.

Nice try, though. The fermenting process destroys, or at least out-competes, many harmful bacteria.

[tabatha]

10. What do you mean "nice try"?

What was I trying, because I sure do not know.

It is still milk. So, you are saying pasteurized milk is not milk.

[trotsky]

11. Wine is not grape juice.

Beer is not barley.

Cheese, yogurt, etc. are not milk.

See if you can figure out the pattern.

[tabatha]

12. I can buy cheese made from raw milk, which I do.

That is, it is the rawness that was the point of my original post.

And "beer is not barley" hardly compares.

Sour milk is milk.
Pasteurized milk is milk.
Raw milk is milk.

See a pattern?

[trotsky]

13. Two little words:

"made from"

Wine is no longer grape juice.

Beer is no longer barley.

I have confidence you can figure out the next step.

[tabatha]

14. zero words

milk was not mentioned.

Why do you like to demean while discussing?

Is it your sense of superiority?

[trotsky]

15. "Maybe this is why raw milk could be drunk, and was."

Your quote that started the subthread. You tried to backtrack by pointing to a fermented product *made from* milk.

Why do you like to demean while discussing?

I meet like with like.

[tabatha]

16. No, I did not back-pedal.

I still stand by that statement. The product was milk, and the state was raw.

The fact that it may have naturally soured is not different from a plucked banana ripening to where it could be eaten.

[trotsky]

17. Then you are standing by an incorrect statement.

From your Wiki link:

Amasi (so called in Zulu and Xhosa, and "maas" in Afrikaans) is the common word for fermented milk that tastes like cottage cheese or plain yogurt. It is very popular in South Africa. Amasi is traditionally prepared by storing unpasteurised cow's milk in a calabash container (igula in isiZulu) or hide sack to allow it to ferment.

Amasi is "raw milk" in the same sense that wine is "fresh grape juice." It's not raw milk anymore. Fermentation changes the chemical composition and bacterial population. Humans discovered and used fermentation processes millenia ago to prevent spoilage - caused by harmful bacteria that are present in the raw product. I am sorry you are having trouble understanding this.

[izquierdista]

2. Not just livestock

For any of you interested in plants as well, Africa has many underutilized food resources that have not been studied by the scientific community. And they would be better served by unlocking the secrets of these plants than moving to crops developed in Europe.
Grains http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309049903
Vegetables http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11763
Fruits http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11879

[laconicsax]

5. Underutilized?

[izquierdista]

6. Considered "famine foods"

Some plants that are only used when crops fail and they are the only thing left. Usually, these plants are ignored until someone remembers that they are edible, at which time they are stripped like locusts came by. With a little research, like the USDA has been doing for over 100 years in this country, these plants could provide a lot more food security. Unfortunately, the US only seems to want to export war to places like Somalia, not successful USDA programs.

[laconicsax]

7. True.

The word "underutilized" just bugs me.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. "Underappreciated" sounds nicer, but they're really "underemployed". nt