The Safety of Modern Raw Milk

You will love this five-minute ABC News piece on Localish. Modern technology matched with pastures and the whole goodness of nature makes a great story. Raw milk is the first food of life for a reason. And it is not sterile! It builds immunity through gut biome biodiversity and the whole food that feeds the gut micro biome. The raw milk threat from 125 years ago can now be managed with daily 12-hour (per batch) BAX PCR RT pathogen testing and other testing technologies plus modern understanding of “grass to glass” food safety systems.

But the CDC refuses to look at modern raw milk and instead goes back to the 1800s to talk about swill dairies, typhoid, and TB. It is not accurate to state that raw milk is more dangerous than pasteurized. Please count the bodies: 82 dead from pasteurized dairy products and 2 (imported illegal raw Mexican cheeses) for raw dairy in the last 40 years.

The CDC has an agenda. Perhaps that is also a real story. Have you ever heard the CDC ever advise consumers on how to build their immune systems? Never! It’s all about washing hands.

Let’s have a modern raw milk discussion. Let’s ask why so many people have depressed immune systems. Why is it that 20,000 people die each year from the flu? Why is it that raw milk consumers have powerful and resilient immune systems and others in our consumer population simply don’t? That’s the discussion. The studies clearly show that modern raw milk produced under our very high standards is not a risky food at all.

This Localish ABC news story will be seen by about 20 million viewers and will be seen on all Disney syndicated channels. It is fair, unbiased, and makes us all feel good about farmer relationships and good whole foods that build our immune systems better when matched with the best of modern science.

Image iStock/Andrey Zhuravlev. 

Mark McAfee

Mark McAfee is the founder of the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI). This start-up nonprofit is dedicated to the establishment of raw milk standards and the education of farmers and consumers from all over the world. Mark founded RAWMI in 2010 to address the lack of uniform standards and farmer training, which has been associated with raw milk illness both in the USA and internationally.

Mark has been an expert witness in raw milk legislative and judicial proceedings across America and is recognized internationally as an expert in raw milk safety and production. In 2011, Mark pioneered the first “dietary supplements” made from fresh raw colostrum and secured their retail certification from the FDA and DHS. Along with internationally respected doctors and researchers, Mark codeveloped the first ever food safety Risk Analysis Management Program (RAMP) for raw milk. Mark is the CEO and founder of Organic Pastures Dairy Company near Fresno, CA, where the company produces and serves 50,000 consumers from 400 retail stores with state-inspected, retail approved and tested raw dairy products.