Raw Milk Worth Risks: Would you drink it?

By: | July 20, 2010 | 34 Comments
Raw Milk Worth Risks: Would you drink it?

Following on from our earlier report which informed you of the potential risks of drinking raw milk, we would now like to get some first hand consumer opinion on this matter. What are your thoughts on Raw Milk still in circulation in some parts of the US?

There are two sides of the argument here. One is from the Food and Drug Administration, who believe that consuming raw milk is harmful to your health.

On the other hand, some people in the US think it is perfectly fine to drink raw milk as part of a heathly diet. We want your opinions on this. How many of you have tried it before – have you suffered any reaction or sickness afterwards?

We wonder if it is really as bad as the FDA are making out, or if indeed raw milk can be consumed safely. We’ll provide you with more updates on this story as we get it.

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  • Peggy

    Yes I would and have drank it….I get it from farmers whose farms are spotless and licensed by the state. There is no way commercial dairies could ever produce raw milk for consumption, they are very dirty and the cows need to be pastured cows. I have never became ill drinking raw dairy and its much better for you.

  • Kate

    Growing up in southern Wisconsin, I spent many weekends on my grandparents dairy farm where the milk that was served was always raw. No one ever suffered any reaction or became sick, but that was back in the fifties and sixties when cows weren't given hormones.

  • Abby

    I am allergic to dairy products. How ever, I can drink cow's mile, goat's milk, and eat chicken brown eggs. I have never had a problem with drinking raw milk from a cow or a goat. I am very healthy. I have had alot of problems with drinking store bought milk and eggs. I would reccomend raw (natural) milk and eggs to any one.

  • John Snider Sr

    Raw milk was safe until they started using all this stuff to make cows produce more. The chemicals & harmones feed to dairy cattle now days is what makes the milk not safe. If the cows were all grass fed, with some grain, no additives in the grain. Then the raw milk would be & is safe to drink. During the 40's & 50's & before that, people used raw milk & no one got sick from it. Use your heads people & common sense.

  • http://YAHOO PETER R. WHEELER

    Well let’s begin by just saying that before the FDA our ancestors had to drink milk that was not pasturized because there was no such thing.For years this was a way of life and all my people have lived well into their late 80′s and 90′s.Only after the FDA started regulating food and putting unnatural ingredents into them is when the population started to die at an earlier age.But you know as well as I do they will blame it on smoking and our bad habits,due to the fact that they don’t want to and will not take the blame for their own actions.I can sit and tell you all day that my last chest x-ray was clean as a whistle and that I have been smoking for 37 years…….wow go figure!But the Dr.’s still tell me that my health is as not as good as it could be due to my diet.AND NO I AM NOT OVERWEIGHT!But any how I still think that the FDA needs to get rid of the additives and perservitives and go back to nature,the way God intended it to be!

  • ljsmith

    Raw milk is the best. Again someone out there thinks they can take something natural and make it better by adding things to it. Butter vs margarine is another thing. If it has more than 3 ingredients in it I don't by it. Especially when the average person can't even pronounce the ingredients listed, but we're suppose to trust it is ok to eat.

  • kellie

    I agree Mr. Wheeler…things were much simpler then and farms and dairy places kept their facilities clean for their live stock not because of the regulations of the FDA. It sure would be nice if people cared as much about their live stock rather than the possible money they could make from their milk, eggs, wheat, etc.
    My family is from the south also and we ate "straight off the farm" foods and never got sick either…..Contrary to what people believe alot of people living in the South still eat "straight off the farm" food n dairy. It has always been their way of life, all they know and most of those people can't eat store bought as Abby.

  • jean

    I drink raw goat milk every day. And, am very healthy. In fact, don't go to the doctor nearly as often as my neighbor who drinks store bought milk. Part of the problem is the FDA but part is all the large dairies and companies who don't want you to buy locally produced food. They do their best to make ans keep you afraid of your local producer. Like the guy above said nost of our parents and grandparents drank raw milk and ate locally produced food. When I was in school no one ever heard of a peanut allergy. Now everyone is allergic to stuff. Drinking raw milk and eating a little dirt from your garden helps activate the immune system. Think about it.

  • Odie

    I was raised in rural Wisconsin and drank fresh milk from the milk can in the milkhouse. I never had any adverse reaction, and actually felt quite energized when I did. I will be 70 years young this year, am quite active, have all my hair, which is still dark blond on top. I sure wish I had a jug of raw milk right now! What they sell in the store tastes like white water to me. I don't buy it . I get organic yogurt and sour cream and mix it to get a milk "fix".

  • twc

    I grew up with a couple of cows which we milked by hand every day. Always has fresh milk, homemade butter and buttermilk on hand. We even sold it to the nieghbors, but by "law" as it was not pasturized we had to sell it marked "not for human consumption". All the neighbors drank it anyway and no one ever had a health problem.

  • SHeila

    I grew up milking a cow morning and night I wiold love to drink it now if I could find it!

  • Donna

    I grew up on unpasteurized milk and had no problems. My mother bought it from farmers she knew and trusted. She got a lot of flak from some of her friends who said it was unwise to drink raw milk. I remember it tasted so much better than "store bought" milk which had an "odd" taste to me. Would I drink it today? Yes, but only under the condition of knowing that it was produced by someone I trusted locally who takes impeccable care of their cows and farm – never from some distant corporate farm.

  • zekarias haile

    I am 58 and make kifer out of one gallon per week raw milk and I fill great.
    zak

  • Rita

    I love raw milk. I have drank it for years and have never had any problems with health. I think it is the best milk to drink.

  • Mum-ding

    My son is autistic. When he drinks pasturized milk his eyes get glazed, his breathing sounds like he is snoring (while awake), and he struggles to form words and coherent sentences. On the advice of other parents with autistic children, we took him off milk at age 4 and started soy. He did well with this until about age 8. Then the allergies started. Finally, after advice from a nutritionist and a lot of research, at age eleven we placed him on raw milk. Slowly we advanced him from a teaspoon to a tablespoon to a 1/4 cup to a cup. None of the severe reactions that we saw with pasturized milk. I almost cried when he tried homemade ice cream for the first time in years. The boy grew 6 inches in as many months, and for the first time in ages was NOT sick. He is healthy and strong and growing like a weed. We bought a farm and working towards the day that we can have our own Jersey cow – the only legal way to provide fresh raw milk to my son in North Carolina.

  • summer

    I have had raw milk. It is fine. My grandchildren drink raw milk. I am pleased with that. Let's be honest, the only reason thery're trying to make you afraid of raw milk is because it would take business away from the big dairy conglomorates. You need to think and research for yourself and not believe most of the stuff the main stream media says.

  • Helen in Georgia

    I drink raw milk, since it has good bacteria to PROTECT itself from infestation from bad bacteria. If the truth were ever allowed to be told to the general public via the media, the salmonella scare would come from the pasteurized milk in the store. Why? Because once all the good bacteria are killed off from the pasteurization process, there is nothing left to naturally fend off any bad bacteria which may contaminate the milk. I never have an adverse reaction to raw milk, as I have had to store bought milk. In addition, I have a grandson who used to have asthma attacks all the time and would often be either coughing or vomiting because of the mucus build-up in his system. I convinced my daughter to let me put him on raw milk, and within 2 weeks, his asthma systems just cleared up. It was almost magical. Thank God for real milk.

  • Becky

    I am 27 years old and I was born and raised on a small dairy farm in Michigan. We drank raw milk and when I was a kid, I was never sick and never had problems with allergies or my sinuses. When I was 17, we sold all of our animals and started drinking store bought milk….when I started college, I started having problems with allergies and my sinuses and I get sick at least twice in the winter time now. I probably couldn't go back to drinking raw milk now because it's so thick, but I think as long as the dairy operation is clean and free of BST (and other hormones which increase milk production) I don't see a problem with people drinking raw milk.

  • alan adden

    i grew up on a dairy farm and drank raw milk for 20+ years and never got sick from the milk. a plus is my dentist says i have the best teeth he has ever seen.

  • Guest

    When I was born in 1944, I was very thin and not gaining weight. My grandmother put me on raw cows milk. I gained weight, grew up on cows milk, and am very healthy today. My 4 children were raised on cows (raw) milk which, I bought from a farm, we lived in town. We were a lot healthier and I believe that my grandmother by putting me on cows milk saved my life.
    You can talk all you want about how bad raw milk is but, we were all healthier years ago than we are today.

  • milk drinker

    i grew up drinking raw milk and i have never gotten sick off of it

  • Mike Kennedy

    I grew up on raw milk. Never had any problems. I would take a glass of raw milk over pasturized milk any day.

  • Ann

    I don't think of it as "raw" milk, I think of it as "real" milk, as it is the way milk was created and intended to be. The FDA is not governed by people who are concerned about our health; it is run by people with close ties to big business, and I pay almost no attention to what they have to say. My family has been drinking "real" milk for eight years now; we have never had any problems and are far healthier than most others I know. I don't remember the last time any of us (there are 8 total in my family) went to the doctor. Many people with dairy allergies can drink unpasteurized milk with no problems; that in itself should say something about the processing. Common sense, as stated before, is crucial; you have to make sure the farm is absolutely committed to cleanliness. They would be foolish not to be, as their livelihood depends on it. It makes me sick that the FDA is so totally on the processing bandwagon. I believe the majority of our nation's health problems are due to the Standard American Diet (SAD) which is sunk in GMO's, processed, and irradiated food.
    They are about profits and long shelf life–not health. God knew what He was doing when He created everything and said it is good–He didn't need anyone to come along and make it "better".

  • dan

    raw milk is real milk with out the goverment telling the companies what cemicals they hafta put in the milk so it does not go bad so fast. I love hole milk and would drink again I grew up drinking it.
    Dan

  • Mary

    I grew up drinking raw milk. It was wonderful! (except when the cows would eat bitter weed). We would have it in a glass gallon jar in the frig. and when it would sit for a while there would be a large layer of cream on top. Lots of times we would skim off the cream and make whipped cream. I am now in my 50's and would drink a glass of it right now if I had it. Mary

  • R. C. Rice

    Raw Milk is delicious. Get it from a farmer you trust. Diseases and bacteria can be passed from raw milk, so you must trust the farmer to provide milk from only healthy stock. Most farmers are conscientious and safe, but the small minority — that are not — are the providers the FDA is protecting us from.

  • Dini

    I wonder if the FDA is worried about the risks of eating Doritos, or Big Macs? Why all the worry about raw milk? People have been healthy and drinking it for years.

  • Rockar Stockar

    Being of Swedish Heritege my family and I look forward to Christmas for a favorite dessert dish, Ost Kaka. Raw milk is the main ingredient, using processed milk from the store drastically changes the texture, complexity and taste of the dessert. For the time being we have located a local dairy that will sell raw milk for this Swedish treat.

    People have consumed raw milk for years without much issue. This is similar to raw eggs in ice cream, experts tell us not to use raw eggs when making ice cream. Cooking the mixture again totally changes the integrity of the ice cream and turns it into a custard and not ice cream. It would probably give the FDA a heart attack using raw eggs and raw milk to make the ice cream.

    It all comes down to following good safe food handling techniques. Using reputable producers that use sanitary practices with collecting, storing and processing products is the key.

  • Cathy

    I was born in 1949. My mother milked a cow and we drank the raw milk all of my childhood into my teen years. In the 80's I found a dairy that I could buy raw milk from and my and my children drank it. Since becoming an adult I seek out the raw milk to drink as I know the harmonginized milk causes plack in the blood stream. I have been drinking raw milk for the last year and have NO PROBLEMS whatsoever. I drink as least a 16 oz glass every day. If the cows are grass fed with only feed at milking time and they are washed as they should be and the milk is cooled immediately then the raw milk is better than the cooked milk.

  • Sam T

    I started drinking raw milk a short time ago and it is great. Being lactos-intolerant I have a hard time drinking pasturized and homogenized milk, no matter if it's skim, 2%, fat-free or whole milk. By drinking raw milk I am again able to enjoy drinking milk without having to deal with the affects of being lactos-intolerant. Incidently, I love milk, and I can drink a half-gallon of raw milk in what seems like one setting. If the FDA were to remove their warning against drinking raw milk then cost, ($6.00 a half-gallon) would make it possible for everyone to enjoy.

  • Richard

    I'm 62 and grew up on milk fresh from the farm, with a layer of cream after it sat overnight. (my mom made butter with the cream.) As a kid I went to the farm next door and got the milk after school. It was in Maine where real winters ruled, and during the winter the lady on the farm used to pour the milk into big square cake pans and leave it covered in the barn where it would freeze solid. After school I would go to the farm and the dairy lady would wrap the frozen slab in butcher paper, I would take it home and my mom would put the slab into a pan the same size, let it thaw, put it in a big jar to separate the cream and we drank the milk. No one ever got sick back then.

  • Mel

    If anything should be illegal it should be ultra pasteurized milk. Boiled at 265 degrees, there's no nutrition left . At least they could make it available on a limited basis in our stores. It can't be any more dangerous to the public than the meat industry. I've heard that raw or real milk is the most nutritional food on the planet. God knows best. Most of the people in government don't seem to believe in God anyway. And milk is certainly better for you than beer & liquoir. Drink up folks and make some homemade cookies to enjoy with it.

  • aed939

    In terms of food safety, is it worth the risk to eat raw spinach? Deli meats, poultry, ground beef, peanut butter? My point is raw milk should not be singled out. One cannot avoid risk of foodborne illness simply by not drinking raw milk, although that is the perception the FDA is promoting. The purpose of the FDA's position on raw milk is to protect the large dairy processors' markets. They want to keep their input prices low and demand for processed dairy products high.

  • melissa2012

    I get raw milk for 5$ a gallon here in PA. I am drinking some right now…aah! That is some thirst quenching nutrition. Immediatly satisfied. Thirst and hunger vanish with one gulp. It has micro nutrients that radiated milk doesn't have. Never had a side effect besides more energy and a better immune system.