THE SAFETY OF RAW MILK

[Guest guest]

This is the letter Mark McAfee wrote to the Colorado Department of

Health last year to convince them not to shut down the overwhelmingly

popular cow-share program run by Guidestone Farm. By a vote of 5 to 3,

they decided to keep it running. However, the sale of raw milk still

is illegal in Colorado.

 

Mark came to San Diego last year and gave a talk at a local public

library. He said that the FDA is constantly hassling him; he thinks

it's because they can't believe the tests showing that there are never

pathogens in his milk or in the manure at his farm (typical dairies

have pathogens detected about 30% of the time). In fact, when 10

million counts of salmonella pathogens were added to his raw milk,

they could not be found 24 hours later, as the good bacteria

out-competes and destroys them.

 

http://www.myfamilytable.com/public/98.cfm

 

Mark McAfee

 

I have been requested to share with you our commercial organic raw

milk production and sales experience. For the last four years, Organic

Pastures Dairy has produced a full line of raw organic dairy products

for retail sale ( 300 stores including Wholefoods) and consumption

here in California. The state of California (CDFA) monitors and tests

all of our raw dairy products multiple times per month. The state has

never found one pathogen (salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 or listeria) in

any of our products. Even more interesting is the fact that not one

human pathogen has ever been found in the hundreds of environmental

swabs that have been taken in our plant facility.

 

Dr. Caterina Berge, DVM and PhD candidate at UC Davis, tested our milk

cows' fresh manure and did not find any human pathogens.

That's right. . . no Salmonella. She was able to show that when

antibiotics are not ever used on the herd (as stipulated in the

organic standards) and when cows are not stressed (grass-fed and kept

healthy) they simply do not slough off pathogens in their manure. The

data collected at

Organic Pastures was quite different from that found at other dairies.

The typical conventional milk tank had either salmonella or E. coli

O157:H7 detected about 30 percent of the time. In comparison, Organic

Pastures has never had one pathogen—ever.

 

To study this issue further, Organic Pastures contracted with BSK labs

in Fresno to perform multiple challenge and recovery tests on our raw

milk and raw colostrum. When 7 logs (10 million counts) of pathogens

were added to one-milliliter samples of organic raw milk they would

not grow. In fact they died off. The salmonella was so badly

out-competed that it could not be found less than 24 hours later. The

listeria drop was less dramatic and was similiar to the E. Coli

O157:H7 samples that were studied, but they also did not grow and

declined substantially over time.

 

The lab concluded: " . . . organic raw milk and colostrum do not

appear

to support the growth of pathogens. . . "

 

During the period 2000 through 2004 there were several

listeria-related food recalls in California associated with

pasteurized milk products and ice cream. During this same period more

than 12 million servings of Organic Pastures products were consumed

and not one person complained of illness and not one pathogen was ever

found either by the state, FDA or Organic Pastures.

 

This begs the bigger question. What is it that causes raw milk to kill

pathogens? Just in the last 24 months, the FDA has approved

lactoferrin as an approved method of treatment for pathogen reduction

in beef slaughter plants. Raw milk naturally has levels of this

enzyme-based pathogen killer. Pasteurization inactivates this and

other enzymes that kill pathogens. These enzymes include lactoferrin,

xanthine oxidase, lactoperoxidase, lysozyme and nisin. There are other

interrelated enzymes and beneficial bacteria that also act on the

pathogens to inhibit their growth. All of these systems are destroyed

by pasteurization. It is no wonder that dairy plants that pasteurize

must be kept absolutely spotless. There are no remaining safety

systems in the processed milk.

 

I will be presenting my experiences and the factual references that I

have mentioned here during my verbal address in Colorado on May 19th.

 

Our company ships product all over the world. We have been inspected

by the FDA and the FDA has also never found a pathogen. It may seem

strange to say or claim this, but Mother Nature is right, her blue

print is right on point. It is mankind that has added variables that

cause much of the concern for pathogens in our current market systems.

Our consumers are made ill by pasteurized milk products and the

additives and processing methods. Our consumers share their

testimonials with us every day. Asthma, allergies, arthritis,

immune-related disorders, autism, ADD, Crohn's disease, rare

enzyme

deficiencies. . . the list goes on and on. In each of these cases raw

milk or raw dairy products makes a dramatic improvement in health.

There have been cases when patients have been written off by modern

medicine only to return to perfect health after drinking raw

colostrums and raw dairy products.

 

Please see www.makersdiet.com for a story of one person's recovery

from near death using raw dairy.

 

It is imperative that the citizens of our nation, not just California,

have an informed choice in foods. If raw milk was so horrible then why

is it that raw milk has such an incredibly safe record here in

California and in Colorado? I would argue that since we have been in

business there have been many listeria recalls and food outbreaks with

pasteurized milk. . . but none with organic raw milk.

 

As an American we can buy raw eggs, raw meat, raw fresh juices, so why

not raw dairy products? Show us one case of disease related to natural

raw dairy products in Colorado or California. They are very hard to

find. They are nearly all related to pasteurizer failure not raw dairy

products intended for consumption.

 

The dairy industry does not understand what I have explained here in

detail. What the dairy industry believes is that raw milk contaminates

pasteurized milk. This is not the case. Pasteurized milk kills the

safety systems that control pathogens in raw milk and therefore permit

unlimited growth of dangerous bacteria if present.

 

Our products have what Mother Nature intended, a diversity of good

bacteria and a wide range of essential enzymes including lactase for

lactose digestion and phosphatase that is essential for the

utilization of calcium.

 

One reason raw milk is so much easier to digest compared to

pasteurized milk is due to the presence of lactase, the enzyme that

breaks down milk sugar and which many humans are unable to produce.

The experts I have spoken with deny the presence of lactase in raw

milk; however, it is the friendly bacteria in raw milk that facilitate

the creation of lactase in the intestine where it is needed. That is

why lactose-intolerant people can drink raw milk without a problem.

Pasteurization kills these friendly bacteria.

 

Please call 1-877-Raw Milk and I would be happy to discuss these

experiences and the hard data that backs them up. Feel free to call

Organic Pastures and ask for the lab tests results. You will find zero

pathogens detected at any time from any test.

 

I look forward to your questions. I am dedicated to sharing

information, education and the building of understanding

relationships. In fact we place our most sensitive bacteria data at

our website for all the world to see at www.organicpastures.com.

 

I have a medical background having served as a certified paramedic and

medical educator for the Fresno County Health Department for 16 years

and having run more than 14,000 911 calls.

 

I am the only creamery operator in North America to produce the

products at issue and believe my experience and tests are absolutely

on point.

 

Most kind regards,

 

Mark McAfee

Founder, Organic Pastures