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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Raw milk?

59 replies

Barbie222 · 26/08/2017 13:18

Just asking for advice really. I like making my own yoghurt and cottage cheese, trying to make us all healthier etc etc.

My friend reckons I should use raw milk to make it as it'll be even healthier but I always heard it was full of awful stuff and pasteurisation was invented for a reason.

Is she right about raw milk or is it a risk for little ones?

I think I had raw milk when I was a kid and didn't get sick but pretty sure the advice has changed.

OP posts:

FuzzyCustard · 26/08/2017 13:22

I drank raw milk trough out my first two pregnancies ( a long time ago) and was fine, as were my children. Advice (non existent) was different then, but it was nice to live a few fields away from the cows that made my milk. They looked happy!

These days it seems to be deemed very unsafe.

FuzzyCustard · 26/08/2017 13:23

Trough? Throughout.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 26/08/2017 13:25

Raw milk was the only milk we had in the house until my parents moved when they were in their 70's, cows milked at 5, milk delivered at 7

MollyHuaCha · 26/08/2017 13:30

These days our milk is presented ready pasteurized and homogenized, but these two procedures are associated with modern chronic degenerative disease.

Raw milk sounds better to me - but not for those with compromised immunity.

JMJ1 · 26/08/2017 13:32

I and my four children (1.5, 3, 4 and 10) drink raw milk. Drank it through three pregnancies and am drinking it through my current one. Farms selling raw milk are of a very high standard. Find it here: seedsofhealth.co.uk/resources/dairy/index.shtml

sirfredfredgeorge · 26/08/2017 13:35

To make yogurt or cottage cheese you would need to heat the milk more than pasteurisation anyway, so the safety part wouldn't be relevant.

However, equally I can't see how the resultant product would be different either, other than possibly a higher fat content depending on the cows.

DJBaggySmalls · 26/08/2017 13:36

If you are concerned, drink filtered milk instead. If you cant get it, you can freeze raw milk.
UK farmers have to test their cows for diseases such as tuberculosis every year. I grew up on a farm drinking raw milk. If you are generally fit and healthy and have had your TB jab, its pretty safe.

laughingclouds · 26/08/2017 13:38

Raw milk is great, I decided against drinking it whilst pregnant, but we've not had any problems. In fact both I and DH feel healthier on it - I feel bloated and get stomach ache if I drink too much regular milk, don't get that at all with raw.

bigbluebus · 26/08/2017 13:44

There are 2 farms within a 2 miles radius of my house which have self service machines dispensing raw milk. We have only used one of them when we made cheese a few months ago (as the instructions advised to use raw milk) but I know of many local people who have used the machines and have definitely NOT heard of any health issues relating to the raw milk (and this is the sort of area where news like that would spread like wild fire!). In fact all the comments on the FB page of one of the suppliers says how delicious it tasted - and how customer's children were drinking lots of it.

I used to go to a group where one of the members lived on a dairy farm so supplied us with milk for teas/coffees. No one ever got ill from drinking the unpasteurised milk.

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 13:47

These days our milk is presented ready pasteurized and homogenized, but these two procedures are associated with modern chronic degenerative disease

Evidence please!

OP raw milk can contain salmonella, e.coli and listeria bacterias. It's banned entirely in Scotland and restricted in England and Wales. Pregnant women, infants, children, the elderly and anyone with a weakened immune system should not drink raw milk.

SurferRona · 26/08/2017 14:03

Also want to hear more on the evidence MollyHuaCha! I reckon that statement re chronic degen disease will be total bollocks.

MedSchoolRat · 26/08/2017 14:12

I grew up drinking raw milk & would drink it again now without qualms.

E Coli O157 (& other STEC) didn't even exist when I was a kid, though. Or at least, were completely undetected.

Raw milk (& fruit juice) is linked to some nasty E. Coli outbreaks. Someone I know in food safety says raw milk the first thing he would ban if he could.

I don't care what OP does, but I wouldn't feed it to my small children (under 5s). Would think hard before giving it to under 10s or anyone else vulnerable.

Kursk · 26/08/2017 14:15

**These days our milk is presented ready pasteurized and homogenized, but these two procedures are associated with modern chronic degenerative disease

I believe it, anything in its natural state is going to be better for you.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 26/08/2017 14:21

Interesting. I saw lots of farms in Norfolk offering raw milk, I thought it was banned now so was surprised.

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 14:21

I believe it, anything in its natural state is going to be better for you

Rubbish. And this is an excellent case in point for that fallacy.

Milk in its raw "natural" state can give you bacteria that can KILL you. Pasteurised milk cannot.
Death is not better for you than not dying. Before widespread pasteurisation literally millions of people were killed by milk products. Bovine TB, brucellosis, listeria and many many more pathogens routinely killed and injured.

And what benefits are there to raw milk over pasteurised? Very slightly higher levels of Vit C and B's. That's worth it then.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 26/08/2017 14:21

What are the risks?

Laiste · 26/08/2017 14:26

anything in its natural state is going to be better for you

not really

io9.gizmodo.com/5810568/ten-foods-in-your-kitchen-that-contain-gruesome-poisons

Kursk · 26/08/2017 14:28

grandOlejukeofYork

Of course there are risks, and it's up to the individual to decide what risks they are happy to accept.

Personally I would choose raw milk, the same way as I hunt my own meat rather than eat factory farmed meat

insancerre · 26/08/2017 14:28

I'm a nursery manager and I've just had a letter advising me that it is illegal for nursery settings to give or allow children to drink raw milk even if provided by parents, including products made from raw milk
This is because of the risk of food poisoning which for children could prove fatal
It's not very often we get letters like this, so I guess it must be a problem

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 14:30

I really don't care if you drink raw milk and hunt your own unicorns, I do care about your erroneous assertion that "anything in it's natural state is going to be better for you".
It is not, and you are completely wrong.

BertrandRussell · 26/08/2017 14:30

"I believe it, anything in its natural state is going to be better for you."

This sentence really collapses after 15 seconds thought.

Kursk · 26/08/2017 14:35

Laiste

I took a look at the link, I assumed that most of that was common knowledge? I remember my grandmother teaching me about potatos and mushrooms

Kursk · 26/08/2017 14:38

grandOlejukeofYork

Ok fair enough we have differing opinions and that's ok, not worth arguing over.

But I will revise my statement, food in its natural state is better for you than processed foods if you are interested in learning about your food.

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 14:39

So how does that chime with your statement anything in its natural state is going to be better for you if you know that things in their natural state are not always going to be better for you? Why say it?

grandOlejukeofYork · 26/08/2017 14:40

No, it's not differing opinions, it's about facts. You can have your own opinions, you cannot have your own facts.

And your revised statement is still wrong.

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