Raw Milk Products Accused of Causing Disease Outbreaks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published a study with stats that might give raw-milk supporters pause. The CDC report states that the rate of disease outbreaks caused by raw milk and products related to it is 150 times greater than outbreaks linked to pasteurized milk.

For the study, which was published in the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers reviewed 121 dairy-related outbreaks that took place from 1993 to 2006 in all 50 states, and determined that 60 percent of them were caused by raw milk products. They also found that the raw milk outbreaks disproportionately affected people under the age of 20.

The CDC study caused a stir at the Weston A. Price Foundation, a vocal supporter of raw milk consumption, which quickly published a press release accusing the government agency of cherry-picking data “to make raw milk look dangerous and to dismiss the same dangers associated with pasteurized milk.”

Both the CDC and the FDA have strongly advised against buying and consuming raw milk products. Nevertheless, raw dairy has continued to be popular with the farm-share set, many of whom believe that raw milk has beneficial and even healing properties missing in its pasteurized state. But until they can convince the government that they are right, raw milk will be considered too perilous to be on grocery-store shelves.