[JTHomes]

Ultra-pasteurization will kill pathogens, but it is a cheap band-aid approach that hurts the nutritional value of the product. Healthy cows produce healthy milk. If the dairy industry would let their animals eat the grasses they are designed to eat instead of cheap soybeans and corn, and keep milk from sick animals out of the mix, this wouldn’t be an issue. You can boil sewage and make it “safe” to drink, but I wouldn’t serve it on my cereal. It seems a similar issue to the food producers wanting to irradiate our food so workers won’t have to wash their hands after using the bathroom. Clean up the source!

My sympathies to anyone with Crohn’s.

[jb6]

I agree, let me quantify: I drink (and it's rare that I do) organically raised ultrapasturized milk. Some things just should not be raised in a factory.

[DeweyCA]

What about "dry" milk? Would the drying process and subsequent lack of moisture starve the bacteria? Probably not?

[editor-surveyor]

"Ultra-pasteurization will kill pathogens, but it is a cheap band-aid approach that hurts the nutritional value of the product. Healthy cows produce healthy milk. If the dairy industry would let their animals eat the grasses they are designed to eat instead of cheap soybeans and corn, and keep milk from sick animals out of the mix, this wouldn’t be an issue."

This deserves repeating!

[Think free or die]

We switched to raw milk about 2 years ago when our younger son exhibited some signs of asthma. My husband had researched it a bit, and found that there were some protective components of milk that were destroyed by either pasteurization or homogenization processes. Fortunately, we are able to get raw milk here in Pennsylvania.

Our eperience with it has been excellent. Our son's problems disappeared within a couple of weeks, and have not re-appeared. In addition, we had improvements in our arthritis. I'd developed some arthritis about 20 years ago, which was significantly helped by taking glucosamine capsules. The remaining problems were eliminated when we switched to raw milk. It has been quite remarkable.

I studied microbiology in college, so was quite concerned about the safety of raw milk initially. What we learned though, was that the standards of cleanliness are much higher for raw milk, since they can't count on pasteurization to clean up the mess. I think that farmers who undertake production of raw milk for sale know that this is potentially risky, and are extremely careful about sanitation and cow health. We find that our raw milk keeps very well. It typically has a posted shelf life of about 1 week when we buy it, but it remains fresh tasting for 2 weeks. Even when it sours, it does so gently and gradually rather than turning into a foul smelling gloppy mess overnight. It's been a great experience for us.