Raw?! Did you know that in the Kentucky it is against the law to buy, sell, and even drink raw milk? Remember, this is a free country we live in. Now that I have made my opinion clear, let’s look at some facts. In 19 states raw milk sales are prohibited. 13 states allow retail sales of raw milk. 13 states allow the sale of raw milk only on the farm where it is produced, Kentucky being one of those. (realmilkfact.com) Avoiding run ins with the government in these states is accomplished by selling herd shares. With herd shares you do not buy milk per say. You buy a share of the farmer’s herd of milk cows. You then pay the farmer for feeding, milking, and upkeep of the cattle. The milk they produce is not purchased because you actually own the cow/cattle. It is basically a loophole to get around the government. Why is it that we have laws telling us we cannot buy or drink raw milk? The government, in its infinite wisdom, thinks that it is not safe, that we cannot make an informed decision about what we consume. Yet, on a daily basis we decide if we want to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, which come with health warnings the government requires printed on their packaging. What is raw milk and what is the debate? Raw milk is not pasteurized. Meaning it has not been subjected to high heat as pasteurized store bought milk is. Pasteurizing is done for the purpose of killing bacteria, which it does. The problem is it kills all bacteria good and bad. When raw milk is heated to 275 degrees most everything is killed. This includes the stuff that helps your immune system and all the vitamins. This is why your store bought milk says vitamin- D added. After it is killed during pasteurization they have to add it back in. This does not include all the other vitamins that are lost and added back in. Pasteurized milk from dairy cows also comes with a lot of additives that have a negative effect on our bodies. For the purpose of producing as much milk as possible, most dairy cows are given hormones. To keep them from getting sick they are given antibiotics. The antibiotics and hormones are not killed during pasteurization. Can this be traced back to why we have a problem in this country with antibiotic resistance?
When you buy raw milk from the small farmer, you get milk that is free of hormones and antibiotics. The small farmer does not raise his dairy cows in a feed lot, which contributes greatly to the spread of disease, contributing to the need for antibiotics. Small farmers usually do not feed their cattle grain, which is a factor in cattle developing E-Coli.
Raw milk keeps the original composition, as opposed to pasteurized milk, which means the lactose sugar is not altered to beta lactose.(livingnotsurvivng.com) There is a wide selection of research readily available that shows that lactose intolerant people can drink raw milk with no adverse effects. There is also much research showing those children who have asthma and/or hay fever have reduced or no symptoms after switching to raw milk.
Most of theses studies have been done in European countries. This comes as no surprise. Raw milk is readily available in European countries. You can actually purchase raw milk there from vending machines the same as we do here with soda and water.
Our government says they are protecting us by prohibiting us free access to raw milk. I feel that we as smart citizens of this free country are capable making an informed educated decision about what we put into our bodies and what we feed our children.