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Responses (2) to "I've been hearing some folks in my town arguing against pasteurized milk. C"

1. Jim, December 12, 2011

   Raw milk is safe and far more nutritious. The risk is greatly exaggerated and politically motivated. For example, Deli meats were found to be a 10 fold higher risk. Knowing your farmer always helps. Pasteurization destroys the nutrients and fragile components of the milk proteins. The anti-microbial and immune-supporting components are compromised for added shelf life! To my knowledge, fermentation (Yogurt) is the only rational way to increase shelf life. For more information visit http://www.realmilk.com/ Good luck.

2. AgEngineer, December 20, 2011

   The pasteurizing process commonly used for milk rapidly heats the milk to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 15-20 seconds, then rapidly cools it to a storage temperature around 34 degrees. This process kills most of the bacteria and other pathogens, greatly increasing the milk's shelf life and reducing the chances of spreading food borne illnesses. While this process does damage some nutrients in the milk, the benefits of added shelf life and higher safety outweigh this lost. A well balanced diet should provide enough nutrition to offset any losses from pasteurized milk. By the way, the articles referenced in the website mentioned in the last post are mostly from before the 1940s, and are quite out of date. The pasteurization technology has advanced tremendously since then, it would be interesting to see modern research on the subject.