Just a little less than a year ago, state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) introduced a bill that would have allowed the sale of raw milk to the public with few restrictions. That bill died a quiet death in committee, and deservedly so.
A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more ammunition for why opening up wider sales of raw milk to the public is a risky idea and why we hope Grothman - or any other raw milk advocate - stays away from such a bill in this legislative session.
The new study says that dairy products accounted for more food-borne-illness hospitalizations over an 11-year period than 16 other commodity foods. The study, scheduled to be published in the March edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, also said leafy vegetables and dairy products were among the top contributors to food-borne illnesses, with veggies coming in No. 1.
Considering the importance of both vegetables and dairy products to a healthy diet, the relatively high rate of food-borne illnesses is a matter of real concern. It certainly points to the need to find out why but also to make sure that those who handle food remember the basic rules of hygiene. Simple hand-washing is one of those critical rules.
But one of the big concerns in the rate of food-borne illnesses in dairy products is raw milk and other unpasteurized dairy products, according to John Painter, one of the study's authors.
Reacting to the study, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said, "The risk from dairy products has increased in recent years with the rise in popularity of unpasteurized raw milk and cheeses. People who consume unpasteurized dairy products have no protection from hazards like E. coli 0157 and salmonella that are commonly found in dairy cattle."
Raw milk advocates argue that this study did not look at raw milk as a factor in the illnesses. But as a Journal Sentinel article by Rick Barrett noted this week, a CDC study published last year found the rate for disease outbreaks caused by raw dairy products was 150 times higher than for pasteurized milk. And it said that milk consumption was responsible for 121 disease outbreaks, causing 4,413 illnesses, 239 hospitalizations and three deaths from 1993 to 2006. Raw milk products were the cause of 60% of those outbreaks, according to the study.
The simple fact is that pasteurization exists for a reason: It kills bacteria that cause illness and even death. Any supposed benefits from drinking raw milk are far outweighed by the higher risk of disease, as the CDC studies show.
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