Linda Lantos - Real Milk

Real Milk
By: Linda Lantos

Growing up in the 1950’s in a small towns in Hungary, my mother and father both remembers taking jugs to their neighbor’s farms to pick up the rich, frothy, milk still warm from the morning milking. Thirty years later, I was fortunate enough to get a small taste of my parents’ childhoods during my many summer visits to Hungary as a child. One of my favorite childhood memories (and possibly the early beginnings of my deep appreciation for good food) was going to the piac (pee-ats), the traditional Hungarian outdoor market, with my grandmother. She and I would set out with our market bags and glass containers of various sizes. Vendors put out mats, blankets, and small tables with the most magnificent sour cherries, raspberries, peaches and nectarines. Carrots, celery, and radishes still radiated with energy, having been plucked from family gardens as the sun rose only hours earlier. My favorite stop however, was the row of ancient crinkle-faced ladies, heads covered with traditional kerchiefs tied beneath their chins. They sat on low stools with their large jugs set out before them. I would present my glass jar and wait patiently for them to fill it. I was rewarded with the most delicious sour cream, which if left to my own devices, I would happily eat by the spoonful. Other ladies packed us fresh farmer’s cheese, kefir, and milk. At the ages of six and seven all I knew was that it was all amazingly yummy. What I didn’t realize at the time was that those dairy products were special. They were alive with all of the healthy bacteria and enzymes that the pasteurized and homogenized dairy products I was consuming during the year in New York were sadly lacking.

In much of Europe raw dairy is still easily accessible, and is viewed as the most health supportive nutritious form of dairy. In the US however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has basically stated that raw milk is unfit for human consumption. It is a violation of federal law to sell raw milk across state lines. Though each state regulates the sale of raw milk within the state, most have jumped on the FDA bandwagon and outlawed it. While the government and commercial dairy industry claim that “raw milk may harbor a host of disease-causing organisms (pathogens), such as the bacteria campylobacter, escherichia, listeria, salmonella, yersinia, and brucella.” (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/504_milk.html). Raw milk advocates believe that “pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer” (www.realmilk.com).

Because raw milk sales are commercially illegal in New York, I have recently joined the equivalent of a CSA for raw dairy products. These dairy clubs allows members to lease a share of the dairy producing animas from the farmer. While I believe that everyone has to do their own research before deciding to consume raw dairy, and that it is not the right choice for everyone, I’d like to share some my personal thoughts and findings on the issue.

It is definitely true that if cows are crammed into overcrowded concrete stalls, are unable to see the light of day, instead of grass and hay are fed soy and corn (that may be genetically modified and are naturally incompatible with bovine digestion), are injected with genetically engineered Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) (to find out more about rBGH go to http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbghlink.html), and are routinely given antibiotics to fight off the high rate of diseases these cattle are susceptible to due to their treatment– the “raw” milk they produce is going to have the potential to cause serious problems. The dairy industry does a really good job with their PR and marketing (“Got Milk”, “Milk -it does a body good”, and all of those celebrity milk mustache print adds…). However like most other mega-industries, the multibillion dollar dairy industry (and the government policies that support it) are only interested in their bottom line. Quality and true nutritional value are sacrificed for the highest possible yield and longest shelf life. “Since 1991, the number of total U.S. dairies has dropped 55%, while the number of dairies with a herd of 100 or more cows has increased 94%... Today's dairy cows in the U.S. produce milk volumes that are two-thirds greater than those demanded of animals 30 years ago and 10 times more than they would produce in nature.” (http://www.farmsanctuary.org/campaign/dairy_report.pdf).

So why not just drink organic milk – why go raw? While organic milk is rBGH free, and the cows are not fed genetically modified feed, the treatment of the cow and the quality of the milk can vary tremendously depending on the producers (unfortunately, not all organic products today are created equal …). At large scale organic dairy farms cows are most likely not grazing on green pastures, eating real grass. The most significant difference for me, however, is that commercially available organic milk is still pasteurized and homogenized.

In the late 1800’s milk related deaths and illnesses began to occur in large cities in the US, including New York City. These deaths were clearly linked to the industrialized city-based dairy farming practices of the time which included feeding cows sludge from whisky distilleries, keeping them in extremely unsanitary conditions often wallowing in manure, and the unhygienic storage and packaging of milk. instead of reforming these (profitable) unacceptable practices, raw milk was demonized and laws requiring pasteurization were put into effect. Pasteurization is a process by which milk is heat treated to extend shelf life and to destroy potential pathogens (for details about the process see http://www.idfa.org/facts/milk/pasteur.cfm). The problem with pasteurization is that through the heating process a large percentage of the enzymes, vitamins, and beneficial bacteria that our bodies need, and our intestines rely on to aid in digestion, are destroyed. The rise in milk allergies and lactose intolerance has been linked to pasteurization, partially due to the destruction of lactase, an enzyme needed to break down lactose milk sugars, and lactase forming bacteria, that are naturally found in raw milk. (As someone who experienced mild symptoms of lactose intolerance for years while drinking pasteurized milk, the difference I have noticed while consuming raw dairy is quite remarkable).

While pasteurization has clear historic roots (however misguided they may be) in an effort to prevent disease, homogenization is the process that I find most baffling. The delicious cream that naturally rises to the top of the milk (most kids today have NO idea that cream naturally rises to the top of milk…) is forced under tremendous amounts of pressure through a tiny opening, which break down the fat globules into many significantly smaller particles that are suspended in the milk. This process is great for the dairy industry – it creates a uniform product and increase shelf life … but anyone who has ever had a glass of real milk will probably tell you that it totally ruins the naturally wonderful flavor and texture of unprocessed milk. It has also been stated that these smaller fat particles are more difficult to digest, and some have even linked it to heart disease.

It is amazing that getting “skim milk” and low fat dairy products used to be as simple as literally skimming the fat of the top of whole unprocessed milk. Today, commercially available skim and low fat milk is pasteurized and homogenized. The fat is then separated by putting the milk through a centrifuge, after which synthetic vitamin A&D are added to the liquid that remains (because the natural vitamins are removed with the milk fat). Additives and stabilizers are often added to nonfat and low fat dairy products.

Now, twice a month when I pick up my raw dairy deliveries, I find myself feeling almost as excited as I felt as a child going to the piac with my grandmother. I appreciate the nutritional and health benefits of the delicious products including cow and goat yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, sour cream, unbelievable butter, and of course, milk and cream. As a member of a raw dairy club I have the added satisfaction of knowing that I am supporting small, local, sustainable, organic, family farms. I know I will always encounter people who are appalled, and think I am absolutely INSANE for consuming raw dairy. I, however, prefer to think of it as real milk– the kind of milk that was good enough for my parents growing up, and for the many generation before them, who lived in a world where milk (and food in general) did not come from factories.

For more information about raw milk check out the Weston A. Price Foundation’s dairy website at www.realmilk.com.