Health Tip #6 - Raw Vs. Pasteurized Milk

The Raw Vs. Pasteurized Milk has been on on-going debate ever since the 1890’s when scientists discovered the presence of bacteria in milk. HOWEVER, no product testing was EVER invented in order to determine if the bacteria found in milk was safe or infected, so all milk was treated as “potentially,” dangerous. This lead to the prohibition of raw milk sales in many locations throughout the world, including Canada.

The fact is raw milk can be produced hygienically and is on thousands and thousands of farms throughout the world. The health benefits found in raw milk include countless vitamins and minerals which are stripped during the pasteurization process, and sadly the health of the consumer is not the main concern of the few milk producers that remain in Canada. When the law of pasteurization was passed in Canada it caused the need for small farm owners to purchase big milking equipment, costing thousands of dollars. The farmers could not afford to keep their farms, and sadly it was sold off to one of the few bigger companies that now control all milk production in this country.

This meant that a Canadian farmer could no longer give raw milk to their neighbor. Today, over 30 million Canadians DO NOT have the right to drink raw milk. Why take away our right? Instead we’re forced to consumer milk with no idea where it came from or what cow it came from. If we want to consume milk products we have to trust in the milk products regulated for sale by the government. The same government who fails to acknowledge or regulate Canadian consumption of food inflicted with the harmful effects of pesticides, herbicides, GMO’s, hormone-induced meat, and fructose-glucose (corn sugar)!

So many other countries in the world allow for the safe production of unpasteurized milk. In Europe, raw milk is largely found in rural areas and even in shopping centres in urban areas. In Great Britain while you can’t purchase raw milk from a grocery store, you have the choice to go out and purchase raw milk legally from farms or at markets. In Asia, raw milk is also commonly found.

So why take the North American right away to buy or sell raw milk? Why is this rich in nutrients, natural source of milk changed into something unnatural and barely nutritious, heck they're even adding nutrients back to the milk these days because they've realized how unhealthy it has become. And it's all for the sake of agribusiness. That’s right, it’s all about business. Pasteurization is a safety measure taken by these companies to protect their legal status from any illness claims, which they would probably need because of the uncivilized manner they treat the animals on their farms. Mass production of anything only concerns itself with profit and not the health of the consumer.

Nowadays, people can’t even handle the “milk” found in grocery stores today. There has never been as many lactose-intolerant and dairy sensitivities found in the population as there is today. The only solution to this story is go out and buy your own cow until our right as a consumer is rightfully returned.