Rather ironic, although I don't understand why you would want to drink/legalize raw milk.
Simple.
But because it is a regulation, it has also become a call for "FREEEEEeeeeeddoooomm".
Who cares about germs? Really, people are free to not wash their hands either, but it isn't the smartest thing to do.
100 Years ago when the lack of food safety was killing a lot of people, there was an outcry for laws. Now, laws are viewed as bad, just let me kill myself if I want to.
it's also become a call for "us smart people must outlaw the stupid people"
> Now, laws are viewed as bad, just let me kill myself if I want to
on the other hand, isn't europe sophisticated and progressive for legalizing suicide?
Drinking raw milk is more like walking into traffic without looking, maybe you get hit, maybe not, maybe you are injured, maybe dead, maybe your ok.
Yes, a lot of regulations are about protecting stupid people. But also to save some time, not everyone is going to have testing kits laying around and analyzing everything they eat. That would be horribly inefficient to make everyone do their own food testing before they can eat. Sure, smart people can be extra careful, but do you want to have to be extra careful with everything, just in case you are grabbing a grenade every time you open the fridge.
The risk is so vanishingly small compared to traffic deaths that what you’re saying is nothing more than anti-science misinformation.
What’s the rate of deaths or injury?
But to say the risk is 'vanishingly' small is the true 'anti-science' here. Are you anti-vax also? Measles is just a natural process?
""This review describes why pasteurization of milk was introduced more than 100 years ago, how pasteurization helped to reduce the incidence of illnesses associated with raw milk consumption, and the prevalence of pathogens in raw milk. In some studies, up to a third of all raw milk samples contained pathogens, even when sourced from clinically healthy animals or from milk that appeared to be of good quality.""
It turns out over 30 years of surveillance, there's been 3 deaths attributed to raw milk and 33 hospitalizations. Compared to any other danger that risk seems minuscule, for proportion, usage is estimated to be 1-2% of the adult population weekly. Has sushi killed more?
> During 1998–2018, health departments reported 21919 foodborne outbreaks and 423 595 outbreak-associated illnesses to FDOSS. Of these, 202 outbreaks (0.9%) and 2645 illnesses (0.6%) were linked to unpasteurised milk (Table 1), including 228 hospitalisations and three deaths. During the same time period, 9 outbreaks (0.04%) and 2133 illnesses (0.5%) linked to pasteurised milk were reported, including 33 hospitalisations and three deaths.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-inf...
Perhaps I'm biased. I work in the food industry, and know that corporations want to cut costs, increase profits by any means necessary, including risky practices. And any reduction in regulations is just another step in moving the line in the wrong direction. Try eating some raw chicken, which sounds crazy, but that is the same group arguing for raw milk.
So today, maybe the raw milk movement is being extra careful, give it a few year s and people 'relaxing' their vigilance. Food regulations are there for a reason, because at some point in the past, people were dying. And they will die again if given a chance.
So. Guess, I'm all for options. But there better be some pretty strict 'new' regulations to protect 'raw' milk, to replace the current old 'pasteurized' milk regulations.
According to the CDC[1]
> CDC estimates Salmonella bacteria cause about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths in the United States every year.
If someone consensually drinks raw milk and gets sick, that’s on them. If a parent makes their kid drink that and the kid gets sick, that is potentially child abuse.
I think the main concern here is some undereducated or easily buying into conspiracy theories/conservative individuals would feed their kids raw milk.
There are lots of things that are not good you that parents give their children and they are totally legal.
I think debating this or trying to fight against it is a waste of time rather than bigger issues.
Drinking it though? no thanks.
The drink-by date is best measured in hours. If you're used to keeping milk around for months, raw milk is not for you. It's great, but treat it sloppily and you'll suffer, and you don't have to be very sloppy.