A recent survey found that the most Americans don’t know the health risks of consuming raw milk. Studies show that raw milk from cows, goats and sheep, among other animals, contains harmful bacteria and viruses. While most commercially sold milk undergoes a heat treatment process called pasteurization to kill viruses and bacteria, raw milk has not been pasteurized and is much more likely to contain dangerous germs. Consuming unpasteurized milk or items made derived from unpasteurized milk can lead to potentially severe infections from listeria, e. coli and salmonella. Recent tests have shown that the live Avian flu virus is present in some raw milk samples, but not in pasteurized milk. Despite these well-demonstrated dangers, just 47% of survey participants were aware that raw milk is not as safe to drink as pasteurized milk; 24% either held the misguided belied that the pasteurization process fails to sufficiently kill germs or were or uncertain if it does. In addition, just 43% of Americans understood that pasteurization “does not destroy nutrients” in milk (16% believed it does destroy nutrients and 41% were unsure).
Full Story: HealthDay
