By Sam Bennison

To Your Health

How dangerous is raw milk?

Nov 5, 2024 | 4:29 PM

PRINCE GEORGE—The BC supreme court has once again dismissed a review of the provinces raw milk ban. However, the reason it was banned in the first place is because unpasturized milk can be lethal.

Dr. Rahul Walia, a resident medical health officer at Northern Health explains that unpasteurized milk can contain harmful bacteria like E.coli, salmonella, Listeria Campylobacter. Dr. Walia adds that these bacteria can “cause human health consequences. Most commonly, foodborne illnesses that can be very mild and can range all the way to very severe and can be as severe as leading to death.”

To pasteurize milk farmers heat it for a short period of time to kill almost all the bacteria. This process involves no chemicals and doesn’t change the nutritional content of milk.

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“We don’t see any nutritional differences between raw milk and pasteurized milk,” says Dr. Walia. “We see that they’re nearly the same in terms of macronutrients. Sov those are the carbs, the fat, the protein. And the micronutrients, the vitamins and minerals that we find in milk. So for all intents and purposes, they they are the same.”

However, raw milk can contain some extra ingredients but most of those are not part of a balanced diet. Dr. Walia says that there is a chance that raw milk can contain cow feces, urine, or other environmental particles.

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Email: sam.bennison@pattisonmedia.com