On Friday, the 5th of June 2020, ABC’s Background Briefing finally published its in depth story on raw milk and bath milk in Australia. At first, there was an early morning 6 minute segment that was broadcasted on national radio, with the release of the full 39 minute story on the Background Briefing website, followed by an article the day after. Click and follow the links below to listen and read.
6 minute segment:
Renewed calls for food safety authorities to allow sale of unpasteurised milk
39 minute Investigation:
Background Briefing: The controversial push to rebrand raw milk
Article:
Six years after a toddler died after drinking it, advocates want raw milk back on the table
We would like to take this opportunity to again thank Background Briefing for the in depth story, and also congratulate producer Katherine Gregory on the recent birth of her baby. Her story is about raw milk advocates who are renewing calls for food safety authorities to allow the sale of unpasteurised milk. Small niche dairy farms are able produce raw milk that is safe for human consumption, as data from the Raw Milk Institute and the BC Fresh Milk Project shows.
Raw milk could be sold as bath milk in Victoria for around 10 years, but that virtually stopped after health authorities linked a toddler's death to drinking ‘bath milk’ five years ago. Background Briefing investigated
that link in recent months, and whether there's a valid case to re-open the raw milk trade.
Please remember that there are two kinds of raw milk; one is produced with the intention that it will be pasteurised, and another with the intention to be consumed in the unpasteurised, unprocessed state.
ARMM advocates for a regulated raw cows milk industry, with the right set of quality controls in place. Some Australian states already enjoy regulated raw goats milk produced for human consumption, and the production of raw milk cheese is legal in Australia.
See a summary of ARMM’s updated response to the Coroner's findings here, and please donate to ARMM’s project. Background Briefing and the ABC make no direct mention of the Australian Raw Milk Movement in any of their interviews or articles, but they do make a vague mention of efforts by raw milk advocates to get Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to allow raw milk from cows.
Donate to ARMM’s project by following this link.
We would also like to to thank everyone for their messages of support, the recent generous financial contributions, and the raw milk supporters who were willing to be interviewed for Katherine’s story.
Raw Milk and the Coronavirus
Below is a list of resources that was published by various experts in the field of raw drinking milk around the time the lockdowns started. Beneficial microbes are involved in the maintenance of health, and from a certain point of view, raw milk consumption can be seen as part of that.
How To Protect Yourself From Coronavirus (Or Any Virus)
Why Aren’t We Being Advised to Strengthen Our Immune Systems against Coronavirus?
Coronavirus and Raw Milk. Safe to Drink? A message from raw milk expert Ted Beals MD
It just GOT REAL: Defeating the Monster of Immune Depression
The Party is Over—Time for Americans to Rebuild Their Health
Germ Theory Versus Terrain: The Wrong Side Won the Day
SELICK: Coronavirus crisis reopens 150-year-old controversy
No food can be 100% safe but…
Below is a list of resources indicating that even ordinary produce and processed foods can have a food safety risk, yet are often spoken of as safe for consumption. These foods are allowed to have a manageable risk, but raw milk from cows produced for human consumption is often targeted for perfection.
Investigations follow Jindi cheese listeria fatalities (the death of two adults and a child linked to pasteurised cheese)
Outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes Infections Associated With Pasteurized Milk From a Local Dairy—Massachusetts, 2007 (death of three people linked to pasteurised milk)
Salmonella in your salad: the cost of convenience? (death of three linked to pre-packaged spinach)
The Lettuce Was Framed: A Salmonella (And Other Meat Byproducts) Explainer (some 70+ deaths annually in Australia linked to animal industry waste and contamination)
Food poisoning on the rise as diets change (Intensive farming has been linked to the emergence of new pathogens.)
The UN just categorized antibiotics in the food system as a crisis (The CDC estimates that 23,000 people die in the US every year as a direct result of the anti-biotic resistance caused by the unsustainably-farmed animal industry.)
This document from the B.C. Fresh Milk Project shows a measurable effect that Raw Milk Institute training has on the quality of raw milk. The science shows “up to 24% of milk intended for pasteurization contains pathogens, whereas carefully produced raw milk is very unlikely to contain pathogens”.
