Many followers of raw milk will remember with deep sadness that a little boy died on October 13 2014. Consumption of raw milk was one possible cause considered by Victoria’s Coroner, whose report was released on October 24 2016.
The Coroner’s report, entitled Finding Without Inquest into the Death of Child A, is available here:
Finding Without Inquest into the Death of Child A
The Coroner found, on the balance of probabilities, that the death was most likely linked to the consumption of raw milk.
The Coroner’s findings are disappointing for a number of reasons. As set out in the report, the evidence given to the Coroner by the child’s father cast some doubt over whether the child had even consumed raw milk. The child’s father ‘stated that he could not remember if his son had drunk any of the milk in the bottle they currently had in the fridge at their home. There was a possibility that he had, but there was also a possibility that he had not, because he so rarely drank milk.’
Importantly, the Coroner decided to give more weight to a Department of Health and Human Services report, and other evidence, than to an expert report prepared by Dr Ron Hull, an experienced dairy microbiologist. Dr Hull’s opinion was that there were other more likely sources of infection than the milk, including contact with storm water at Frankston Beach.
An inquest would have provided more forensic and scientific certainty about the cause of the death, but understandably, an inquest did not proceed due to the impact it would likely have had on the family.
Summary of ARMM’s response
The Coroner found 'on the balance of probabilities' the death 'was most likely linked to the consumption of unpasteurised milk.'
The Coroner said she might have reached a different finding if evidence had been tested under cross-examination in an Inquest, rather than in the Coronial Inquiry.
The child's father ‘stated that he could not remember if his son had drunk any of the milk in the bottle they currently had in the fridge at their home. There was a possibility that he had, but there was also a possibility that he had not, because he so rarely drank milk.’
The Coroner gave more weight to a Department of Health and Human Services report than to the expert report prepared by Dr Ron Hull, a respected dairy microbiologist.
Dr Hull's opinion was that contact with storm water in an outlet at Frankston beach was a more likely source of infection than the milk.
Dr Hull noted that evidence presented by the Department of Health and Human Services linking the death of the child to raw milk used imprecise analytical methods.
Finally, we note that no foods are risk free. Regrettably, some people get sick, and some die, after consuming pasteurised dairy foods, and other foods that are regulated by health authorities. In many countries, carefully regulated raw milk is managed as a low risk food.
Edited and republished: 6 June 2020
Image: from the Herald Sun
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Finding Without Inquest into the Death of Child A
Coroner’s Findings Page at Coronerscourt.vic.gov.au (search for Child A document, according to date mid 2016)
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Outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes Infections Associated With Pasteurized Milk From a Local Dairy—Massachusetts, 2007 (death of three people linked to pasteurised milk)
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The Lettuce Was Framed: A Salmonella (And Other Meat Byproducts) Explainer (some 70+ deaths annually in Australia linked to animal industry waste and contamination)
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