DrinksIs Raw Milk Safe? Learn When it is Acceptable to Use Unprocessed Milk
Have you read the articles lately about real milk and how healthy it is for you? Maybe you"ve heard conversations here and there and have been asking yourself, "Is raw milk safe to drink?" It can be confusing when you hear commercials on TV telling you how healthy milk from the grocery store is. But is it really? And just how can you know it is really okay to drink unpasteurized real fresh milk straight from the cow?
Well let me clarify one thing here. I don"t generally drink the milk "straight from the cow" per se. I do bring it into the house, strain it through a filter, pour it into glass jars, and then quickly stash it in the freezer for a couple of hours to quickly bring the temperature down. The faster you can cool your milk the longer it will stay fresh. Anyway, you could technically drink it right out of the cow but that is not to my liking. Some people do though.
But I digress.
You simply want to be informed about how to know when and why this is safe. Okay, well there are a few things to look out for. First, you want to purchase your milk from someone who has a healthy cow (or cows). This will most likely be a small independent farmer. They will generally not mind at all if you tour their farm, visit the cows, and even watch them milk. Be sure to check that they milk under sanitary conditions and, as I mentioned, have some way to get the milk pretty cold pretty fast after milking.
If everything seems good so far, the next thing to ask is what they feed their cows. Best case scenario is totally grass fed or perhaps a small amount of grain. If they say they feed a mostly grain-based diet you should avoid buying milk from them. But you will not normally find this to be the case except at very large dairies simply because that is the most cost-effective way to do things. They want to push their cows to produce the most milk possible, and they can do that by feeding lots and lots of grain. So avoid this type of farm.
The raw milk will be perfectly healthy and safe for you to drink as long as you follow this criteria. Of course the best way to know this is to buy your own cow and commence to milking! But as long as you do your due diligence, you will be able to find some safe, healthy, and delicious fresh milk.