Why pasteurize?

[pagerbear]

As I'm sitting here drinking my pasteurized Tropicana OJ because of my cold and wondering why pasteurize it? Surely the health issues of old that brought about the practice of pasteurization are sufficiently alleviated by modern hygiene to cause the practice of pasteurization redundant. In fact, I've read in various places that pasteurization does more harm than good as far as the actual benefits received from the products pasteurized. I poked around on Google and found this link to abstracts from research papers on the topic. A quote:

"Back in the 20s, Americans could buy fresh raw whole milk, real clabber and buttermilk, luscious naturally yellow butter, fresh farm cheeses and cream in various colors and thicknesses. Today's milk is accused of causing everything from allergies to heart disease to cancer, but when Americans could buy Real Milk, these diseases were rare. In fact, a supply of high quality dairy products was considered vital to American security and the economic well being of the nation."

"Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamin B12, and vitamin B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Calves fed pasteurized milk die before maturity. Raw milk sours naturally but pasteurized milk turns putrid and processors must remove slime and pus from pasteurized milk by a process of centrifugal clarification. Inspection of dairy herds for disease is not required for pasteurized milk. The practice of heating milk to kill germs was instituted in the 20s to combat TB, infant diarrhea, undulant fever and other diseases caused by poor animal nutrition and dirty production methods. But times have changed and modern stainless steel tanks, milking machines, refrigerated trucks and inspection methods make pasteurization absolutely unnecessary for public protection. (And pasteurization does not always kill the bacteria for Johne’s disease, with which most modern cows are infected. The Johne’s bacteria is suspected of causing Crohn’s disease in humans.) Clean raw milk from certified healthy cows is available commercially in several states and may be bought directly from the farm in many more. (Sources are listed on Where.) By executive order, it is forbidden to transport raw milk across state lines."

[DrWeird]

1. Some kids died from unpasteurized apple juice a couple year ago.

E. coli.

"Back in the 20s, Americans could buy fresh raw whole milk, real clabber and buttermilk, luscious naturally yellow butter, fresh farm cheeses and cream in various colors and thicknesses. Today's milk is accused of causing everything from allergies to heart disease to cancer, but when Americans could buy Real Milk, these diseases were rare. In fact, a supply of high quality dairy products was considered vital to American security and the economic well being of the nation."

Pasteurization was in use by the 20's. The milk today is essentially the same as from then. The reason more people are dying from heart disease and cancer now is because less people are dying from polio, lynchings, and tractor accidents.

[alittlelark]

6. Our friend's daughter almost died from it

(Odwalla e-coli) Her grandma bought her a bottle of the apple juice (Los Gatos I think). She was in the hospital for over a month. She now has the kidneys of an old woman - at one point the doctors gave her a 50/50 chance of making it to 20 years old (she was 6 or so when she drank it).

They have since moved to the Netherlands, and we only chat once a year or so. We don't bring up the subject. Her mother became a legal advocate on the issue.

When it comes to unpasteurized juice - do it yourself w/a juicer. That way you KNOW that you have sufficiently washed the produce

[DrWeird]

7. Yeah, that was some crazy shit.

It's a hell of a disease.

[liontamer]

2. stuff is pasteurized to ward of infectious disease

because everything we contact is sterilized, we don't worry about these "old school" diseases. We instead focus on the disease that are more prevalent in our modern western world.

However, just because we don't get these diseases doesn't mean they don't exist. People still get typhoid, cholera and tb, they just don't live in places where everything is required to be pasteurized. It's a tradeoff.

[liontamer]

3. delete dupe

[IconoclastIlene]

4. Yeah, just like was said

You want cholera, flu, typhoid, schistosomiasis, maybe?


After mother's milk, yer on yer own, baby!!!!

[Pithlet]

5. I'm glad milk and juices are pasteurized

I hope they continue to do so. Some of the diseases caused by unpasteurized products can be deadly, particularly to children, the elderly, anyone with weakened immune systems.

[miss_kitty]

8. past my eyes!?!

that seems like a lot. How about just up to my chin?

[Dora]

9. I think this is an interesting idea

It won't change my shopping or consumption habits, but it's the kind of food-thinking that I like to consider on a philosophical level.

If I were given the choice of a glass of Tropicana's best pasteurized OJ stored for weeks or months in an unrecyclable waxen carton or a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice from fruit just picked from a tree in my backyard that has never been treated with insecticides...

I'll risk the unpasteurized juice... EVERY TIME.

Sniff. I'm a little homesick just thinking about fresh-squeezed OJ.

I've always had the impression that e.coli's presence on fresh produce was primarily a result of large farming methods and automated handling processes. If you follow that vein of thought, then it's easy to speculate that fresh unpasteurized milk from a happy pasture-fed Organic Bessie is probably safer to consume than unpasteurized milk from a tortured industrial dairy cow.

(I drink Horizon or Organic Valley brand milk: $5 a gallon! My husband and I had to take up carpooling to work in order to feed our organic habit. I sincerely believe that organics are a coming investment wave.)