Pastuerized milk is NOT 'Dead

[Guest guest]

I read a comment made by one of ths users,a nd I must diagree with it;

Pastuerized milk is NOT 'dead'.

I may not know a lot of things, but this I do know about.

Pastuerization kills off harmful bacteria, period. You can be as clean as can be

with your procedures and still have harmful bacteria in your raw milk.

We raised dairy goats, and we used a pastuerizer. We had healthy animals and

had a lovely small milk room set up that was always as clean as could be after

every milking session, scrubbed down twice a day, and had a real deep clean on

Sundays, and our equipment was ALWAYS cleaned after every milking, as it should

be. The pastuerization was just an extra 'insurance' step, if you will, that the

our milk was safe.

All a pasturizer does is heat milk up to a certain temperature and hold it there

to kill off the harmful bacteria and then it cools the milk down. Yes, it DOES

change some of the lipid chains in the milk; however, this is not harmful; in

fact, its beneficial....we pastuerized our goats milk just to ensure that it was

safe not only for us to consume, but to sell to people as well, and that was

just a safety factor.

I for one, LOVE fresh cows milk; but I am VERY allergic to it; and it does not

matter which dairy or area it comes from. Yet, I can drink PASTUERIZED cows

milk, and have for years. I am certain that the change in the chemical changes

that comes from pastuerization is what makes the difference.

And since there is a stove top method of pastuerization that DOES do a 'light'

pastuerization of raw milk, I am familiar with the process that is referered to,

the milk is heated up to a certain temperature, held there for 5 minutes as you

constantly stir it, and then its cooled by placing the pan into a bowl of ice

water. We used to do the same thing with extra goat colostrum when a doe would

have more than needed for her babies. We would then freeze it against needing

it for goat babies who might need it.

There is NOTHING wrong with pastuerized milk. With some of the health issues

that a lot of people have, pastuerized is far safer than risking picking up

something from unpastuerized milk that will seriously compromise their health

further.

Also, since someone is pregnant and has been lightly pastuerizing their milk

before now, I see no reason in telling them what they are doing is incorrect;

she seems to be doing well so far, so why change things if they are working for

her?

I for one will continue to use pastuerized milk, and STILL get the most of the

same benefits from making kefir from it as I would get using unpastuerized milk.

-- Kim in Texas