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Unprocessed and Underrated: Committing Heresy Against the Modern World (Opinion Editorial)

Opinion Editorial By: Zach Bentley, Journalism Intern | BCS Chronicle

What You Need To Know:

  • This opinion editorial challenges the historical and ongoing demonization of raw milk, arguing that pasteurization was originally a necessary but temporary solution to the unsanitary conditions of the Industrial Revolution.

  • This piece explains that pasteurization addressed symptoms rather than root problems, enabling poor practices in industrial dairy production while sidelining safer, local dairy operations.

  • Today, many small-scale dairies producing raw milk meet high cleanliness standards, and raw milk offers nutritional benefits—such as bioavailable enzymes and reduced allergy risk in children—that are diminished or destroyed through pasteurization.

  • The piece advocates for consumer choice and informed decision-making, asserting that raw milk should be seen not as a dangerous relic but as a legitimate, nutrient-rich option in the modern food landscape.

Since the advent of the industrial revolution, regulators, the educated elite, and the mainstream media have treated raw milk as a threat – an unpasteurized menace lurking and daring to defy modern "safety" standards. Yet, as we have seen since Covid, not all things presented to us are as they seem or are the whole truth.

The story of pasteurization is often told as a triumph of science over sickness, a turning point in public health that rendered milk safe and modern. What is rarely discussed is how the conditions that gave rise to the need for pasteurization no longer reflect the reality of today—and how the continued demonization of raw milk ignores both history and context.

In the 1860s, Louis Pasteur developed the process of pasteurization to prevent the souring of beer and wine. It wouldn’t be until many decades later that the process would begin to be applied to milk to solve the challenges of the day. This was primarily in response to the horrific and grim conditions of urban dairies during the Industrial Revolution. At the time, cows were often kept in cramped filthy stalls, fed distillery waste, and milked in unsanitary environments. The resulting milk was often contaminated, nutritionally deficient, and deadly – especially for infants and led to the deaths of thousands of children. In this context, pasteurization was a lifesaving solution. Many of our food safety laws were created during this time of industrialization.

But pasteurization wasn’t a cure to the problem; it was a band-aid. Rather than improving the conditions by which milk was produced, it allowed dangerous milk to be made after the fact. It provided legal cover for poor practices, enabling large dairies to operate without reforming their methods. It also enabled the growth of big dairy and displaced local dairies in favor of mass production and long shelf lives.

Today, many of those dangerous conditions no longer exist – at least not in the licensed small-scale farms that supply raw milk to informed consumers. Many small dairies producing raw milk operate with cleanliness and transparency. Their cows graze on open pastures, their equipment is sterile and state-inspected, and they test regularly for pathogens. These operations are a world apart from the industrial hellscapes that once justified pasteurization.

And with the historical context addressed, the nutritional case for raw milk can be presented.

Unlike pasteurized milk, raw milk contains many bioactives, bioavailable nutrients, and naturally occurring enzymes such as lactase. The presence of which may help some lactose-intolerant individuals digest it better. Vitamins that are heat sensitive such as B6, B12, and C, can be reduced significantly during pasteurization. Pasteurization also diminishes or destroys antibodies and beneficial probiotics that support immune and gut health. A 2021 Cornell study dives deeper into the benefits of bioactives and their role in human nutrition and immune function.

Perhaps most striking are the health benefits seen in children. Many European studies, including an article from The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found thatchildren who consumed raw milk from local dairies had significantly lower asthma and hay fever rates. Another study from JACI also demonstrated that the consumption of raw milk in early childhood was associated with reduced respiratory infections.

These nutritional benefits are regularly left out of policy discussions focused solely on microbial or pathogenic risk.

The Raw Milk Institute is the leading advocate for raw milk consumption in the United States. Their website has links to many of the peer-reviewed studies I have mentioned. If the reader is interested in raw milk, they should search their website and read further about the fantastic work they have already done.

Another great resource to learn more about raw milk and raw milk research is the British Columbia Hershare Association. They also have a great resource library for further reading.

None of this is to deny that raw milk carries risk—all food does. But consumers are trusted to navigate the risks of sushi, raw oysters, or rare steak. Of note, pasteurized dairy has been recalled many times since the Food and Drug Administration mandated pasteurization for interstate commerce in the 1980s. One notable recent event was the Listeria outbreak with Blue Bell of 2015.

This historical context matters. It helps explain why defenders of raw milk aren’t reckless health radicals but thoughtful critics of a one-size-fits-all approach. They aren’t asking to abolish pasteurization but to recognize that it was a solution designed for a man-made problem.

If you want to buy pasteurized milk from a grocery store made on an industrial farm, do that. If you want to buy local and support your local dairy, do that.

If you want to support your local dairy, GetRawMilk.com is an online database showing where you can find a local dairy and what kinds of milk products it produces.

Raw milk isn’t a relic of a bygone time; it is an option that we, as consumers, should have a choice to consume for its nutritional benefits and tradition.

Works Cited In This Opinion Editorial

Disclaimer:

This article is an opinion piece and does not reflect the views or editorial stance of the BCS Chronicle.