Raw milk

Raw milk is milk that is filtered and cooled immediately after milking, without having been previously heated (pasteurization, UHT). The filter must not affect the bacterial flora of the milk; The cooling temperature depends on the further use of the determination of the raw milk.

Raw milk offers no nutritional advantages over heat- treated milk. You may be contaminated with harmful germs and thereby transmit infectious diseases. The microbial load of raw milk is among other things dependent on feeding and the health of the animal, the bacterial flora of the udder skin, hygiene during milking and the milking equipment.

Legal framework

According to EU law is raw milk " the unchanged milking of livestock which has not been heated above 40 ° C or subjected to treatment having a similar effect ." It is also forbidden microfiltration of milk, so that the filtration through filters with very small pores.

To minimize the risk of infection apply to the manufacture and sale of raw milk and raw milk products in the European Union special health conditions.

The EU has left it to the Member States to prohibit or restrict the sale of raw milk and raw cream intended for direct consumption. Since Germany has used the service, special rules apply here. Raw milk can only be marketed as certified milk on the market or sold by farmers from own production as " milk from the farm " directly to consumers.

Health

The microbial load of raw milk can pose with reduced defenses risks for certain people, such as infants, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people, and they should therefore consider whether they raw milk and raw milk products (such as raw milk cheese) do without. Responsible for the occurrence of Listeria are especially the feeding of silage of poor quality, poor hygiene, and inadequate lighting of the stables and milking parlor. Therefore, one occasionally finds the note that the raw milk was produced silage and silage -free. In the past, played in raw milk contained causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle an important role as a source of infection for tuberculosis in humans. This risk is now only low, but in other parts of the world remain high in Western Europe. Also raw milk is transferred by the tick-borne encephalitis ( TBE ), a meningitis caused by viruses. In a study conducted by the Robert Koch Institute, the pathogen were of nearly 3700 cases in Latvia in 1997 at 5.3 percent in children and adults in 3.1 percent of the diseases transmitted through food. In Germany in 2012 a total of 143 diseased people TBE, where the nature of the transfer no statements can be made.

Raw milk contains various enzymes and antibodies which are, however, inactivated or denatured not only by heat treatment, but also through the protein digestion in the stomach. After one day of storage at room temperature arises from the raw milk in the way bacterial lactic acid which curds.

Identification

Raw milk intended for direct human consumption shall be marked with the words "raw milk ". Many raw milk products are not available in the supermarket, but only through direct sales on the farm.