Got real milk?

I was less than happy to see this sticker on a recent raw milk purchase. This is the result of our powerful dairy lobby, hard at work.

The message appears to be offered in the spirit of health-consciousness, but it is actually there in the interest of business. As in huge agri-business, factory farming, petroleum-dependent food production. The motive here is profit, not protection.

The truth is that raw milk is loaded with goodies that are beneficial to mammalian bodies. If you're not allergic to milk and want to drink it, raw's the way to go. Why? Because milk (obtained from grass-fed cows), when it has been properly gathered and safely stored and transported, is quite healthy. For example, some of the enzymes that raw milk contains actually assist the body in processing the fat in the milk. And the fat itself is healthy. If you're interested in the truth about raw milk, take a look at this brochure, produced for the Campaign for Real Milk (Weston A. Price Foundation, Washington, DC). Here's just one sentence from that brochure that should set you to thinking:

"Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and 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."

Sr. Claire Joy remarked this morning that pasteurization is like chemotherapy. I started to laugh, then we suddenly realized that it is chemotherapy. The process is violent (milk is quickly heated, especially in ultra-pasteurization, which takes less than two seconds) and destroys all the friendly, healthy contents as well as the rare bad booger in its path.

Then more chemistry is applied: scary-sounding stuff like oxidized cholesterol, neurotoxic amino acids, mucopolysaccharides, colorings, and bioengineered enzymes ... none of which even touch the antibiotics, hormones and pesticides that find their way into a cow's body, all in the name of increased milk production. The treatment of high-production animals, the destruction of small farms and farmers, and the dangers of genetically-engineered additives are each rich fodder for an entire blog of its own.

Yes, this is definitely a preachy entry, and for that I apologize. But I'm willing to take on just about any epithet if it helps awaken even one person to the dangerous "food" that lines our grocery store shelves, and to spurious marketing ploys that promise us health but give us junk.