Tried Raw Milk today from Local supplier

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rockie6, Jun 30, 6:54am
We always had a house cow when our babies were born and they were bought up on milk straight from the cow. Well, it was scalded and things added to it, like Karilac? Cant remember what else we added. Then when they got old enough, it was their job to milk the cow before school. This was in the 70's.

cgvl, Jun 30, 8:18am
yes we buy it here, just so much nicer than supermarket milk.
Took about a month to get used to it and I still have to be careful if I have a glassful as it can upset the stomach. We tend to heat the milk if having it straight but then being older people we don't really drink milk by the glassful anyway.
Until I found our current supplier I would go several Ks out of my way just to get real milk

sooseque, Jun 30, 8:38am
Yes we have been buying it for about four years, I was bought up on it and we also had a house cow.

archereon, Jun 30, 8:40am
http://www.foodsmart.govt.nz/food-safety/high-risk-foods/raw-milk/rawmilk.htm
No matter how carefully the animals are milked there is always a possibility of harmful bacteria, such as Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella, being present in raw milk.

To ensure that all consumers are aware of this risk before buying raw milk, all point-of-sale areas, both physical and electronic, and all raw milk containers will be labelled with the following:

Information about the risks around drinking raw milk
Ways to best reduce these risks, including storage, use-by dates, and who should avoid drinking raw milk (for example, the young, pregnant, elderly and immune compromised)

cgvl, Jun 30, 10:15am
In some cases yes it is all about Fonterra but also about scaremongers. While there is some risk with drinking raw milk there are also risks with buying any raw and cooked foods. Its all about how, it, food is handled, cleanliness of the person/s handling it and what they do or do not do.
Good suppliers, or at least the ones I use, have information re raw milk and their latest bateria counts displayed where it is easily seen. In fact one supplier I use also supplies Fonterra, he milks his cows for the public first and into a separate vat before milking any others. That way if there is a problem he knows where it is in his system.

pgta, Jun 30, 10:31am
Was brought up on a farm and raw milk was all we drank. Don't remember any of us getting sick from it.

justinian1, Jun 30, 10:38am
Raw milk used to be very common, but it fell out of favour due to hygiene issues and I think there were delivery issues as well (it might not have kept as well?).

Funny how things go in swings and roundabouts.

eejay2, Jun 30, 12:42pm
When I was a boarding school, we used to get our milk direct from our own dairy unit in large aluminum cans, there was always an argument about the fresh cream that settled on the top of the milk to go over our porridge for breakfast.

beaker59, Jun 30, 6:40pm
Tastes better because it still has full fat content, otherwise no benefit at all. Quite a large health risk though people have got sick and some have died, most recent example was late last year in Australia. NZ hasn't had a death for some time but with the rising popularity it is due.

lythande1, Jun 30, 7:34pm
Funny how people say posh wine, organic food all taste better when labelled as such.
But in blind taste tests, when the labels are switched or removed they don't.
I suspect the same with milk. just because it has been sterilised suddenly the taste is different?
Me I'll stick with my milk powder. it's cheap.
And safe.

A wide variety of germs that are sometimes found in raw milk, can make people sick, including bacteria (e.g., Brucella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Mycobacterium bovis (a cause of tuberculosis),Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli [e.g., E. coli O157], Shigella, Yersinia), parasites (e.g., Giardia), and viruses (e.g., norovirus).

antoniab, Jun 30, 8:35pm
Is it just me or does all dark blue budget brand milk now taste like water? Pak n Save has done fro a while so I stopped buying it and only bought at Countdown but now their budget stuff is tasteless too!
Think Ill have to cough up and pay for more expensive milk?

rockie6, Jun 30, 8:39pm
When we used to milk the house cow, by hand, the milk probably had all those in it lol.

coolnzmum, Jun 30, 9:01pm
Been drinking raw milk for nearly two years now from local supplier. We go through 21 litres every week. Even our five year old granddaughter could pick out the difference in taste within weeks of switching to raw milk. My daughter is unable to drink Blue top milk as it affects her gut but has had no reactions to raw milk, she can now drink more milk than she was able to when drinking store brought milk. I fail to see how something we have been drinking raw for as long as people have been drinking milk can suddenly become bad for you. Yes if you don't clean and sterilise bottle you could get bacteria in your milk but the same applies to any food. If you are using glass bottles which are throughly cleaned ands sterilise between uses and store it correctly you shouldn't have any problems with bacteria. Those who put it into plastic drink bottles that are only rinsed out may have problems with bacteria. The death in Australia last year was proved not to be related to the milk.

hestia, Jun 30, 11:46pm
Some people drink it without heating it. Don't you think that they are the ones which would be prone to suffer food poisoning?

hestia, Jun 30, 11:47pm
But you took proper precautions.

harrislucinda, Jun 30, 11:50pm
been drinking raw milk from our cows ex townie for years
never a problem but grandkids it upset them a bit

guinevere2, Jul 1, 3:17am
maybe they're going to stop selling raw meat too.

rockie6, Jul 1, 5:15am
Only for the baby bottles, ours we drank straight out of the bucket. When the kids were past babyhood, they also drank it straight.

hestia, Jul 1, 8:16am
So not enough time for bacteria to grow to unsafe levels. It is a different story if the milk were poured into containers, placed into a vehicle for whatever time it takes to transport it home, and then placed into the refrigerator for several days waiting to be consumed.

sampa, Jul 1, 8:49am

rockie6, Jul 2, 6:10am
Goodness, you do take me literally don't you. Do you think we all sat around the bucket and drank the milk through straws in one sitting? Of course not, it was refrigerated as well, for several days. AND, I used to let it sit to get the cream off the top to make butter.

carter19, Jul 2, 6:16pm
My mother has lived with the after effects of TB caused by infected milk in the 1940's. While this is rare the effects have been serious and lifelong.

phade01, Jul 2, 8:06pm
Living at the source (dairy farm) we drink raw milk. I definately notice better gut action in myself (we are dried off at the moment so are having to get store bought so really noticing the difference)

I know exactly where it's come from and the milk never is out of a chilled environment for longer than 5 minutes it takes from the shed to our fridge on the bike. We go through 2L in 2 days between 2 of us whereas store milk can sit there a week.

Same thing with our raw eggs - straight from the nest to the fry pan

cleggyboy, Jul 2, 8:37pm
Raw milk is the only way to go if you want to make decent cheese.

twelve12, Jul 2, 8:55pm
People die from homogenised milk too.
It's farming and milking practices nowadays, we have better ways to sterilise, so the old risks of raw milk are much less than they used to be.

I'm not really concerned about pasteurised milk, but homogenisation should go, totally.