Food Protection Trends - June 2009 - 356

Report of IAFP Timely Topics Session on “Raw Milk Consumption: An Emerging Public Health Threat?” February 17, 2009 by Robert L. Buchanan, Ph.D. Center for Food Safety and Security Systems University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 he development of food safet y programs and policy always has controversial aspects as t h e n e e ds, desires, and concerns of specif ic segments of societ y have to be balanced against the general well being of the country. However, few food safet y issues have had such a long history and intensit y as the debate over the question: “Milk, to pasteurize or not to pasteurize?” The pros and cons of pasteurization have been debated since 1908 when Chicago required the pasteurization of all milk unless it came from tuberculin-tested cows. In 1924, the US Public Health Ser vice developed the Standard Milk Ordinance to assist states wit h voluntar y pasteurization programs, and ul timately t he Food and Drug Adminis t ration introduced the Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) and barred the interstate sale of unpasteurized milk for direct consumption due to the high incidence being at t ributed to dair y products. Many of the individual states have adopted the PMO but others allow the intrastate sale of unpasteurized milk. The debate related to unpasteurized milk has once again resur faced as several states are considering changes is their current requirements related to the direct sale of raw milk to consumers. As part of its leadership role in emerging issues in food protection, the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), in collaboration with the Raw Milk Subcommittee of the Dairy Qualit y and Safety PDG, organized a “timely topics” session devoted to “Raw Milk Consumption: An Emerging Public Health Threat?” which was held in Arlington, VA on February 17, 2009. 356 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | JUNE 2009 T After introductory remarks from IAFP President Stan Bailey, a highly engaged audience listened to experts in the fields of microbiology, epidemiology, nutrition, food processing, and law. Allen Sayler of International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), who along with Ronald Schmidt of the Universit y of Florida, served as moderator of the symposium, kicked of f the conference by providing a synopsis of the history of pasteurized regulations, both here and in other countries, that have been enacted in response to the past transmission of infectious diseases via milk and milk products. He then introduced some of the major points of controversy in relation to claims of unique benefits associated with raw milk or adverse effects that result from the pasteurization of milk. Some of the purported claims of adverse ef fects resulting from pasteurization identified were inactivation of natural antimicrobials present in raw milk, increased incidence of lactose intolerance, increases in milk allergies, increased incidence of arthritis, association with autism as a result of modification to casein, increased incidence of asthma, decreased bioavailabilit y of calcium, and loss of lipid soluble and water soluble vitamins. Isabel S. Maples, a National Dair y Council Ambassador, gave a wide-ranging presentation on the safet y and nutritional benefits of milk, with a focus on comparing the relative risks and benefits of raw vs. pasteurized milk. She focused on t wo attributes, the retention of activity of various enzymes and immunoglobulins after pasteurization and milk’s nutritional profile, particularly in relation to trace nutrients. She pointed out that one of the attributes of which many consumers are not aware is that many of the enzymes, such as the antimicrobial enzymes lysozyme and lactoperoxidase, retain most
Food Protection Trends - June 2009

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