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Health Canada advises against drinking raw milk

(Special)—Health Canada is once again advising people not to drink raw milk – milk that has not been pasteurized – because it could contain bacteria that can make you seriously ill.

According to an advisory from the department, unpasteurized milk has historically been linked to many serious diseases. However, the number of foodborne diseases from milk has dramatically decreased since pasteurization of milk was made mandatory in 1991.

Several different kinds of bacteria that could be found in raw milk, such as Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria, have been linked to foodborne illness.

These bacteria can lead to serious health conditions ranging from fever, vomiting and diarrhea to life-threatening kidney failure, miscarriage and death. Children, pregnant women, older adults and people with a weakened immune system are particularly at risk.

The sale of raw milk is strictly prohibited under the Food and Drug Regulations, which require that all milk available for sale in Canada be pasteurized. Pasteurization kills the organisms that cause disease while keeping the nutritional properties of milk intact. Raw milk has not been treated to make it safe. It also is not fortified with vitamin D.

Raw milk cheese is allowed for sale and considered safe because the manufacturing process for cheese helps to eliminate many pathogens found in raw milk.

The Health Canada advisory notes that while pasteurized milk is now standard, there are some Canadians who continue to prefer raw milk because of perceived health benefits.

It states that possible benefits are actually far outweighed by the serious risk of illness from drinking raw milk, and that people have become ill after drinking raw milk when visiting farms.

More information on raw milk and food safety is available at: Government of Canada’s Tip sheet on Raw Milk Government of Canada’s Food Safety Portal Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education’s Be Food Safe Canada Campaign