Milk for growth
The milk it is a food; it is the emunctory product of the mammary glands, therefore it represents an exclusive element of the mammalian class. The milk is secreted to favor the first physical development of the offspring (for the man about 6 months) and changes its composition during the whole weaning period. Through breastfeeding, children have the opportunity to:
- Feed and grow
- Develop intestinal bacterial flora and immune defenses
- Get closer to the ultimate solid power supply
Legislation and commodities
Milk is an extremely popular drink; it is consumed by most of the world's cultures and, as a food, it must be subjected to regulations and quality controls. In Italy, drinking milk means "the regular, uninterrupted and complete emunctory product of animals in good health and nutrition'.
NB. Vegetable milks, with their strengths and weaknesses, are foods (usually added and fortified) that from a nutritional point of view CANNOT be compared to milks of animal origin; moreover they certainly cannot replace the human one.
Raw milk
Raw milk is a "traditional" food and well rooted in Italian food tradition and culture; although the most widespread product today is cow's milk, other types of milk are also consumed in the various areas of the peninsula (see previous paragraph).
The market offers a wide range of products which differ in:
- The type of animal
- The shelf life (sterilized, traditionally pasteurized, pasteurized quickly or High Temperature Short Time [HTST - called "fresh milk" - less storable], trattato with Ultra High Temperature [UHT - called long-life], microfiltered)
- The fat content (whole, skimmed and partially skimmed)
- Other processing techniques such as the hydrolysis of lactose (delactosed milk) to favor its digestibility.
WHOLE milk (lipid content equal to or greater than 3.5% of the total energy) can be UHT (long-life), HTST (called "fresh" and can be stored for a few days), microfiltered (notoriously marketed in "bottles of color blue "and which can be kept for more than 8 days) or RAW.
Raw milk is the least conservable and least digestible (see article: "Raw milk and whole milk - differences") and, although historically it has always been distributed also in retail, with the advent of conservation techniques its consumption has progressively lost value.
Recently, farmers have organized themselves to establish an "effective distribution network in a" short chain "(from producer to consumer) which, thanks to the installation of refrigerated vending machines, is restoring the spread of raw milk. The organoleptic quality of a similar product is remarkable, however, in addition to a lower digestibility (due to the absence of homogenization of fats) it also possesses numerous food and hygiene constraints. Raw milk must be supplied DAILY and stored exclusively between 0 and 4 ° C, a peculiarity that certainly does not compromise distribution BUT significantly limits the domestic management of food. Furthermore, paradoxically but absolutely important, raw milk SHOULD NOT be drunk RAW That is, in order to guarantee its wholesomeness (because it contains live and active pathogenic microorganisms), raw milk should undergo a heat treatment (boiling) which inexorably compromises the typical taste characteristics much appreciated by some consumers.
Unfortunately, it often happens that buyers prefer to "risk their health" in order to enjoy a milk which, let's face it, has a taste far above any other alternative; however, these people are likely not aware of the risks involved in consuming excessively contaminated raw milk.
Risks of raw milk
Freshly milked raw milk, even if it should not contain microorganisms that enter it "from" inside the "animal" (septicemic infection), CANNOT be defined as a sterile food. It is normal for the liquid, at the time of milking, to come into contact with some microbes present in the milk ducts (terminal tubules of the udders communicating with the outside) or exposed on the ends of the udders; this means that, even if milking a healthy animal, a raw milk containing 103 is obtained units of colony-forming bacteria per milliliter (cfu / ml), up to 104 cfu / ml. To translate the concept in more understandable terms, it may happen that the risk of consuming raw milk is its bacterial contamination (by virtue of the nutritional abundance) and the relative infection or food poisoning.
The diseases that can be contracted with raw milk are: brucellosis, anthrax, tuberculosis, listeriosis, salmonellosis, Q fever, campylobacteriosis, enterohemorrhagic colitis and staphylococcal / streptococcal infections (mastitis). NB. The possibility exists that the risk of disease from contamination from Mycobacterium Avium subsp paratuberculosis of raw milk correlates with the manifestation of Crohn's disease.
Recall that the risk of drinking raw milk it shrinks exponentially with simple pasteurization (60-65 ° C for 30 minutes or 75-85 ° C for 10-15 seconds), even if complete sterility is not obtained from live organisms nor from their spores.The risk of drinking raw milk also includes the possibility that contamination occurs between the still healthy food and the faecal residues of the animal, or that the milking operators, due to negligence, keep the milk in open and / or exposed containers. air, their saliva or other impurities.
The bugbear that has always alerted producers (and which should at least attract the attention of consumers of raw milk) is contamination by Listeria (L. monocytogenes). This bacterium, extremely resistant to high temperatures, is almost harmless to the healthy individual ... BUT it represents a deadly pathogen for the immunosuppressed and for the fetus carried by the pregnant woman. However, in numerical terms, the largest epidemics triggered by the consumption of raw milk have highlighted the proliferation of salmonella and Escherichia coli (followed by Campylobacteri and Yersinia enterocolitica). The Italian press has given particular attention to some cases of haemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) associated with infection with verocytotoxin producing E. coli (VTEC) in pediatric patients, probably acquired through the consumption of contaminated raw (unpasteurized) milk.
The topic is vast and I do not think it will be of help to readers to acquire in-depth knowledge of microbiology; nevertheless, the prospect of what has been stated so far alone should encourage a certain awareness of the risk related to the consumption of raw milk which - although low (thanks to the rigorous health checks on the entire supply chain) - exists and has been repeatedly emphasized by the Italian Ministry of Health. Let me be clear, everyone with their own health can choose to do what they think best, however, food education is essential, especially for those (parents and restaurateurs) who take care of managing the nutrition of others.
Bibliography:
- Food microbiology - J. M. Jay, M. J. Loessner, D. A. Golden - Springer - pag. 167: 169.
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