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Raw milk is like tap water without fluoride. In the context of America people talk like it's an affront to civilization itself, yet in much (not all) of Europe its available with various restrictions and regulations.

Edit for factual context: In the 19th century before the advent of pasteurization and refrigeration, raw milk used to kill lots of kids. But raw milk in America wasn't banned in America until 1987 and 1991 in Canada. Refrigeration made raw milk mostly safe (albeit still gross, IMHO) and most consumers chose pasteurized milk anyway without the government forcing them to. People who think raw milk should obviously be banned like to talk about the Victorian era but not the (far more relevant) 1980s.

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glaucon 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

And, for the purposes of liquid milk, those restrictions are pretty tight [1] .

In most countries there are a _very_ small number of licensed suppliers and raw milk may not be sold in conventional distribution networks. Raw milk is used by the French for some cheeses but I'm not sure about liquid milk. With respect to cheese, those made in France with raw milk are, according to wikipedia, "the major source of staphylococcal food poisoning".

I mention this not because I'm sure that raw milk is always bad in all circumstances, I don't know enough to say, but to point out that the degree to which it's available within EU+UK is really quite limited.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_milk#Europe

	▲	lupusreal 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> In most countries there are a _very_ small number of licensed suppliers and raw milk may not be sold in conventional distribution networks. So it is also in the American states which permit it. It's a very niche product which is subject to numerous regulations, in some states harsher than others. Generally it's not allowed to be sold in normal stores, you have to go to farms or special dairy stores to get it, state agencies regularly test it (hence this recall), etc.

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123yawaworht456 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>albeit still gross, IMHO

are raw fruits/vegetables yucky to you too?

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andybak 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Why do you make that comparison? It seems absurd to me.

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123yawaworht456 6 hours ago | parent [-]

pasteurization is just a heat treatment to remove bacteria. it isn't some fancy filtering process to remove the yucky bits.

fruits and vegetables are covered in bacteria too.

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Ferret7446 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Fruits and vegetables are not liquid.

And uncooked vegetables are indeed a large source of food borne illness.

Rare steak is fine, rare chicken is not.

Your analogy is really bad.

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123yawaworht456 3 hours ago | parent [-]

>Fruits and vegetables are not liquid.

and that is relevant how?

>And uncooked vegetables are indeed a large source of food borne illness.

so they are yucky too, after all?

>Rare steak is fine, rare chicken is not.

and that is relevant how?

>Your analogy is really bad.

thank you for your valuable input

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consteval 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> and that is relevant how?

Because it demonstrates some raw things are fine, and some raw things kill you? Like... duh?

I mean what are you really arguing here? We eat some raw stuff so that means anything raw, including milk, is perfectly safe to drink?

Just on it's surface that's such an absurd argument that I honestly doubt any human beings on Earth believe that. We're all well aware many raw substances are dangerous.

	▲	123yawaworht456 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		>I mean what are you really arguing here? I'm arguing that if you find "raw" milk gross, then raw fruits and vegetables are gross too. washing them (i.e. splashing them with cold water for a few seconds under the sink) doesn't eradicate the bacteria crawling all over. I don't understand why do you and the other poster sperg out about raw meat. I never said a damn thing about raw meat. no one eats raw meat, but millions of people drink "raw" milk. we drank "raw" milk for a few thousand years. "raw" milk is just milk.