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Raw Milk

• Raw milk is milk that has not been processed via pasteurization or homogenization before consumption.
• The pasteurization process kills most resident microorganisms and many nutritional constituents.
• The beneficial bacteria (probiotics) in raw dairy promote good health by crowding out bad bacteria (competitive exclusion) and help prevent bacterial overgrowth in the intestinal tract.
• Enzymes, which otherwise aid in digestion, are destroyed during pasteurization. Present in raw milk, lactase is an enzyme that aids digestion of the milk sugar lactose. Many lactose -intolerant individuals can drink unpasteurized dairy products.
• Because of the bacterial production of lactic acid, raw milk naturally sours (at which point it can still be safe and desirable to consume); whereas, pasteurized milk, which lacks healthy bacteria, putrefies.