Yes, that’s right! Pasteurization is a heat-treatment process, and quite a simple one too.
Pasteurization simply consists of heating certain food, like milk, to a high temperature for a short period of time before letting it cool down. You can either heat your milk at 63॰C for 30 minutes or increase the temperature to 72॰C for a short 15 seconds before rapidly cooling it down (3,4,5,6,7,19). It is that simple! No chemicals.
Some people claim that pasteurized milk is less nutritious than raw milk. While it does slightly reduce its vitamin C content, which milk was never a significant source of anyway, it does not significantly affect its calcium, protein, amino acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin A content (3,6,7,8,14). Plus, pasteurized milk is enriched in vitamin D, which is absent in raw milk (15).
All in all, no good safety practice other than pasteurization can fully eliminate the risks associated with drinking raw milk (3). Raw milk can contain harmful microbes regardless of whether it is organic, regularly tested for bacteria, comes from a farmers’ market, from healthy and clean animals, or from grass-fed animals. Pasteurized milk allows you to drink milk without the risk of getting sick (3,6,15,18).
A 2017 U.S. study showed that raw dairy products causes 840 times more illnesses and 45 times more hospitalizations compared to pasteurized dairy products. That is why pasteurization, which is the simple process of heating up the milk for a short period of time, is so important to get rid of bacteria.
- Influencers promote raw milk despite FDA health warnings as bird flu spreads in dairy cows | CBS News | May 15, 2024
- Public health risks of raw milk consumption, CCDR 49(9) | Government of Canada | September 2023
- Raw Milk Questions and Answers | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Pasteurization | Britannica | Updated May 2024
- Raw or unpasteurized milk | Government of Canada
- Raw Milk | Halton Region
- Pasteurisation | Chapter in Food Processing Technology (Fourth Edition) on Science Direct | 2017
- Raw Milk (unpasteurized milk) Fact Sheet | Government of Manitoba | June 2014
- Questions and Answers Regarding Milk Safety During Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Outbreaks | U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) | April 2024
- Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Clade 2.3.4.4b Virus Infection in Domestic Dairy Cattle and Cats, United States, 2024 | Emerging Infectious Diseases on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | July 2024
- Raw milk may be riskier amid avian flu outbreak in U.S. Stick to pasteurized dairy, experts warn | CBC News | May 9, 2024
- Is milk safe to drink? Can you catch bird flu from beef? What to know about H5N1 cattle outbreaks | CBC News | April 4, 2024
- Bird flu: US tests show pasteurized milk is safe | Reuters | April 27, 2024
- Raw Milk Misconceptions and the Danger of Raw Milk Consumption | U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) | Updated November 2011
- Why is it illegal to buy raw milk in Alberta? | Alberta Milk
- Effect of Raw Milk on Lactose Intolerance: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study | Annals of Family Medicine on PubMed Central | March 2014
- Effect of processing on contents and relationships of mineral elements of milk | Food Chemistry on ScienceDirect | 1994
- Consumption of Raw or Unpasteurized Milk and Milk Products by Pregnant Women and Children | American Academy of Pediatrics | January 2014
- Pasteurized milk in Ontario | Government of Ontario
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Pasteurizing milk is simple: you heat it (63°C/30 min or 72°C/15 s) then cool it 🥛 No added products ❌ No, it doesn't remove its key nutrients (calcium, protein, vitamins A, B6, etc.) ❌ Yes, it makes it safer to drink ✅ 👇 scienceupfirst.com/nutrition/pa… #ScienceUpFirst
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