Often Thought To Be Healthy, Consumption Of Crude Milk Can Increase The Risk Of Disease Transmission

Illustration of raw milk consumption (Pexels)

JAKARTA - Drinking raw milk or milk that is not going through a pasteurization process has become a matter of debate among the public lately.

On the one hand, raw milk is praised for its natural nutritional content, but on the other hand, this drink also has health risks that cannot be ignored.

So, is crude milk beneficial or even harmful to health? A recent study shows that crude milk can be contaminated by influenza viruses from cows and remains contagious even though it is colded for up to five days.

"This study underscores the potential risk of bird flu transmission through raw milk consumption, as well as emphasizing the importance of milk pasteurization," said Alexandria Boehm, senior author of the study, as reported by the Hindustan Times as quoted by ANTARA.

Unlike pasteurized milk, raw milk does not go through a warm-up process to kill dangerous pathogens. Supporters of raw milk consumption often claim that this type of milk contains nutrients, enzymes, and probiotics that are richer than pasteurized milk, so it is said to increase the immune system and digestive health.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has linked raw milk to more than 200 disease outbreaks. Together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FDA reminds microorganisms such as E. coli and Salmonella in raw milk can pose serious health risks, especially for children, parents, pregnant women, and individuals with weakened immune systems.

"The influenza virus that can survive in raw milk for several days is a serious concern regarding the potential path of disease transmission," said Mengyang Zhang, one of the study's lead authors and a postdoctoral researcher in civil and environmental engineering.

According to Zhang, this virus can also contaminate the surface and environment in dairy farming facilities, thus potentially endangering both humans and animals.

As a solution, milk that has gone through the fitting process has proven to be effective in destroying the influenza virus that is transmitted in milk, while reducing the presence of viral RNA by up to 90 percent. However, the RNA virus is not completely lost even though it has gone through this process.

Although the presence of the influenza virus RNA does not directly endanger health, RNA-based testing techniques are often used to monitor the presence of pathogens in the environment, including influenza.

"The resilience of the virus RNA in raw milk and pasteurization milk has important implications for food safety assessments and environmental surveillance," said Alessandro Zulli, one of the main authors of this study as well as postdoctoral researchers in the field of civil and environmental engineering.

The recent discovery of bird flu in cows raises concerns about the possibility of transmission through milk and its processed products. This research emphasizes the importance of improving the monitoring system, especially as the spread of bird flu among livestock continues.

Supervision and processing measures, such as pasteurization, are considered very important to ensure the safety of dairy products circulating in the community.