Zapping pathogens could be breakthrough for raw milk

The latest news on raw milk is cool – as at cool temperature. This is thanks to a technology that eliminates pathogens that can be in raw milk while preserving enzymes, proteins and compounds supported by immunity, which, according to defenders, are often destroyed by traditional heat -based pasteurization.

Public health officials say that there is no evidence that pasteurization reduces the healthy components of raw milk and that its advantages prevail over the problems perceived.

The latter news is based on advanced non -thermal, truactive UV light technology developed by Tamarack Biotics, led by the Bob Comstock power scientist, based in Fresno, California.

The company recently won the FDA acceptance for its light -based treatment process.

In simple terms, the process eliminates the need to pasteurize milk to achieve what the defenders of raw milk want – no pathogens but all the goodness that raw milk offers.

He also kills avian flu, a problem that recently thwarted raw milk producers.

But not yet
Although the determination of the FDA confirms that the bitotic method of tamarack meets the official criteria of pasteurization, at this stage, the thumb up of the agency does not allow it to be initially used in the production of powdered dairy ingredients such as the lactoserum protein concentrate, the concentrate of milk proteins and the compounds of immune deletion such as lactofrin.

Tamarack has also started to extend the truactive to other dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, kefir and colostrum.

For the future, the company said that these steps could open the way to acceptance of the truactive treatment of liquid raw milk from 2027. In other words, this could be a possible alternative to pasteurized raw milk.

“It’s safer than heat -based pasteurization,” said Comstock. “We kill more pathogens and better than heat.”

For the dairy industry, light therapy to pasteurize milk is not new. For example, in the 1930s, the carnation milk actually proclaimed on the labels of its huks of evaporated milk which it had been irradiated, which, according to society, is translated as a greater “vitamin D of Sunshine” in milk. This was particularly important to develop “strong and rights bones”, so important in the country’s efforts to eradicate the rays.

Many milk companies have followed suit
The ionizing radiation refers to a process that has enough energy to break an electron of an atom. In the case of food, it improves safety and extends the conservation time of food by reducing or eliminating microorganisms and insects.

“Millions and millions of children consumed irradiated milk at the time,” said Comstock.

Go here to find out more about the “Sunshine Milk” of embarking.

Currently, vitamin D is added to almost all of the pasteurized cow’s milk.

Comstock plans that in 5 to 15 years, dairy and processors will convert into UV light technology.

And, no, this will not be used by only what some people would call “corporate agriculture”.

“It is actually very easy to install,” said Comstock, referring to the possible adaptation by family farmers. For example, UV light used in this technology lasts 16,000 hours and light can be replaced for $ 200.

He also said that the company’s focusing of the company’s light preserves the taste and creamy of raw milk, that “an increasing number of people have rediscovered”. Federal statistics show that around 3% of people in America drink raw milk.

Comstock said he had invested millions of dollars and many years in this project.

A circuit?
Mark McAfee, including the dairy company RAW FARM, based in Fresno, California, is the largest organic raw milk producer in the country at 70,000 gallons each week, said that he “supported Comstock all the time”. But he said that the advanced UV light therapy of his business had not yet been approved for liquid whole milk.

“If he succeeds, it will be a huge home run for industry,” he said.

Raw Farms has had many reminders and in recent years and has been linked to epidemics. And last December, he had to recall all his products of raw milk and cream after the tests are positive for the contamination of the bird flu.

Other gross milk dairies across the country have also encountered problems. This month, consumers who bought Byrs Organic Dairy (Pennsylvania) from raw milk brand bought on July 8 and July 10, with sales dates of July 22 and July 23, were invited to throw it away after samples of routine milk were tested and confirmed as contaminated by the productization of Shigatoxine E. coli.

Go here for a list of raw dairy products in the United States and Canada from 2022 to February 2025. Many are linked to food contaminants in milk.

And while McAfee said that Comstock’s “breakthrough” is very promising, its milk will not be the one that consumers will want for a simple reason: because it has been treated.

Dick Klein, a retired dairy producer Western Washington, said that if it works for producers and managers, they would not have to worry about making people sick with bacteria who could be in milk.

“And that will open the market to family farmers who will be able to sell a new product again,” he said.

However, as a dairy producer, he knows that things can go wrong, no matter how careful you are. There may be breakdowns in the system of a farm where cleanliness may not be 100%.

“Nothing is perfect on a farm,” he said.

He also wonders why “someone has never found this before”.

The future
“The sure treatment of milk has not fundamentally changed in more than 150 years,” said Comstock, referring to the heat pasteurize. “We have created a solution that brings the safety of raw milk in the 21st century, without sacrificing what makes milk really nutritious. Our UV process actually reaches a higher level of safety than thermal pasteurization, which is really remarkable.”

How is milk pasteurized
In the vast majority of milk transformation plants, the cooled raw milk is heated by passing it between the heated plates in stainless steel until it reaches 161 degrees Fahrenheit. It is then kept at this temperature for 15 seconds before it was quickly cooled at its original temperature of 39 degrees.

This heat kills pathogens of food origin which could be in milk, but the opponents of pasteurization says that it can also kill enzymes, proteins and compounds supported by immunity. For many, which is why they buy and drink raw milk – and nourish it to their families.

However, according to the FDA, CDCs and public health agencies of Pasteurization State effectively kills pathogens of raw milk without any significant impact on the nutritional quality of milk.

Go here to get an overview of the FDA on what the agency calls false ideas and dangers associated with raw milk compared to pasteurized milk.

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