Daily Life

Why raw milk is 'as controversial as climate change'

My local barista swears by it.

He has it in his coffee on the sly because it's illegal.

Milk is more complicated than it looks.
Milk is more complicated than it looks. 

No, he's not spiking his espresso with roofies.

It's far more benign, yet could still land you in court.

"It's almost as contentious as climate change science," says Dr Christopher Degeling from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health.

He is talking about raw cow's milk.


Earlier this year, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) reviewed the regulations on raw milk in Australia.

It's legal in Europe, where you can even buy it in vending machines.

People buy raw milk because of its enhanced enzymes and nutrients, like vitamins B and C.

But there are enhanced risks too.

Raw milk has a much shorter shelf life, and pasteurisation, which destroys some nutrients and enzymes, eliminates pathogenic bacteria that can kill us.

Pasteurisation has been used in Australia since the early 1900s and became standard practice in Australia in the mid-1950s. "It is a valuable public health tool," FSANZ states.

In the new review, the production and importation of some raw milk cheeses were made legal. The commercial sale of raw cow's milk is still illegal but drinking it is not. 

Regulating raw milk on a mass scale is too risky, the argument goes.

"If it's sold at a supermarket there would also need to be standards around the suppliers and the supermarket. That would make it harder to police and manage," Degeling says.

Why though, if it's legal in other countries, can't we manage it here?

"It's laziness on health authorities' part," Dr Ron Hull, an Australian microbiologist, has said. "They think it's too hard to regulate raw milk, which is not true. Raw milk is regulated in most parts of the world and is just as safe as any other food." 

Degeling, who is part of a free debate about raw milk in Australia at the University of Sydney on Wednesday night, disagrees.

"Food-borne illness, before pasteurisation, was a major problem in the western world," he says.

"Culturally we're not used to it [in Australia]," Degeling adds. "We treat milk as a sanitised product ... I don't think the Australian public would be suitably educated and would know how to mitigate those risks."

Yet the black market for raw milk, sold commercially as "beauty" or "bath" milk, shows that people want it despite the risks.

"There is no doubt that there is an inherent risk in humans engaging in anything – particularly eating," argues International cheese expert and judge Claudia Bowman, of McIntosh & Bowman Cheesemongers.

"The question is not 'is there a risk?', the question is 'how is the risk managed'," Bowman says.

"More people in Australia die from football-related injuries then from milk consumption, and we don't have the government trying to ban the playing or watching of rugby league."

Regulation would help because it would make producers accountable and therefore safety standards higher, Bowman argues.

"There is a black market without regulation," she says. "I'm surprised more people haven't died."

Degeling suggests that buying directly from local, small-scale farmers is one way to combat the problem.

"I'm not against raw milk," he insists. "It's about managing risks."

Bowman suggests there are various ways it could work on a larger scale, from including a test strip (like a pregnancy test) with the milk so you can test it for unsafe levels of bacteria or barcodes that scan the origin and age of the milk.

Sounds expensive.

 "It will be double the price of organic milk," Bowman says, "but if people want that, they will seek out the best of the best. It's about consumer choice."

Roquefort anyone?

Risky Milk, Risky Cheese, is part of a new series at the Sydney Environment Institute called 'The Small Changes', which focuses on how modern lifestyles impact the environment. The free talk is on Wednesday, September 16 from 6.30 to 8.30pm.