Filed under: Ag education, Farm, food, food safety, Minnesota, science | Tags: Food, food safety, milk, raw milk, science
Recent reports of e-coli contamination of raw milk comes as no surprise to many of us in agriculture. We know why milk is pasteurized. Some people think that the pasteurization process takes out vitamins from the milk, thus they feel that raw milk is better. Science says that is false.
As a farmer I find the distrust of science in some people disturbing. Farmers are, after all, scientists. Why this distrust. Why do things that generations of scientific study have shown to be harmful. I just don’t get it.
Yes, in some cases science has moved faster than safety, but that is not the case here. Processes to protect our food supply, especially those as old as pasteurization, are proven. It is one of the reason’s we live longer today.
It is unfortunate that every generation must relearn the lessons of the past. Perhaps that is because some have not been introduced to the reasons for food safety processes in school. I know we have a lot to teach children in school now days, but where our food comes from, how we protect it, and why we do things like pasteurization should be something every child knows.
Michael
