Category Archives: Week 1

Claravale Farm Raw Goat Milk Linked to Cases of Campylobacteriosis

Posted on October 9, 2015 by | 16 comments

Claravale Farm is a well-known dairy product distributor located in the state of California. The company lives up to their motto by producing “pure, natural and raw” dairy products for their customers, which includes raw, unpasteurized milk products. Among these raw milk varieties include goat milk, known for its nutritional and health benefits.

With a nutrient profile similar to that of cow’s milk, goat milk’s additional health benefits is what draws a consumer’s attention. More notably, goat milk contains less allergenic proteins, easily digestible fats and proteins, and lower in cholesterol. For more information about the benefits of goat milk, please visit this site.

Drinking goat milk does not seem to be quite a bad idea; however, consuming raw goat milk on the other hand, might be. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States warns consumers about the risks associated with drinking raw milk. Although raw, unpasteurized milk is nutritionally dense, it contains a wide variety of disease-causing bacteria, including Brucella, Campylobacter, Salmonella, Mycobacterium bovis, Listeria, and Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli. Any individual that drinks raw milk has the risk of consuming such bacteria; thus, increasing the risk of illness. The risk of illness from consumption is particularly high for infants and young children, elderly, pregnant women, and individuals with weakened immune systems.

On June 2015, the Health Officials in Orange County, California confirmed three cases of campylobacteriosis linked with Claravale Farm, due to the consumption of raw goat milk. The three cases were three young children less than 5 years of age. One of the children was hospitalized, but fortunately, all three were expected to fully recover. Campylobacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria, Campylobacter. Its symptoms are seen within two to five days after exposure, and typically include diarrhea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever. This infectious bacterium is commonly associated with contaminated water, poultry, produce, and in this case, unpasteurized dairy products.

The risk of getting campylobacteriosis is not solely limited to consuming raw goat milk; it applies to other raw, unprocessed products as well. Earlier in year during March 2015, six individuals from North California were diagnosed with campylobacteriosis after drinking Claravale Farm’s raw milk. The farm’s raw milk and cream products were then subjected to a statewide recall when the California Department of Public Health tested positive for Campylobacter. A similar situation occurred previously in March 2012, where positive test results for Campylobacter led to a statewide recall of Claravale Farm’s raw products.

Claravale Farm is a strong and passionate company that is proud of their raw products, as demonstrated by their statement found on their company website:

“Raw milk is unique in that it is the only significant source of a complete food in our diet that is not processed in some form being eaten. For instance, the enzymes are all available, whereas in pasteurized milk, less than 10% remain. What this means, is that your body can more readily utilize all of the nutrition that is available in this milk. That’s good for you, and it’s great for your kids!”

Truthfully, there is no ‘perfect’ milk product. Indeed, pasteurized milk lacks the enzymes and natural nutrient profile found in raw milk. However, pasteurized milk also lacks the wide range of disease-causing bacteria raw milk contains. It is the pasteurization process that helps eliminate such bacteria to produce a food safe product ready for consumption. Yet, it is also the pasteurization process that eliminates the beneficial enzymes and natural nutrient profile present in the raw milk. This can be an on-going debate, but ultimately, the decision is upon the consumer, you.

What is your ultimate decision? Raw or processed milk?

 

 

 

Interested in the taste difference between goat’s milk and cow’s milk?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MZ9hHS5Okc

Curious about the effects of Campylobacter?

 

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Camel Milk : a miracle food or a risky food

Posted on October 8, 2015 by | 16 comments

The practice of drinking fresh camel milk originated from Qatar tradition. Drinking fresh camel milk is practiced in semi-arid and arid areas of African and Asian countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and any other regions you can imagine people riding on camels.

Camel milk got famous for its nutritious content along with its therapeutic effects in diabetes, autism, and allergies. The nutrient profile of camel milk is pretty impressive that it is actually more nutritious than cow’s milk. Camel milk is low in fat,  high in iron and other anti-oxidants. What is more, camel milk resembles the milk of human, which might indicate that it could be more suitable for our nutritional needs.  For such benefits, the demand for camel milk is increasing, as it is to be introduced in European market in the future.

The bad news is, that consuming fresh camel milk can lead us to be infected with Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), a leading foodborne pathogen around the world. Infection by C.jejuni can manifest a variety of symptoms including diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and even inflammatory bowel disease. The cause of the infection can be tracked back to the fact that the milk is consumed in the raw state.

Since the regions where people have the tradition of fresh camel milk consumption are developing or semi-developed countries, they do not have proper refrigeration facilities during the milking process and transportation.  Moreover, milk is often kept in high ambient temperature, increasing the risks of C.jejuni growth.  The bacteria can get into the milk by cross contamination through feces or directly from the udder of the camel into the milk during milking. A study estimating the illness from the consumption of C.jejuni-containing milk showed that the more you drink, the more you are likely to get sick (obvious). However, one interesting finding was that men are more vulnerable of getting the illness from the bacteria than women.

Despite of poor hygienic measures in camel milk production, no outbreak has been reported in Saudi Arabia area. A study notes that the survival of Campylobacter bacteria is low in the intestinal tracts of camels due to high concentration of hydrogen gas present in the rumen. Thus, camel milk may not be a major source of Campylobacter bacteria infections. Instead, pathogens like Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus were detected in larger numbers.

Nonetheless, the fecal samples collected from the camels did contain Campylobacter, even though it was a very small number. Poor handling of the camel milk would result in higher chances of the bacteria growth. Pasteurization processes or acid fermentation are recommended as preventative measures.

As people’s interest is growing in camel milk, more studies are to be done in the future to figure out the exact benefits of the food and the methods to prevent any foodborne pathogens including Campylobacter. For now, establishing a formal microbiological standards regarding camel milk should be prioritized, since there are none.

 

 

Some interesting videos:

Curious about the taste?

Camel milk cures Autism!?

 

Kathy Kim

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Debate: The Risks of Black Market Raw Milk against the Risks of its Legal Consumption in Australia

Posted on October 7, 2015 by | 9 comments

Raw milk is defined as milk that has not been pasteurized or homogenized. Unpasteurized milk can become contaminated with pathogens such as salmonella spp., E. coli, and especially, Campylobacter jenuni. It has been a century-long global debate on whether or not the dangers of consuming unpasteurized milk is enough to justify its sales prohibition in major countries.

Availability and regulation of raw milk vary from region to region. In Australia, the sale of raw milk for consumption purposes is illegal in all states and territories, as is raw milk cheese with the exception of hard raw milk cheese. However, this has been somewhat undermined by legally selling raw milk as bath milk or pet milk. Ironically, the container in which you can purchase bath milk from looks exactly the same as you would purchase pasteurized milk. Despite raw milk’s legislative ban, Australian cheese maker Bowden has remarked that, “whether it’s legal or not, people are buying and drinking raw unpasteurized milk.” Several incidents associated with drinking unpasteurized milk in Australia has reached the headlines, including the death of a toddler in 2014.

Beverage? Cosmetics? Who knows!

Some decades ago, the common practice when it comes to milk consumption was that you would walk over to your neighboring farm, pump some milk out of the grazing cows into a bottle, and drink it fresh. Drinking raw milk is considered by many health experts as the only correct way milk should be drunk, as the beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus is still present in raw milk, along with many essential vitamins, including A, C, B6, and B12, as well as minerals and enzymes.

Unfortunately, the sale prohibition on raw milk isn’t in line with all consumers in Australia, and whenever there are profitable goods for sale that’s banned by the government, the sales move underground and black markets come in. Black markets elevates the issues associated with raw milk consumption by sneakily packaging raw milk as cosmetic milk and selling them at local farmers’ markets or roadside stands. The concern with black market sales is that there is no transparency or after-sale support for the customers. Labelling for merchandise at these places are also not under strict regulations, so many consumers may not even be aware of what is exactly in the bottle they just purchased. In the end, it really comes down to understanding the risk consuming raw milk poses. Bowden advocates the legalization of selling raw milk under tight regulations, including consumption shortly after production, and possibly selling in conjunction with a bacteria-testing kit.

The problem that can occur with consuming raw milk comes mostly from not treating it in the most hygienic and/or proper manner. Degeling from Centre for Values, Ethics and Law in Medicine (VELiM) remarked that large scale production could exacerbate problems, because “often the milk from a lot of cows are mixed together and it only takes one breakdown in the hygiene and bio-safety measures in the milking of one cow for the whole batch to be contaminated.” Currently, the Food Standards Australia (FSA) are beginning to recognize the increasing demand for raw dairy and are in the process of assessing the requirements that dairy plants would need to satisfy in order to safely produce and sell raw milk.

Please click here for the original article if you are interested. 🙂

So now the question is: should raw milk on day become legalized in Australia, or even in other countries? And if not, what steps can be taken to ensure the legislation will be enforced? What do you guys think?

Meggy Li

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Poop on birds: A survey of Campylobacter on fresh chicken in the UK

Posted on October 6, 2015 by | 16 comments

The year-long survey of Campylobacter on fresh chicken by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), which is carried out during the period from February 2014 to February 2015, reported the levels of Campylobacter found on fresh chickens sold in the UK. The final report was released in May, 2015, and it included the results represented by major retailers all over the UK.

Campylobacter has become the most common cause of bacterial food poisoning in the UK, which can cause gastrointestinal infections such as bloody diarrhea and dysentery syndrome like cramps, fever, and pain. Poisoning usually develops a few days after eating contaminated food, and the most common routes of transmission are fecal-oral.  Raw poultry, being the most common food vehicle responsible for the transmission contributes to 4 in 5 cases of campylobacter food poisoning in the UK.

According to the results from the report, during the tested period,

  • 19% chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination (greater than 1,000 colony forming unit per gram (cfu/g) on each sample)
  • 73% of chickens tested positive for the presence of campylobacter (i.e. contained campylobacter at a level above the detectable limit of 10 cfu/g)
  • 0.1% (5 samples) of packaging tested positive at the highest band of contamination
  • 7% of packaging tested positive for the presence of campylobacter

(If you are interested in more details about the report, please refer to the full report at   A microbiological survey of Campylobacter contamination in fresh whole UKproduced chilled chickens at retail sale – February 2014 to February 2015)

However,  above results seem not to be optimistic provided that the UK government and industry have targeted  for reduction of Campylobacter in the chickens produced in UK poultry slaughterhouses that have the highest level of contamination (i.e. those with more than 1,000 cfu per gram) from a baseline of 27% in 2008 to 10% by 2015 ever since 2010. (read more at the Joint Government and Industry Target to Reduce Campylobacter in UK Produced Chickens by 2015 December 2010)

Under such circumstances, to further reduce campylobacter levels in raw chicken and improve the food safety in the UK, the FSA initiated the ‘Chicken Challenge’ during the summer of 2015, and encouraged the public to share messages that demonstrate proper food handling methods to their family and friends. For example, the message saying “store raw chicken separately from other food, covered and chilled on bottom shelf of fridge” would prevent cross contamination and help limit the growth of Campylobacter. For more good demonstrations and some other fun activities you can visit the home page of the  ‘Chicken Challenge’.

Finally, back to our daily life, there are certain things you can do to avoid Campylobacteriosis (Campylobacter poisoning). Campylobacter is actually very heat sensitive and can be destroyed with thorough heating process. Your chicken is safe as long as you follow good kitchen practice:

  • Cover and chill raw chicken: Cover raw chicken and store them on the bottom shelf of the fridge so that the juices can’t drip on to other foods and contaminate them with Campylobacter.
  • Don’t wash raw chicken: Cooking will kill any bacteria present in the raw chicken, including Campylobacter. However, if you wash them in your sink, splashing of water will spread the germs.
  • Wash hands and use utensils: Thoroughly wash and clean all utensils that contact the raw chicken, such as chopping boards and surface used to prepare raw chicken. And thoroughly wash your hands with soap and warm water after handling raw chicken. Such practice can help prevent cross contamination.
  • Cook chicken thoroughly: Make sure chicken is steaming hot all the way through before consuming. It is always better to check that the thickest part of your chicken is steaming hot with no pink meat and the juices run clear.

Check out the video below to become a ‘Chicken Hero’!

Wish you all have a safe one without any food poisoning 🙂 LOL

Candice Zheng

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