The vast majority of milk sold in the United States is pasteurized for safety and enriched with essential nutrients for health. "Raw" milk is the milk of cows or other mammals that does not undergo pasteurization and is not fortified with vitamins or minerals. Raw milk may not be sold across state lines, and is illegal in many states due to its risk of bacterial contamination and the hazard it poses of illness and food poisoning.
Pasteurization
Pasteurization is a food safety process developed by French scientist Louis Pasteur in the 19th century. During pasteurization, a liquid is heated to a given temperature, for a specific time period, to kill or weaken bacteria that can cause food poisoning or spoilage and to inactivate enzymes that degrade food quality. In modern times, pasteurization is conducted on a broad variety of food products, including fruit and vegetable juices, egg products and milk.
Pasteurizing Milk
Pasteurization is part of the standard production process at almost all modern milk and dairy manufacturers in the United States. The milk is heated to a point within a range of temperatures, with the exact time of heating depending on the level of heat -- higher temperatures require shorter heating, sometimes for only seconds. After heating, the milk is rapidly cooled and bottled in sterile, sealed containers and kept in refrigeration.
Pasteurization eliminates or slows the biochemical processes that lead to milk spoilage, extending milk's shelf life and almost eliminating the risk of serious contamination from bacteria.
Pasteurized Milk: Nutrition and Vitamin D
During the pasteurization process, milk bottlers in the U.S. add essential vitamins and nutrients to improve the milk's nutritional content. Vitamins A and D are the two most common nutrients added to milk during pasteurization and production.
Sufficient vitamin D is critical to calcium absorption and bone and tooth formation in children, and the prevention of osteoporosis and bone degradation in children and adults of all ages. The fortification of American milk with vitamin D has virtually eliminated rickets, a disease of bone weakness and deformation that afflicts children with inadequate vitamin D intake.
Raw Milk Nutrition
Raw milk contains roughly the same amount of calcium and phosphorus as pasteurized milk, excepting pasteurized milk that has been fortified with additional amounts of those two minerals.
However, raw milk lacks the vitamin D that is critical to enabling the body to properly use and absorb both calcium and phosphorus in bone formation.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, raw milk has no nutritional advantage over pasteurized milk.
Raw Milk and Health Risks
Because its bacteria haven't been weakened or killed, raw milk can also present health risks to people who consume it. Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli are just some bacterial species that can be in raw milk, and that have caused infections and food poisoning in human beings. Raw milk can pose an especially serious hazard to infants, children and pregnant women.
For this reason, the FDA recommends strongly against the consumption of raw milk, and a number of U.S. states have banned raw milk sales entirely.
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