Milk and dairy products are a category of foods that offer a lot of nutritional benefits, but they can come, under certain conditions, with serious health risks. Sometimes problems can be installed without signs.
Choose Manufacturers Authorized and Controlled by Photo Sanitary-Veterinary Authorities: Adevărul Archive
Between the milk in the supermarket, “tasteless”, as we often consider, milk and products from peasants, “truly milk preparations”, we have a difficult choice. What we should know is what are the risks we expose ourselves buying and consuming products from insecure sources, but also what happens through pasteurization, a sterilization process subject to many appeals.
How to get to food poisoning
According to the data of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, in 20 years, between 1998 and 2018, there were 202 outbreaks related to the consumption of raw milk, soldiers with 2,645 diseases and 228 hospitalizations. It is only the recognized outbreaks, but the CDC emphasizes that most of the diseases transmitted through food are not part of these outbreaks and, for each reported disease, many others appear.
Raw, cow, sheep and goat milk can carry dangerous germs, such as Salmonella, E. Coli, Listeria, Campylobacter and other germs, causing foods of food origin, often called “food poisoning”. Although the consumption of raw milk can be a threat to anyone, there are categories of people in which the dangers are much higher, risking the death. People with weakened immune system (transplant patients and people with HIV/AIDS, cancer and diabetes), children, older adults and pregnant women are the most exposed categories. According to CDC data, most of the dietary diseases in raw milk affect children and adolescents.
For pregnant women, a serious risk is presented by Listeria germ, which is often found in raw milk and can cause spontaneous abortion or disease or the death of the newborn. “If you are pregnant, the consumption of raw milk or the consumption of foods made from raw milk can harm your child, even if you do not feel bad ”, warns CDC representatives.
Milk pasteurization is the method widely used to kill pests by heating milk at high temperature, for a certain period of time. The process was developed for the first time by Louis Pasteur, in 1864. Through pasteurization, harmful organisms responsible for diseases, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, Q fever and brucellosis are killed.
Raw milk and serious illnesses
Symptoms of diseases of food origin usually include vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, but can also be associated with flu -like manifestations, such as: fever, headaches and body pain. Most people with a good immune system will recover in a short time after a disease caused by harmful germs from raw milk (or from foods prepared with raw milk), but some may develop chronic, severe or even life-threatening symptoms. The recommendation of the specialists is that, if there is a suspicion that a person has consumed raw milk or raw milk products and has become ill, it will emerge urgently to the doctor.
“Pasteurization of milk causes lactose intolerance”, one of the myths
American health specialists say that although pasteurization has helped to provide safety milk and cheese, rich in nutrients, over 120 years, some people continue to believe that pasteurization harm milk and that raw milk is a safe and healthier alternative.
Among the myths related to pasteurization are, for example, the one according to which “Milk pasteurization causes lactose intolerance and allergic reactions. ” Both raw and pasteurized milk can cause allergic reactions to people sensitive to milk proteins, specialists say.
Another myth is that “Raw milk kills dangerous pathogens by themselves,” untrue assertion as well as the assertion that “Pasteurization reduces the nutritional value of milk”.
On the other hand, I draw the attention of public health specialists, pasteurization does not mean that it is safe to keep milk at room temperature for a long time, especially after it has been opened.
Attention, when buying a product we need to read the label to know whether or not the milk has been pasteurized. If the word “pasteurized” does not appear on the label of a product, it can contain raw milk and require thermal preparation.
The highest risk products and low -risk products
When choosing a product on the shelf we should know that some are exposed to a high risk, while others are much safer. On the list of low risk products are found: milk or pasteurized cream; Pasteurized strong cheeses, such as cheddar; extra strong pasteurized cheeses, such as parmesan; Pasteurized soft cheeses, such as Brie, Camembert; processed cheeses; Cream of cheese, cow cheese and ricotta cheese from pasteurized milk; pasteurized milk yogurt; pudding made of pasteurized milk; ice cream or icy yogurt from pasteurized milk.
Other products, on the other hand, are on an increased risk list: unpasteurized milk or cream; soft and unpasteurized cheeses; Unposteurized Queso Fresco cheeses; Unpasteurized milk yogurt; pudding made of unpasteurized milk; ice cream or frozen yogurt from unpasteurized milk.
Small manufacturers must be recorded sanitary-veterinary
For buyers who prefer the products purchased directly from the producers, in addition to the advice to heat the raw milk before consumption, others should be mentioned. The place from which we shop is important, because the small producers who sell milk and cheese in the agri-food markets and fairs must be recorded sanitary-veterinary, according to ANSVSA rules. This certification gives us the certainty that raw milk that is intended for direct sale or cheese processing comes from healthy animals, raised in farms/authorized/veterinary sanitary farms and which does not suffer from diseases that can be transmitted to humans through milk. Breeders who sell milk and dairy products in markets and fairs must have health notebooks for the animals from which milk comes.
Milk from peasants must meet strict photo -market placing: Adevărul Archive
The place of marketing is also important, because the products must be exposed for sale in specially arranged spaces of agri -food markets and fairs, in windows intended for this purpose, equipped with containers made of non -corrosable materials, easy to clean and hygiene, desirable with controlled temperature. Cheeses must be properly protected against contamination during transport and exposure for sale to the final consumer.
It is also important to be able to establish the traceability of the products from the small producers, which means that we have to have access to information such as: product name, manufacturer’s name, place of production, date of obtaining, etc.
How to eliminate hazard at home
The danger of food diseases can come from both the purchased product and the way we handle food at home. To be safe, there are some rules that we should never give up:
– to wash our hands often, preferably with hot water and soap, at least 20 seconds before and after handling food and after using the bath, changing diapers and manipulating pets;
– to wash with hot water and detergent the surfaces we use to prepare the food, dishes and utensils after the preparation of each food;
– to opt for the use of paper towels, or, if we use towels made of textile.
– to rinse the fresh fruits and vegetables under the tap water, including those that have no peel;
– In the case of canned, let’s clean the covers before opening them.
At what temperature the food is kept in the refrigerator and how to thaw correctly
We will keep the raw meat separate from other foods in the refrigerator. When we cut it, we will use a separate cutting support from the one for fresh products. We will never place cooked foods on a plate that had previously contained raw meat, poultry, seafood or eggs unless the plate was washed in hot soap water.
The preparation of the meat, on the other hand, must be done at the right temperature. The color and texture are indicators of the safety that we cannot rely on, which is why it is recommended to use a food thermometer as the only way to ensure the safety of meat, birds, seafood and egg products, for all cooking methods. These foods must be cooked safely to destroy any harmful bacterium.
The eggs should be cooked until the yolk and white are strong. As a caution, it is advisable to use recipes in which the eggs are cooked or the mixture requires thermal preparation.
When using the microwave oven to heat or prepare the food, it is advisable to cover the foods, but also to mix and rotate the container to cook evenly.
The soups and sauce should be brought to the boiling point when we reheat them.
For the foods we keep in the refrigerator or the freezer we must know that the temperature is very important. In the refrigerator, food should be kept at most 4-5 degrees Celsius, while at the freezer the optimum temperature is minus 17 degrees Celsius or less.
The foods we prepare should be refrigerated or frozen within two hours, or even less, if the temperature of the environment is over 30 degrees Celsius.
The defrosting of food, on the other hand, is not done at room temperature, on the countertop, but in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave. Foods defrosted in cold water or microwave should be cooked immediately.
Marination is always done in the refrigerator. For faster cooling, we can divide the preparation we put in the refrigerator into several shallow containers.
