kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe? - PaleoHacks.com

kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-25T19:11:53Z

is raw goats milk safe for kefir? i recently found out that the farm where i get my raw goats milk had a recall due to "Campylobacter bacteria" in its raw cream. (they sell raw cows and goats milk)

by the way i dont get it directly from the farm, i get it from a health food store.

this recall happened earlier this year and now they are back up and running. i even bought raw goats milk from this farm this morning and now im paranoid that it will be dangerous to drink(remember i ferment it to drink my kefir)

i have seen other goats milk brands from other companies but they are either ultra pastuerized or pastuerized. i heard this is not good for kefir?

what should i do, not worry? or start drinking the pastuerized goats milk.

ive just heard so many good things about raw milk, especially raw goats milk.

Answer by Eugenia for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-25T19:20:41Z

I do goat kefir at home, but I have trust issues, so I prefer to not go raw.

Answer by baconandlegs for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-25T20:35:10Z

I'm not qualified to answer whether or not it's safe, but for what it's worth I make kefir at home with raw cow's milk.

I've heard conflicting stories. I've heard that scientists tested injecting E.coli into a kefir mixture, and 24h later the E.coli had been destroyed. I've also read the opposite -- that E.coli and Listeria have been found to have survived the fermentation process.

As the end of the day I guess it boils (love the unintended pun) down to a few things:

Trust
Handling process, food-safety best practices, sanitizing the fermentation vessel and storage vessel
How the dairy obtains, processes, and packages the milk

This study says that "According to the findings, E. coli O157:H7, S. typhimurium, and S. aureus can survive in kefir during fermentation."

Answer by KA24 for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-25T20:40:55Z

How to we gauge "safe?" Is it by comparing it to other things used on a regular basis? There are many "safe" things that wreak havoc with and even end lives with a far more frequent basis than raw milk. That doesn't mean you want to knowingly consume something you know might be poorly-sourced, but it's impossible to just say "raw milk" and get a definitive answer.

Answer by kat for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-25T21:05:25Z

Buying and selling raw milk is illegal in several states due to health risks. You can buy something close to it, grassfed but pasteurized (not homogenized or ultra-pasteurized), at many health food stores including Whole Foods.

If you like the taste of kefir but want to try something stricter paleo, you might like lime juice in coconut milk. You can make cheap(er) coconut milk by blending about 3 cups hot water and 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut. It takes 2 minutes on low in a blender. Strain. The fat comes to the top overnight in the fridge, leaving you with (a) tasty coconut milk "cream" for eating/cooking and (b) tasty coconut milk. All hormone, mucus, casein, lactose, and deadly bacteria-free.

Answer by David for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-26T00:13:49Z

I wouldn't worry about it personally. Lactobacteria produce their own form of antibiotics, plus not many pathogens do well in an acid environment.

I would probably ferment it for 24-36 hours and then put it under an airlock for another 24-48 hours for a secondary fermentation.

Answer by Matt for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-26T00:27:33Z

It all depends on your source of milk and whether you trust it or not. My family does raw goat kefir, but only because we're the folks doing the teat-squeezin'.

Answer by John the Drunkard for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-26T21:11:19Z

Raw milk is either safe or not. There is no categorical claim to be made on the basis of whether milk is raw or pasteurized.

Raw milk USED to be a common carrier of TB, Typhoid, 'Q-fever' and who knows what else. Therefore, legal requirements for pasteurization.

Nowadays 'raw' milk is usually from small dairies, which sort of implies that your getting more local, less factory produced product. The milk may be much better whether it is raw or not.

There have been disease outbreaks traceable to raw milk dairies, at least in California.

Traditionally, anti-pastuerization fans were crackpots who insisted that disease was god's will and prevention a form of blasphemy. Or general woo-woos.

Local milk from grass fed cows is to be preferred. If the farm conditions are right, have it raw. If there is any doubt, pasteruized.

Answer by Mark for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-27T04:48:22Z

I personally stopped making Kefir at home due to the amount of times it came out bad. I used raw goats or cows milk and fermented for 24 hours (I've tried grains from various suppliers too), about 30% of the time it would give me incredible stomach pains and diarrhea.

I used to drink several liters of raw milk each week for months and I never had any problems, I even drank it when it was sour at lot of the time.

Answer by Michael for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2012-08-27T12:30:19Z

I'm using pasteurized goat milk to make kefir and it works great.

Good fermentation, nice taste, amazing stuff for my gut so far.

I cannot say anything about raw milk since I've never tried to make kefir with it.

Michael.

Answer by AJ for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2013-03-10T23:19:18Z

I am a huge fan of Raw milk Kefir. As of right now, I can not handle Raw milk, however kefir I feel amazing on. Wish I didn't run out so fast all the time!!!

Answer by Janknitz for kefir drinkers, is raw milk safe?

2013-03-11T02:10:57Z

I would think you'd be even more confident in buying it now, because this dairy is on notice that it had a problem and probably took extraordinary steps to clean up to prevent any further infection of its milk. In addition, because you are buying it from the health food store, there are additional people making sure the milk is OK--the health food store would not want to risk it's own reputation on this dairy without being convinced that there will be no further problems.