“Raw milk is very dangerous”. The alarm is launched by the virologist Roberto Burioni. The professor of San Raffaele in Milan on March 26 intervened in an audition to the Chamber’s Social Affairs Commission. The occasion was the examination of the bills that aim to modify the legislation on the labeling of dairy products based on raw milk. Burioni has been categorical: “In many countries it is prohibited and should also be prohibited in Italy”. The same fate should have “those cheeses that are not subjected to treatments that guarantee the killing of all pathogenic bacteria,” he added.
Danger
Burioni’s appeal is based on certain facts: “Many people have died in the past for having drank it and someone for this reason dies even today”. The virologist reported overseas cases: “In the United States less than 3% of people drink raw milk; yet 70% of epidemic episodes occur in these subjects”. The danger lurks precisely in the method of conservation of the food. The theme also spoke about it in a chapter of his book “Mortal Bales”. In the text he explains that “the milk comes out without bacteria from the cow, but from that moment on the germs are everywhere, even in the air. So a microorganism can end up in milk”. The food is in fact “nourishing for us” but “also for bacteria, which in milk find a kind of paradise where they can replicate themselves in a fantastic way”. The pathogens that cause diseases reply optimally (double in less than half an hour) around 37 ° C. Among these there would be “the very aggressive variant” of the Ascorichia coli.
The role of Ascheichia Coli
“It is calculated” – highlights Burioni in the book – “that this bacterium is responsible for about 60 deaths every year in the United States, with the greatest number of cases among children under the age of 5”. The bacterium could “cause a very serious complication, the hemolytic-uremic syndrome”, explains the virologist, “which can lead to the loss of function of the kidneys, with the need to be dependent for a lifetime from dialysis, to serious neurological injuries or death”. For Burioni “Drinking raw milk is like playing Russian roulette”.
Mortality and revolution with Pasteur
In his book Burioni also provides an example. “In Brighton, England, breastfeeding children had a mortality in the first year of life of less than 7%, while for those who drank cow’s milk, mortality rose to 36%, five times so much”, reads. In short, the risk was always very high. Until Louis Pasteur, the father of modern microbiology, who invented pasteurization. The process consists in bringing to certain temperatures a specific food and aims to minimize the health risks due to pathogenic microorganisms sensitive to heat.
Regarding the milk “his pasteurization while not altering his taste (or altering him very little), he manages with a controlled heating to kill almost all of dangerous bacteria making him safe”. The results were immediately evident: “childhood mortality had a very remarkable decrease, and in many countries it became mandatory to pasteurize the milk before putting it on the market”, continues Burioni.