EDMONTON – An Edmonton-area farmer and paramedic explains why he and his family chose raw milk products over pasteurized.

Canada’s Public Health Agency is reporting one more case of E.coli illness linked to Gort’s Gouda cheese farm in B.C. The total of E.coli cases is now 23, including one fatal case. The Agency is investigating 11 cases in B.C., nine in Alberta, and one each in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec.

Read more: Gouda cheese recall issued over E.coli concern; Health Canada investigates. 

This recent recall is giving fuel to the raw milk debate.

However, some people swear by raw milk products – even calling them “liquid gold” because they say it tastes better and has more nutrients than pasteurized milk.

Joe Shandera, an Edmonton-area farmer and paramedic, drinks raw milk, uses it to make yogurt and cheese, and feeds it to his family.

“I believe it is healthy for me and for my family and it has been for people for generations,” he says. “That, I think, is for me, why I chose it. I know there’s a whole variety of reasons why other people do it, from the health benefits to they overcome asthma and allergies and things like that. That’s good for them; I personally don’t have that experience. For me, that it’s just a natural whole milk is basically it.”

“We chose to breastfeed our babies because we believe it’s good for our children, right? And I think that whole milk in its natural form is good for our children as well.”

Shandera says he is very careful to avoid contamination. He keeps his cows clean, in clean environments, and cools the milk as soon as possible to prevent bacteria from growing.

“I did a lot of research first to make sure it was actually safe,” he says.

“We don’t keep them in confinement conditions where they’re walking in their own fecal matter all the time. We milk them in clean environments.”

“I don’t want anyone to get sick, so I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can.”

He adds that his years of experience in the restaurant industry as well as his current position in the medical field have provided him with a lot of knowledge on sanitation procedures.

“So what we do is bring it down in temperature as quickly as possible. And all your commercial dairy farmers are going to do that as well. That minimizes any chance of developing those pathogens into a number that’s great enough to cause harm.”

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health stresses raw milk is too easily contaminated.

“In general, in public health, we believe it’s an unsafe practice,” states Dr. James Talbot.

“If you don’t pasteurize, you can’t guarantee safety,” he adds.

“There’s bacteria on the cow’s skin. If you think about the anatomy of cows, you realize they manufacture manure not far from where milk is produced. There’s the equipment that has to be sanitized, and the barn itself has to be clean.”

“It’s a natural product that’s very nutritious, and that includes – to bacteria… We just don’t think it’s a risk worth taking,” he explains.

“It wasn’t that long ago in this province that we saw tuberculosis being transmitted this way and it’s still thought to be a major source of infection for gastroenteritis.”

Talbot says pasteurization does result in a five per cent reduction in calcium and 20 per cent fewer B vitamins, but that the milk still has plenty to spare.

Pasteurization, he stresses, provides a final level of safety.

“It would be a shame to go back to the days when we didn’t have that level of protection.”

However, raw milk advocates say research shows pasteurization kills many of the nutrients in milk.

“I recommend raw milk to everybody,” says clinical herbalist Behrooz Tahririha, “if they can find it.”

“Raw milk has far more nutritional values than pasteurized milk,” he explains.

“Raw milk has all the enzymes still in it and a lot of immunoglobulin in it which helps the immune system of the baby to be developed and it helps the growth factors.  It also has fat-soluble vitamins… a whole gamut of good nutritional components… When you pasteurize the milk, you lose almost all of those.”

In addition to believing raw milk is safe, Shandera also believes it tastes better than pasteurized milk.

“I do prefer this taste because it is a whole milk and it’s colder when it’s in the glass jars… I do find that there’s a taste difference.”

“The friends that we do have who have tried it, they really enjoy it,” he adds. “’Best milk ever,’ they say.”

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