Approval of unpasteurised milk

The sale of an unpasteurised milk product has been approved for sale in Australia for the first time by the NSW Food Authority. The food regulator declared that food pressure was an effective method to kill the harmful bacteria that is normally killed by heat pasteurisation methods. The sale of raw milk intended for human consumption is illegal in Australia due to the risk of contracting a serious illness from the micro-organisms that live in it, although dairy producers can drink their own untreated cow’s milk. With the recent decision by the New South Wales Food Authority, this means that unpasteurised milk will appear for sale in shops within the week under the brand Made by Cow, selling for $5 per bottle for 750ml. The milk is being marketed as “cold pressed raw milk” and some people and leading experts have questioned is the process of cold pressure was as effective as traditional pasteurisation, citing that there is a lack of research in this area. Cold pressure techniques are usually applied to foods such as meat and juices to remove bacteria.

NSW Food Authority CEO Lisa Szabo was quoted by the ABC news network as saying “”We asked them ‘well what are the hazards that they’re trying to control in the milk’, and this company had a really strong and comprehensive list of the microbiological hazards that they wanted to control…for five years of my time there I spent doing research on high pressure, and in particular its effect on micro-organisms….so I have a great deal of confidence that this particular processing technology can inactivate micro-organisms”. Professor Peter Collignon, a leading infectious disease physician and microbiologist stated to the Sydney Morning Herald that he was concerned that research for cold pressed methods need to be available for everyone to see and needed independent verification.

regardless of the differences of opinion regarding the effectiveness or not of cold pressed process being as good as traditional heating process to kill bacteria, there is still debate around the fact of whether or not it would be accurate to tell consumers that cold pressed milk is more nutritious than heat pasteurised milk.

Unpasteurised milk