FDA remains committed to pasteurization, Taylor says
June 25, 2014 | 10:55 PM
The Food and Drug Administration remains “strongly” committed to its position that pasteurization is the most important tool to make dairy products safe, and to opposing interstate sales of raw, unpasteurized milk, Michael Taylor, the FDA deputy commissioner for food and veterinary medicine, said Wednesday.
In a speech to the International Dairy Foods Association’s Regulatory Roundup, Taylor said he recognized that local dairy producers and food activists have “asserted their rights” to ask local and state authorities to legalize the sale and movement of unpasteurized milk and that “legislators are responding” to those demands, but that FDA and the Centers for Disease Control have continued to point out that there is an increased risk of food-borne illness from the raw product.
“Pasteurization has been designed to combat” harmful bacteria, Taylor said, and “does it very effectively.” Developed by Louis Pasteur in 1864, the process heats milk to a specific temperature to kill organisms responsible for diseases such as typhoid fever, listeriosis, tuberculosis and diphtheria.
“From a scientific and public health point we have been very clear about our concerns about raw milk and we will continue to do so,” Taylor said.
FDA remains “against interstate commerce” in raw milk, he said, and “when we are asked, we restate our position and strongly so.”
Both IDFA, which represents diary processors, and the National Milk Producers Federation, the largest organization of dairy farmers, oppose the sale of raw milk on food safety grounds, but the raw milk movement has been gaining momentum in some states, despite frequent reports of illnesses caused by raw milk.
In a speech to the International Dairy Foods Association’s Regulatory Roundup, Taylor said he recognized that local dairy producers and food activists have “asserted their rights” to ask local and state authorities to legalize the sale and movement of unpasteurized milk and that “legislators are responding” to those demands, but that FDA and the Centers for Disease Control have continued to point out that there is an increased risk of food-borne illness from the raw product.
“Pasteurization has been designed to combat” harmful bacteria, Taylor said, and “does it very effectively.” Developed by Louis Pasteur in 1864, the process heats milk to a specific temperature to kill organisms responsible for diseases such as typhoid fever, listeriosis, tuberculosis and diphtheria.
“From a scientific and public health point we have been very clear about our concerns about raw milk and we will continue to do so,” Taylor said.
FDA remains “against interstate commerce” in raw milk, he said, and “when we are asked, we restate our position and strongly so.”
Both IDFA, which represents diary processors, and the National Milk Producers Federation, the largest organization of dairy farmers, oppose the sale of raw milk on food safety grounds, but the raw milk movement has been gaining momentum in some states, despite frequent reports of illnesses caused by raw milk.
