Separating out the cream

I grew up next door to a dairy farm in Southern Indiana and routinely found myself in the milking barn and the room where the big chiller held all the milk til the tanker trucks came to take it away. Early on my family's milk was delivered in bottles (I don't know if it was from the farm next door) and it was whole milk (not 2% or skim) that I drank with my meals and my mother cooked with. Over time we got our milk in cartons and they said "pasturized"  and "vitamin D added" and these were perceived to be good, healthy things. Now they are called into question.

There has been growing interest in using raw milk. Yet as recently as the 1930's tainted milk products were the largest source of food borne illness and so the move to pasturize them was perceived as a health boon. Does using raw milk make sense now? I admit I've used it to make cheese (I can no longer drink whole milk of any kind because its just too rich) and enjoyed it. And know of parents whose children drink it to gain weight for sports. Yet, as in all parts of life, risks are out there and there are people who have suffered from it.

The website Real Raw Milk Facts is one source of information. Raw Milk Facts is another. (Perhaps the former was a "response" to the latter?) There are probably lots more. Like many important things, the solution is probably not a simple black/white issue. These websites may or may not support your views on the topic, but at least they identify themselves in the debate. What is right for one person may not be right for another, however becoming more informed seems to be a good thing for everyone.