Unpasteurised goats milk and pregnant women

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Unpasteurised goats milk and pregnant women

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Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 6:42 am Post subject: Unpasteurised goats milk and pregnant women
My friend is coming to stay for a week and she's pregnant. We just have the milk staright from the goat but I'm not sure if that'll be ok for her Should I buy in some cows milk for the week or would boiling it help?

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 7:46 am Post subject:
Not sure sorry - but unless someone is sure (and I bet someone will be along shortly...) i would use cows pastuerised - so that there are no tiny niggling worries.

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 8:03 am Post subject:
Why not ask her what she'd prefer? Personally I loathe goats milk/cheese so whether it's pasteurised or not would be irrelevant and I'm always happy to bring my own nice supermarket cows milk if my hosts don't usually have it. Or she might be a soya/rice/oat milk person....

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 8:19 am Post subject:
I have just asked the wife, in Madeira they drink milk straight from the animals every day. But not when they are pregnant, they use long life, some thing to do with something but she cant translate the word, hope this helps.

moongoddess

Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 673

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 10:01 am Post subject: Re: Unpasteurised goats milk and pregnant women

Stacey wrote:

My friend is coming to stay for a week and she's pregnant. We just have the milk staright from the goat but I'm not sure if that'll be ok for her

As she is a friend of yours, I would just ask her preference.

I have to say though, with my cynical head on, I wonder what we did in the days before pasteurisation, homogoneisation, standardisation, b******isation of all our foods?

Drank milk straight from the animal I'll wager!

Have fun with your friend

mg x

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 10:22 am Post subject:
I don't think you are suppost to drink it, particually if your not used to it. but I think only because if your were to get ill it would be worse for being pregnant not because it has anything bad in that would hurt the baby. But they say not to eat nuts, shellfish anything other than fully cooked eggs and allsorts so...

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 11:33 am Post subject: Re: Unpasteurised goats milk and pregnant women

pricey wrote:

... some thing to do with something but she cant translate the word, hope this helps.

Listeria?

EDIT: Much info here https://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Listeriosis_and_Pregnancy_What_is_Your_Risk/index.asp

moongoddess wrote:

... I have to say though, with my cynical head on, I wonder what we did in the days before pasteurisation, homogoneisation, standardisation, b******isation of all our foods?
Drank milk straight from the animal I'll wager! ...

We died, on average, much younger...

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 11:55 am Post subject:
Well, I drank unpasteurised cows milk all my childhood (and I assume my Mum drank it when she was expecting me). Not done me any harm. Much.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 12:23 pm Post subject:

Joey wrote:

Well, I drank unpasteurised cows milk all my childhood (and I assume my Mum drank it when she was expecting me).
Not done me any harm.
Much.

As with so many of these things, its a 'risk' thing - not a certainty.
Listeria 'only' kills about 500 people a year in the USA...

Its certainly possible to play without knowing the odds. Or even know that you are 'taking a chance'.
But if you know the odds, and understand the risks, you can make an informed decision.

I have no idea of the mindset of the mother-to-be in question.
But even if she smoked and drank alcohol while pregnant, I, for one (personal standpoint, just me, not advising/preaching whatever) wouldn't dream of offerring a 'risky' food product without offering an alternative with an explanation.

I wouldn't want to make that decision on behalf of someone else and their baby.
But that's just my ethics.

Rowanlady

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 195
Location: NE Hampshire

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 1:12 pm Post subject:

Unpasteurised milk may carry brucellosis - also known as Malta Fever - my husband was hospitalised with it in the 60s - he was shipped home from Malta and spent six months in RN hospital

" The disease is transmitted either through contaminated or untreated milk (and its derivates) or through direct contact with infected animals, which may include sheep, pigs, goats, cattle, camels, bison, and other ruminants. This also includes contact with their carcasses.

The incubation period of brucellosis is, usually, of one to three weeks, but some rare instances may take several months to surface. "

The fear for pregnant women is that the disease is also known as contagious abortion or infectious abortion - and the infection can remain in the body

It is thought that Anne Boleyn was infected either late in her first pregnancy or immediately afterwards - she spontaneously aborted two further pregnancies (both boys) - without that the course of history may well have been changed

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 4:59 pm Post subject:
I will ask her but thought I'd check out as much info as I can in advance. She's from London and they don't do goats up there Re: the taste etc - our goats milk doesn't taste any different frm cows - no tang and most guests don't even notice hey've had it. Thanks for all the info - I think I'll play it safe and get a small carton of cows milk in.

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 5:16 pm Post subject:

Rowanlady wrote:

Thanks rowanlady, this is what the wife was on about dougal, dont sound like that in Portuguese though.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Thu May 25, 06 11:04 pm Post subject:

Both Listeria and Brucellosis are risks particularly pertinent to pregnant women.
Both can cause abortion in humans.
Fortunately, Brucellosis is about 20x rarer than Listeria in the UK.

There are now about 200 cases a year of Listeria in the UK, but "Brucellosis is rare in England and Wales, with less than 10 cases reported each year, almost all of which are acquired abroad. Brucellosis became rare following the successful campaign to eradicate Brucella from cattle, which was carried out in the 1970s."
https://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/zoonoses/brucellosis/gen_info.htm
https://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/listeria/data_ew.htm

These are two reasons that I would regard pregnancy as an inappropriate time to choose to sample unpasteurised milk.

Kirstie

Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Posts: 94
Location: Scotland

Posted: Tue May 30, 06 7:38 am Post subject:

I too was brought up on unpasteurized milk, and I am a great believer that thats the reason why I have such strong bones. Brucellosis is actually prevelant in some areas in the UK although as stated is a lot rarer than Listeria, I regularly get leaflets through, however there are free tests available for this through the animal health/defra side. We have our cow tested on a yearly basis, surely they can do the same for goats. I would ask your friend also as you may be quite shocked the amount of people that really don't like goats milk, so you may have to go for the pasteurized option.

We live on goats milk too, but buy pasteurized for the visitors as they usually crinkle their noses up when presented with Geraldine's milk in their tea. There is shortly going to be a piece in the guardian on dairy cows and the pasteurization process that may have people thinking a little harder about the milk they are drinking, provided it includes comments made at the interviews on techniques used in the milk process it will certainly open a few eyes.

Good luck, by the way when I was pregnant which was a very long time ago I drank milk straight from the cow and the goat and had no problems at all, but this day and age you have to be so careful.

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