In that case, the child had consumed raw milk sold as “bath milk”.<\/p>\n
Bath milk is labelled “not for human consumption” and is stocked in health food stores and independent grocers across Australia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Adam Strupek is a Brisbane-based holistic health and wellness advocate. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Adam Strupek runs wellness retreats in Brisbane, and purchases bath milk for consumption.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It is illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption, but it’s not illegal to drink the bath milk itself,” Mr Strupek said.<\/p>\n
He was fed raw dairy as a child and rediscovered it on social media as an adult.<\/p>\n
Misinformation spread online<\/p>\n
Mr Strupek said while pasteurisation could kill harmful bacteria, he believed it could also reduce other nutrients.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Deakin University lecturer Emily Denniss, who specialises in public health nutrition, disagreed.<\/p>\n
Mr Strupek also claimed lactase, a digestive enzyme that assists with the digestion of milk, was destroyed by pasteurisation.<\/p>\n
Dr Denniss said there was no lactase present in raw or pasteurised milk.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Emily Denniss is a nutritionist who specialises in health and nutrition communication. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Dr Denniss is also concerned about the broader public health implications of diet trends and misinformation being shared on social media.<\/p>\n
She said while it was impossible to quantify the number of people drinking raw milk, the promotion via social media was a growing trend.<\/p>\n
“It’s part of a bigger, more worrying trend of wellness influencers and other voices on social media thinking they have the credibility and authority to be undermining years of scientific research,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Misinformation and conspiracy theories can really undermine the public’s trust in credible voices.”Food standards important<\/p>\n
CSIRO food microbiologist Cathy McAuley said she was dismayed by the raw milk trend.<\/p>\n
She said it was possible for diseases to be passed on through the cow, but also the environment in which the milk was obtained, making pasteurisation essential.<\/p>\n
“There is bacteria in soil, water and faeces. If this gets on to the cow, it can get into the milk,” she said.<\/p>\n
Stuart Johnson, a WA-based board member of the Dairy Industry Association of Australia, said he had spoken to a number of dairy producers looking into selling bath milk.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stuart Johnson believes farmers can make profits in less dangerous ways. (Supplied: Stuart Johnson)<\/p>\n
He said the interest came from farmers who wanted to safeguard their income due to a tight dairy industry.<\/p>\n
“They think they could sell it for a premium price, and I always say to them, ‘Do you want to be the one to meet the mother of the child who fell sick, or worse?'” Mr Johnson said.<\/p>\n
WA Farmers Federation president Steve McGuire said WA dairy farmers “produce milk to the highest quality and hygiene standards”.<\/p>\n
“However, in line with Australian food safety standards, milk is pasteurised so that Australians can purchase it with confidence, knowing it is safe to drink.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public health experts are sounding the alarm about online content creators sharing misinformation about raw milk and spruiking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,135798,99,135799,135803,135801,135802,135796,135800,135795,135797],"class_list":["post-223726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bath-milk","tag-business","tag-cosmetic-milk","tag-dairy-industry-association-of-australia","tag-milk-health-risks","tag-milk-health-safety","tag-raw-milk","tag-social-media-misinformation","tag-social-media-trends","tag-unpasteurised-milk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}