The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle posted a recent article about the risks of drinking raw milk. Those risks include contracting campylobacteriosis, the illness caused by ingestion of Campylobacter bacteria. According to the article:

“There are no significant nutritional differences between raw milk and pasteurized milk. Drinking raw milk or eating raw milk products is ‘like playing Russian roulette with your health,’ he says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommend that no one consume unpasteurized (raw) milk.

Pasteurization became widespread in the 1920s to destroy bacteria in milk that caused tuberculosis, diphtheria and typhoid fever. Other harmful bacteria, like campylobacter jejuni, E. coli 0157:H7, listeria monocytogenes, and salmonella, that may get into the milk through cross-contamination are also destroyed. As a result, milk-borne outbreaks have been reduced from 25 percent to just 1 percent today.”