Health Canada: Don't drink raw milk

OTTAWA, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Although raw milk is not allowed to be sold in Canada, people have become ill after drinking raw milk when visiting farms, health officials say.

Some may perceive raw -- unpasteurized -- milk as having health benefits, but Health Canada warns any possible benefits are far outweighed by the serious risk of illness from drinking raw milk.

Several different kinds of bacteria that can be found in raw milk -- Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria -- have been linked to food-borne illnesses with symptoms ranging from fever, vomiting and diarrhea to life-threatening kidney failure, miscarriage and death. Children, pregnant women, the elderly and individuals with compromised immune systems are particularly at risk, the health officials say.

Canadian Food and Drug Regulations require all milk available for sale be pasteurized – a process which kills the organisms that cause disease while keeping the nutritional properties of milk intact.

Raw milk cheese is allowed for sale and considered safe because the manufacturing process for cheese helps to eliminate many pathogens found in raw milk, Health Canada says.