Healthy animals can carry illness-causing germs, such as Brucella, Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E.Coli, Listeria, Mycobacterium, Salmonella and others that can contaminate milk. Pasteurization is the most effective means of destroying or deactivating these germs.
2 Herd health
4 Facilities and equipment
7 Production and
processing practices
12 Sales and distribution
13 Other considerations
Raw milk is unpasteurized milk produced for human consumption. In this guide you'll find recommended best practices to produce and distribute raw milk. Here are factors to consider:
Although a market exists for raw milk, there are also potential health hazards associated with it. Bacteria or other pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms that can be found in raw milk include Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and E. coli 0157:H7. In addition, tuberculosis, undulant fever, and Q fever can be contracted from consuming raw milk. These pathogens can cause serious illness or death.
Safe, clean, production, packaging and transport is critical. This will decrease the possibility of contamination and reduce the risk to the consumer, which is particularly important for protecting children, the elderly, pregnant women, and other individuals with weakened immune systems.
In Montana, raw milk can be sold by small dairies as a homemade food. A producer must inform the consumer that the product has not been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled, or inspected per any official regulations.
Per SB199, a small dairy shall sample, test, and retest every six months for standard plate count, coliform count, and somatic cell count of milk or cream sold as a homemade food.
Records from tests must be maintained for two years.
More frequent testing is recommended as a best practice.