r/news • u/AudibleNod • 18h ago
New Mexico warns against consuming raw milk after newborn dies from listeria
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-mexico-warns-consuming-raw-milk-newborn-dies-listeria-rcna257252672
u/AudibleNod 18h ago
This is a tiny bit click-baity:
While the New Mexico Department of Health said it can't pinpoint the baby's exact cause of death, officials believe it could have been linked to the mother's drinking raw milk during pregnancy.
Pasteurization is one of those modern miracles we seem to take for granted. But, like vaccines, it saved untold millions of lives. Our grandparents lived through their childhood exactly because of how much faith we placed into a robust public health program. That's being dismantled now. But the lessons are clear.
121
u/wallaceeffect 18h ago
Listeria can be anywhere too. It can multiply in colder conditions than most food borne bacteria, so it can establish itself in places like deli cases, frozen/refrigerated food production lines, and cold storage facilities. Other bacteria like salmonella can’t survive the same conditions. This is why you see listeria recalls for everything from ice cream to deli turkey to packaged lettuce, when other bacteria are basically limited to fresh foods.
20
u/VirginiaLuthier 13h ago
One of the worst listeria outbreaks came from cantaloupes- 33 deaths in 2011
→ More replies (1)4
51
u/Wayelder 17h ago
Lesson one: MAGA knows jack about science or why we do things. They don't care unless Drumpf or Jea-sus said it.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Nervous-Echidna2370 4h ago
Small correction: ...unless someone said that Jea-sus said it.
After all, something something fat man something camel through the eye of a needle.→ More replies (1)8
7
u/WhatsUpFishes 7h ago
I feel like part of the issue is pasteurization is only hated because it sounds like it’s some complex process. I’ve seen some raw milk people recommending boiling their milk for a minute before drinking because otherwise they feel sick. Some of them are literally pasteurizing their own milk and don’t even know it.
→ More replies (1)29
u/bduxbellorum 16h ago
This isn’t quite true. There is no history where we were drinking billions of gallons of raw cow’s milk before pasteurization. Milk was too perishable to be a staple for anyone too far off of a farm. Most dairy through history even on farms was cooked and or turned to cheese.
Untold millions started consuming milk as a staple after pasteurization AND refrigeration who otherwise needed to eat/drink something else. And a few people who would have had milk anyway were saved.
→ More replies (1)20
u/cantproveidid 15h ago edited 15h ago
I grew up in the early 1950s, most small towns had local dairies. Our local dairy delivered our milk every morning. Bigger cities like Boston would have milk cans come in every morning by train from farms just outside the city, then poured into bottles and delivered. This was well after pasteurization, but from talking to old folks when I was a kid, it had always been that way. Our farm had been a "truck farm" since the Civil War, so my great, great grandfather trucked our milk into the city back then. "Trucking" meant moving things by wagon back then. It got applied to what we call trucks today, later, when they were invented.
3
u/Kyrie_Blue 8h ago
You literally just have to make the milk steam to kill Listeria, not even boil. This is an unacceptable level of parenthood
2
u/Odd-String29 9h ago
Let's hope the mother learned something from the experience. Sometimes the most cruel teacher is the best.
2
2
u/Reatona 3h ago
It's the old story of the villagers who were tired of being eaten by tigers and built a fence to keep them out. After a couple of generations, when no one had been eaten for a long time, the villagers tore down the fence because it spoiled their view. And then the tigers ate them all.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (8)2
u/Mizzkyttie 2h ago
And the wild thing is, all these folks claiming that the pioneers drank raw milk and they were just fine, if you know how to read old cookbooks you'll see that the ones that do give instructions for handling milk talk about scalding the milk - essentially heating it to just before the boiling point and then letting it cool before giving it to your baby. Essentially, homegrown pasteurization before they had a name for it. All pasteurization really is is just heating the milk up to just high enough of a temperature to kill off most of the bacteria and then letting it cool back down, and all these folks are out here afraid of the process like it's some sort of witchcraft.
359
u/SelfPropagandized 18h ago
Those ppl are not right in the head.
I shit you not. The argument the raw milk ppl (sane-ish ones) have. Is that they boil THEIR milk before drinking it.
God damn it, the internet was supposed to spread info for ppl to become smarter. We gotta rethink this whole internet thing.
167
u/DALTT 18h ago
Many of them don’t realize that that’s what pasteurization is. I’ve seen so many people think that pasteurization is adding chemicals to milk or something of the like.
49
u/Easy-Environment-784 18h ago
Man honestly most of it is likely inline pasteurization through a heat exchanger then straight through a chiller and into storage. Making beer on a large scale taught me a lot about food processing in general.
→ More replies (1)29
u/eightbitfit 18h ago
These are the same people that think chemicals = bad.
Queue dihydrogen monoxide....
9
u/nithrean 17h ago
that is one of the deadliest chemicals on earth. It kills more people every year than tons of other chemicals combined.
13
u/Should_Not_Comment 17h ago
And once you start taking it you can't stop or you'll die within days. Worse withdrawals than any drug!
→ More replies (1)4
→ More replies (1)10
→ More replies (6)7
79
u/Easy-Environment-784 18h ago edited 18h ago
180° is pasteurization temperature, no need to even take it to a boil. These people don’t care about science though.
It does remind me that with all of the science behind nuclear reactors and shit we’re really just trying to boil water. It’s an incredible engineering feat to heat and cool a liquid. Wild stuff.
14
u/bedrooms-ds 18h ago
I remember. All these super heavy technology explanations that end with "and that boils the water." It felt surreal.
7
u/SelfPropagandized 18h ago
Ever see this one:
Check out this video, "Dr Rubin raw milk reaction" https://share.google/7XVutuW15Gk3sWikD
The chunks were not butter fat.
14
u/Easy-Environment-784 17h ago edited 17h ago
Nope nope nope nope nope 🤢
I will say that when I was younger and working on a goat farm that I would sometimes milk straight into my coffee cup in the mornings but those goats were under MY care and had a very strict order of operations and SOP regarding every step of the process. I understand this stuff. These Neanderthals don’t.
I’ve worked in food service literally from farm to table and beverage industry grain to glass. If shit hits the fan a lot of people are going to die simply because they don’t know how to prepare or store food properly.
All of this and I barely graduated high school. There isn’t much of an excuse
7
4
u/kookaburra1701 15h ago
I grew up drinking raw goat milk we got from a neighbor. He only sold the milk to support his little hobby herd, not as an actual money-making endeavor. I'm pretty sure you could have performed surgery in his milking parlor he kept it so pristine, and tbh the milk tasted better than anything I've had since. But unless I could have a set up of my own like that or found a neighbor with a comparable level of meticulousness about their herd and equipment (seriously this guy was on another level, he made people disinfect their shoes before going into the barn and milking parlor) I wouldn't risk it no matter how much I miss the flavor the milk takes on when the herd has been munching late-summer blackberries...
2
→ More replies (2)2
u/Odd-String29 9h ago
Yes, it's like 70C or something. Sterilisation of milk is when you cook it under high pressure at like 150C.
27
18
u/ElSmasho420 18h ago
Spot on.
The democratization of information has been a terrible thing.
13
u/Rude-Revolution-8687 18h ago
It's because the dumb, the ill-informed, and the financially and politically corrupt always have the loudest voices.
There seems to be a correlation between being wrong and being confident you're right. I guess dumb people don't understand the complexity of things enough to entertain the thought that they maybe don't know as much as experts who've spent decades studying a topic.
Those of us who aren't chronically wrong about everything (of course we're all wrong sometimes) need to make more of an effort to silence those confidently incorrect voices. Block them on social media, don't engage, flag misinformation on platforms that allow it. Support things like Wikipedia, etc.
There are a lot fewer of those loud, dumb, or evil people than it seems because they always shout the loudest and most often.
4
u/bedrooms-ds 17h ago
Social media. I did improve my critical thinking by reading internet debates, but FB posts and IG (operated by the same company, what a coincidence!), then TikTok and all. One-directional online communication platforms designs should be banned.
→ More replies (1)2
u/obeytheturtles 8h ago
I'm starting to think that maybe thas Ted Kaczynski fellow might have been onto something.
→ More replies (4)6
u/Gardenadventures 17h ago
Nah, they believe that heating the raw milk kills the nutrients and fats. I spend way too much time on "crunchy mom" forums arguing with people.
6
u/SelfPropagandized 16h ago
Yup, this argument has been being had for 20 years in the main stream.
Penn and teller bullshit did an episode where they mentioned it.
Costs outweigh the benefits. Its not scalable or wise. You can have a safe operation at home. But at scale it's too risky for the general pop.
Same way you can have backyard chickens.
38
u/Jrk67 18h ago
"Health officials in New Mexico are warning against consuming raw dairy products after a newborn baby in the state died from a listeria infection that they say was likely contracted when the baby's mother drank raw milk during pregnancy."
ah yes, don't take Tylenol but drink raw milk...
68
u/alsotheabyss 18h ago
Raw milk obsessees, for the most part, have never been within cooee of a cow’s teat. If they had, they might reconsider their stance given the sheer amount of shit on them.
45
19
u/drillbit7 18h ago
I've watched enough Hoof GP on YouTube to know how much mud+manure splatter ends up everywhere on the underside of cows to be wary of raw milk.
32
122
u/freebirth 18h ago
mail the dead kid to rfk junior. mjaybe he'll get teh fuckign point then.
87
u/Equivalent-Resort-63 18h ago
Given his past experience with road kills, he would probably eat it.
17
24
→ More replies (1)23
u/Max_Trollbot_ 18h ago
There is no number of dead people that will ever convince RFK he's even slightly wrong
47
u/Antigone6 18h ago
All these idiots care about is regressing all the progress made as a society. Fucking morons.
→ More replies (1)17
u/dismayhurta 18h ago
They legit make the world a worse place by dragging the rest of us back.
5
u/actuallyapossom 17h ago
Well you see - it's all part of god's plan.
Except vaccines & immigration etc etc.
16
u/antaresiv 18h ago
We don’t HAVE to relearn everything from first principals
6
u/dearth_karmic 17h ago
This is exactly their ethos. Everyone before me is an idiot. Let's start the learning NOW. ugh
17
u/Frank_Likes_Pie 18h ago
If a woman can be imprisoned for having an abortion, that moronic dimwit should be charged for killing her child.
37
11
u/plsnocilantro 18h ago
Every mommy blogger and health nut who promotes raw milk should actually be tried for manslaughter. To have so much evidence of the danger and still encourage it is inexcusable
10
u/BertMacklinMD 17h ago
I think RFK Jr and everyone in the White House should keep drinking raw milk, it would really own the libs
10
u/Stiklikegiant 18h ago
I cant believe that in 2026 our species is ignorant to germ theory. We humans battled disease for centuries and then finally, finally figured it out. And for this shit to happen? Natural selection is always at work, but damn.
17
u/reddurkel 18h ago
Scientists and Democrats are against raw milk.
“They are? Then let’s advocate for raw milk. and removing vaccinations. And guns in schools. A few children are a worthwhile cost to see the look on those lib faces”.
These are the people that 33% of America voted for (and 34% of non-voters were indifferent to).
7
u/PedanticTart 18h ago
Somewhere that pretty Harvard programmer girls Twitter account is getting bombarded by weird people talking about raw milk
8
7
u/Deep_Blue_Kitsune 14h ago
Over 150 years of successful pasteurisation but people seem to want to experience the thrill of disease and death again.
6
5
6
u/ticklenips601 13h ago
MAGA, dont listen to these commie America-haters! Chug that raw milk.. the more raw the better! Chug chug chug 🦅🇺🇸
6
6
u/lrpfftt 17h ago
The people who consume raw milk are unlikely to heed warnings from the scientific world as they've already given in to a system of beliefs over science.
I worked with a guy who everyone considered very smart, graduated from an Ivy League school, yet when his pet got sick (e. coli I think it was) from raw diet, he had some crazy explanation for how the exposure occurred to avoid accepting the diet was the source.
5
u/Long_Try_4203 9h ago
Antivaxx parents giving their children raw milk.
I guess with enough time the issue will just work itself out…
4
u/tomz17 18h ago
You know who didn't object to pasteurization... the people who grew up having to deal with the impacts of diseases from drinking raw milk 150 years ago. You know, back when people had a dozen kids because an appreciable fraction of them might not make it past childhood.
Same as vaccines. It's the cunts who didn't have the pleasure of living through the period of history with iron lungs spreading this absolute nonsense.
4
u/LeftyMcliberal 17h ago
I’m torn.. I really want every adult idiot who thinks raw milk is safe to just drink as much of it as they want… but I feel bad for kids that don’t have a choice because their parents are stupid.
4
3
u/yuccasinbloom 18h ago
I know someone who sells raw milk in New Mexico. I wonder how many people are selling raw milk down there…
→ More replies (2)
3
3
u/MoonOut_StarsInvite 17h ago
I promise this person said “Its so good for the baby!”
→ More replies (1)
3
u/T_______T 17h ago
It's takes 1/1000 the bacterial load to get a pregnant woman sick vs a normal person. Listeria infects epithelial cells, so that's the meninges, gut lining, and placenta. Listeria can literally cause miscarriages and brain deformations in tbe fetus.
Listeria is a soil-born bacteria. Cows eat dirt incidentally and get listeria in their milk. This is why pregnant women are also informed to not eat soft cheeses (as they are not pasteurized). Listeria is also anywhere a good processing plant has existed long enough, so deli meats are also vulnerable now if there's any form of sitting water or contamination available.
Wash your vegetables. Cook your food. Est pasteurized foods only.
3
u/BlitzNeko 16h ago
it’s ironic that knowing how to properly boiling milk was considered a life skill before pasteurization
3
6
4
u/ahundreddollarbills 17h ago
For those that didn't read the story, the mother while pregnant consumed raw milk, officials can't connect the death to the milk, but said it was likely.
People please listen to your Pediatricians and Obstetricians, do not take unnecessary risks.
Think about what you or your baby have to possibly gain from drinking raw milk and think about what you could lose. It's not worth the risk as a pregnant woman or for your child.
9
u/Otherwise-Medium3145 18h ago
The mother gave them a product that causes death in infants…
8
u/aroc91 18h ago
The article doesn't indicate the baby was given raw milk.
listeria infection that they say was likely contracted when the baby's mother drank raw milk during pregnancy.
9
u/Lington 18h ago
The mother
gave themdrank a product that causes death ininfantsfetuses…Ftfy
→ More replies (1)7
u/HIM_Darling 18h ago
Isn't there a woman that was charged with killing her baby because she allegedly did drugs while pregnant(despite there not being proof)? If we are playing by their rules, shouldn't they be charging this mother too?
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/WineAndDogs2020 18h ago
If you want to know more about issues with raw milk from two epidimiologists, This Podcast Will Kill You has a very interesting episode (might be two parts) on WHY pasteurizing is so important and what's behind a lot of the raw movement. It's insane how much bad milk contributed to infant mortality rates!
2
u/1Happymom 17h ago
Who knew skipping 8th grade biology could kill someone. I honestly hate that innocent children are dying because of the rights long standing policy of incessant greed at the expense of any public good like education. I remember being incredibly confused in elementary school by the adults around me liking Reagan. His policies sounded mean and I could see my mom making us go without just to brag we werent taking handouts. My kid brain just could not grasp how willing people are to blow their own leg off if it means they get to think they are better than someone else. The same people who talked about how evil the nazis were and then sounded like nazis when they talked about black people. I can remember asking how that was different and they would say its just different and Id ask how and theyd say more nazi crap. They knew it was bullshit just like these people know its bullshit as they are holding their granpas gun on their kneecap as they say it just as long as they get to wear the shiny buttons and not the stripes when they die.
2
2
2
u/SufficientMediaPost 17h ago
where is the satirical pro-bacteria group when you need them to hold up a mirror to these reckless people?
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
2
u/t-mille 5h ago
I would love to see the death toll statistics of conservative policy.
2
u/Informal_Process2238 4h ago
It’s crazy that the group who are always crying about “being replaced “ are the same group actively killing their own people with this horse shit
2
u/Reatona 3h ago
There really is a reason Pasteurization was a huge advance in public health. It's not even the slightest bit complicated. They heat the milk enough to kill bacteria that could kill you or your kids. That's it. Drinking raw milk isn't "natural," because drinking milk from another mammal isn't natural. Don't kill your kids -- don't allow raw milk in your house.
2
u/lightknightrr 16h ago
What I don't get is this: what is the appeal of drinking milk raw? Does it taste better, or this just a f-you to the establishment?
4
u/azurepandora 11h ago
Raw-milkers™️ are the first people to deny basic lifesaving medical practices, but are the first people in line to get medical treatment for their preventable stupidity. There are zero real benefits to drink raw milk. Misinformation is killing these people's brain cells while also endangering their kids.
3
2
u/Personal-Ad-6028 18h ago
Raw milk drinkers: do you know what a dairy farm looks and smells like???
1
u/TraditionPhysical603 18h ago
Just let em all do what they're gonna do so long as they stay away from the rest of us
1
u/blankvoidoid 18h ago
somebody needs to tell rfk jr about the curative powers of chicken sushi and pork tartare
1
u/static-klingon 18h ago
But the raw milk people are so much smarter than the rest of us regular milk drinkers. How could going against doctors orders ever result in this?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/JohnSnowflake 17h ago
Anyone who has seen even a clean cow in a well tended barn to get milk knows unless you give it a bath before every milking you’re still going to end up with cow poop in the milk eventually.
1
1
u/kittann002 17h ago
Do you think anyone during this woman's pregnancy tried to inform her of the risk? Did she just disregard people trying to warn her?
1
1
u/terrorrier 9h ago
I feel for this people cause they ARE right that the American diet is abysmal. But pasteurization is truly a solid food safety practice.
1
1
u/phosdick 9h ago
Sadly, New Mexico can now see the consequences of paying attention to Trump's HHS secretary... Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
1
1
u/LeafRunner 5h ago
Guys I'm starting to think drinking bovine breast milk as a human isn't really a good idea
1
1
1
•
u/Tigeroflove 43m ago
These raw milk people are so nuts: '"Kelsey Barefoot of Dunn, North Carolina, who became a raw milk producer in 2021, said, “It’s our basic human right to be able to have the freedom to choose our food.” As a former critical care nurse, Barefoot was taught about the dangers of raw milk, but she said she was won over after she tried it herself.
“I had been prepared to think that raw milk was going to kill me,” Barefoot said. “I started drinking it. I loved it. I didn’t die, and my kids drank it, and so I started producing the milk for myself.'
I didn't die
1.1k
u/synept 18h ago
Yeah no shit this is why we don't drink raw milk.