BC Raw Milk Research Presented at IMGC Conference

Photo of Dr. Whitehead in Aarhus, Denmark, Nov. 12 2019.

Sponsored by the Raw Milk Institute, BC researcher Dr. Joanne Whitehead, PhD, gave a poster presentation at the International Milk Genomics Consortium (IMGC) 2019 symposium in Aarhus, Denmark, November 12-14.

Producing Hygienic Raw Milk: Standards, Testing, and Farmer Education” by J. Whitehead, B. Lake, M. Coleman, and N. Azzolina.

Dr. Whitehead presented data from both the BC Fresh Milk Project and from her own analysis of dairy related outbreaks in the U.S., “Recent Trends in Unpasteurized Fluid Milk Outbreaks, Legalization, and Consumption in the United States“.

This article was published last year in the peer-reviewed  Public Library of Science (PLOS) journal Currents: Outbreaks, showing evidence that legalization does not correlate with outbreak rates – i.e. that if a state or province legalized raw milk, outbreak rates will not increase.


UPDATE from Dr. Whitehead:

“Thanks to RAWMI for a fantastic opportunity to talk about our work with a wide cross-section of academic and industry scientists.  It certainly is an important time to connect with these folks, given the emphasis on the gut microbiome and healthy microbes, the need for sustainability in farming practices, and especially the growing recognition of the role of the dairy matrix (the complex microstructures formed by caseins and minerals, the milk fat globules with their embedded membrane proteins, the nanovesicles with their RNA and small molecule cargo, etc) in providing highly bioavailable nutrients and immunomodulators that we as mammals have evolved to produce and consume.  Dedicated fresh raw milk has all these great features built in, while industry is working very hard to re-engineer what we have lost through processing factory-farmed milk.

“Dozens of scientists dedicated to studying milk from such different perspectives collectively agree that we are just now starting to understand the many levels of complexity inherent in this wonderful substance.

“It was certainly a week well spent!”


Download this poster:  To download a PDF copy of the poster which can be viewed and printed, click here.

Printing this poster:  This poster can be used to educate politicians and government employees who still oppose the legalization of raw milk based on outdated information.  The PDF is 48″x55″ (~122x140cm) at full size but prints well at smaller sizes (e.g. 50% size = 24″x27.5″).  The PDF can be submitted online or taken on thumb-drive to a local print shop for printing on large-size paper.