So recently I have received messages from several people about some very wrong information that is floating around the internet. Of course I feel the need to get the correct information out there. As you can guess by my blog post, it has to do with the idea that there is pus in milk.
Is there pus in regular milk? NO! Is there pus in Organic milk? NO!
Just like the idea that chocolate milk is made out of bloody milk, this one is way wrong.
What is pus?
So let's look at some basic science here. What is a "pus cell"? Pus is made up of dead white blood cells, bacteria and dead skin cells. Gross right? That's what the anti milk people want you to think about when they spout their bologna. So, there really isn't a single "pus cell" like this charming infographic would like you to believe, instead pus is a combination of things.
A white blood cell is a normal part of blood. White blood cells are not pus. In the dairy industry we closely monitor what we call the somatic cell count (SCC) of our cows and our milk. Somatic cell count (SCC) is a measurement of how many white blood cells are present in the milk. White blood cells are the infection fighters in our body and so an elevated white blood cell presence or on a dairy farm, an elevated SCC is a signal that there may be an infection that the cow is fighting but it does not mean there is pus in milk.
Quality milk matters!
Dairy farmers are paid more money for milk that has a low SCC, if our cell count raises above normal levels they will dock the amount we get paid for our milk, if it raises even higher they stop taking our milk and we can't sell it. So not only do we not want our cows to be sick, it would cost us a lot of money and could cost us our farms if we were to ignore a high SCC. While the current US regulation is that milk must have a cell count under 750, dairy coops and companies generally require under 400 and most dairy farms aim for a SCC under 200. in 2018 the average SCC across the US was 178.
So does this mean that we are allowing some pus in milk? No.
All milk is going to have some white blood cells in it, that's the nature of a product that comes from an animal, cells happen. It does't matter if it's organic milk or regular milk. The presence of some white blood cells in milk certainly doesn't mean that the animal is sick or the milk is of poor quality. Again, white blood cells are normal. Additionally when you buy milk from the store it has been pasteurized which kills off any white blood cells or bacteria that are present in the raw milk.
Everything we eat is made up of cells.
So the anti milk folks want to you to think there is pus in milk so you will be grossed out, but think about this... A steak has white blood cells in it, because it has blood and white blood cells are a part of that. The anti milk people aren't going around saying that your steak has pus in it because we can see with our own eyes that it doesn't. However, since we can't see into our milk like we can see a steak, anti milk activists use bad science to scare you into believing their view point and that's just not right!
Instead of using facts to persuade people to not drink milk they are literally trying to make you terrified to eat or drink anything beyond what they feel you should be eating and drinking. It's time to take back our food from the activists and let them know that it is not ok to use false information to slander a food they don't agree with. My cows are mad and so am I!
What about casein in milk?
As far as the casein goes in the photo above, a human's breast milk's protein is 20-45% casein. If it's so toxic I think there would be a lot less people in this world because we wouldn't have survived infancy with all that toxic milk around.
Help me spread the word. Share this post with your friends and let's get this lie exposed for what it is, bad science used by people with an agenda.
Janeal Yancey
Carrie! I love this post. Thanks for telling us the truth about what is REALLY in milk.
My daughter had some chocolate milk this morning. Its good to know that I am still a good mother. 😉
Chloe Owen
Is pasturized goats milk from store have white cells killed off and bugs?
Monique lambal
Thanks for this information for a minute I thought that there was pus in milk
Life in the 50's and beyond...
It's a shame you have to take your valuable time to defend against lies.... but thank you for defending this product. I am reblogging so others can be informed.
dairycarrie
Thank you!
Roman
And people are still using that "pus in milk" argument 7 years later, it's so stupid.
Nick
It’s actually true. In Canada it isn’t an issue because we don’t allow Bovine Growth Hormone or antibiotics in our dairy industry. In the US it’s allowed. The steroids makes the cows produce more milk, but it also causes mastitis, necessitating the administration of antibiotics. The growth hormone, antibiotics as well as a small amount of pus from the mastitis infections are all secreted and present in small amounts in the milk. Pasteurization kills all the bacteria anyways so the pus isn’t a health risk, but it’s still kinda gross. It’s the Bovine Growth Hormone and the antibiotics that are the real danger in American dairy products.
dairycarrie
Nick, the use of antibiotics in the US and in Canada are incredibly similar. Also the use of rBST in the US is not allowed by any fluid milk processor. So maybe you should learn a bit more before you comment.
Life in the 50's and beyond...
Reblogged this on retiredruth - Life in the 50's and beyond and commented:
I am reblogging so the truth about milk is not overpowered by propaganda and lies. Carrie tells it like it is.....
Michelle
Do you know where I can find a chart about hormones in our food? I have been talking to some people and they think that milk has so many hormones in it and don't want to drink it. Yet those same people are not opposed to birth control pills, etc. I know there is more estrogen in lettuce than in milk, but I cannnot find the info (link, etc.).
dairycarrie
Hi Michelle, here is a link to a blog post that talks about hormones in our food in a very real way. Hope this helps! https://bovidiva.com/2013/02/13/putting-beef-hormones-into-context-aka-how-do-you-make-a-hormone/
beebeesworld
I remember having a breast infection when one of my babies was very small-the dr told me to squeeze out any pus at the beginning and nurse the baby like crazy-it wouldnt hurt him and would heal me-it worked. he said the baby would get antibiotics I was taking through my milk-the cow story brought that back-ive always thought of the "PPM" aspect of canned foods-the parts of insects per million grains of food or something like that...yum beebeesworld
oregongreen
This is what I did during college, tested & pastuerized milk for the award winning Cougar Gold Cheese. My nose was even part of the quality control as I made sure to smell the milk each morning for an "off" smell before I picked it up. Yes I was a milk truck driver too. One morning I smelled a heavy bleach smell, they had used to much sanitizer to clean out tank or not waited long enough prior to the milk being put in there. Just example of quality controls along the way.
Maxi
This is ludicrous. Common sense tells me that there are standards in place for milk production. Besides, I have been drinking milk all my life … ain't sick yet.
Thank you for sharing the truth. There is always misinformation floating around the Internet and those who accept fiction without checking out the facts.
blessings ~ maxi
Brenda Hastings, Dairy Farmer
Another great post Carrie! Thanks for sharing the truth.
Diane
Great explanation and article! Thanks for what you do!
dairycarrie
Thanks!
Adriaan Verburg
Thanks Carrie. Great blog.
Krista Stauffer
Thank you for posting this! I just had this conversation the other day with a woman that was telling me that she would never drink "pus milk". She didn't realize I was a dairy farmer & I set your straight... on her facts. Too late though... the damage was already done. Sad that people make choices based on false info. Keep up the good work! Love your page & follow it even if I am not doing mine anymore. 🙂
Tracee Carroll
I think you need to read the book, "Whitewashed: The Disturbing Truth About Cow's Milk and Your Health" by. Joseph Keon. "Pus" aside, please do further research about the effects of human beings drinking the milk designed for a calf as an adult human being. Research what is needed to digest milk and why is unhealthy in many ways. Also, compare the bone health of the U.S., and other countries which consume cow's milk with countries who don't... there is current scientific research that shows that drinking cow's milk is actually detrimental to your health unless you are a baby cow.
dairycarrie
Tracee, I think further research is needed into Joseph Keon and his bias. If you're anti milk why are you here?
Christy
Didn't stay long, did she?
Kelly
Did you actually read the book, or dismiss it outright? If you dismissed it outright, and discourage any challenge to your opinion, how are you so certain you are right and not biased yourself?
Adam
Kelly, there's only one thing you need to know about Keon to know he's full of bull (no pun intended): He's an anti-vaccer (and goes into detail on this in the book) despite scientific evidence showing vaccines do nothing but save lives. He's selling fear, and there are groups of people who will pour money into anything if Dr. So-and-so wrote a book or has a TV show about it. Doesn't mean its good information.
Mark
Am incline 2 believe you Tracee, I MUST RESEARCH THIS MYSELF! I aim 2 get 2 the bottom of this.
Truth is, I've drink milk all my life. I love milk! My kids love it too! But, I have health issues most 2 do with bone joint problems. Which start at age 30. So it ISN'T ARTHRITIS. To add lactose intolerance. Both my youngest daughters 13 & 17 have stomach issue's to which are being treated now.
Sad fact is, there MUST BE some truth in what they're saying about milk. My cousins from the south use 2 tease me about drinking milk. They barely if ever TOUCH IT, let alone purchase it for themselves and families. NOT ONE OF THEM HAS HAD ANY HEALTH ISSUES.
My advice, is before completely dismissing the issue as a GREEN GO LIGHT would be, RESEARCH as I shall. Again, I'm no anti milk activist, HOWEVER, I'll be damned if I'll further risk my loved ones health just on word of people eager to prosper!!!
RESEARCH RESEARCH DILIGENTLY!!!
Q
Love the research. Let's start by reading The China Study!
Roman
The author of that book sells fear and lies. I've been drinking milk all my life and I have been completely fine. Stop buying into the lies and strawmen vegan media outlets put out.
Lani Sohn
Carrie, I'm so glad there are people like you in this world making a difference and educating people about the dairy industry. There is so much false and misleading things out there about us and sometimes it's so frustrating because people believe them. Reading your blog gives me some hope about getting the truth out there. PETA = giant headache
dairycarrie
Thank you Lani! I am glad to be able to tell my story.
keeton
Thank you for clarifying. I was thinking that there was a play on words going on. I have felt nauseated drinking milk the past two days and was considering stopping, but it didn't make sense. I always loved milk as a kid and still do, and now I am going to make a glass of chocolate milk.
Tahirah A,Goldamith
In my religion Islam, milk is spoken of in the Holy Quran as a miracle, it is a food and a drink and it has been created for us in an amazing and wonderful way. I love my milk and pray it is not being damaged in the mass market. which milk do you buy ?
Laura Osanitch
Dear Dairy Carrie. Lots of good info here. Thank you. But you speak only about the white blood cells in pus and leave out the skin cells and bacteria.
I can deal with skin cells. I shed them everywhere myself! LOL! But what types of bacteria are we talking about, or is that considered a non-issue with pasteurization?
A lot of people are on the raw milk bandwagon, feeling we are missing out on GOOD bacteria from such milk. Personally I prefer yogurt cultures, beer, sauerkraut, miso or just a probiotic pill. But I think raw milk people really need a better understanding of the bacteria types that come with that pus, or milk sans pus.
dairycarrie
Good questions!
There are many different types of bacteria that could cause mastitis. Fortunately pasteurization does take care of those issues. Personally I don't drink raw milk. I don't see the risk being worth any supposed reward.
Peep
this whole thing is a joke, of course people who are pro-dairy are going to defend it! I eat dairy (minimal) but realize there IS pus in your milk. Don't deny it and know where it comes from and how it's produced.
dairycarrie
Go back and read this... I think you're missing some information.
Joe Bfnl
Didn't bother to read the article, did you? Please read it and her other posts. You might actually learn something.
Roman
There is literally not. That argument reeks of strawman even 7 years later. Read the article and cut your BS.
Elizabeth calloway
Thank you so much. I can’t just take any facts from a blog on face value because that’s what gets us all in trouble to begin with, but you gave me great info to start researching with. Maybe put links to verifiable resources. That would be helpful. Mostly though, I’m thanking you because for days I’ve been barely able to eat and drink anything. Especially anything with dairy because of all of the gross facts. I can barely swallow food. So I really needed to find the truth and I was seeing that all of the sites that came up about pus in milk were the top search results BUT they were all animal rights organizations instead of medical or science sites. Thank goodness for a discerning brain or I would just starve to death lol. Thanks again!
Sam
dairycarrie, there is pus in milk according to
Frank A Oski (in his book "Don't Drink Your Milk")
And regarding your comment on J Keon - bias has nothing to do with scientific facts.
Somatic cell counts are correlated to udder infections according to multiple extremely reliable sources including the abovementioned Oski who was a head of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
According to the The National Mastitis Council
https://www.nmconline.org/articles/USQuality.htm
"Bulk tank somatic cell count reflects the levels of infection and resultant inflammation in the mammary gland of dairy cows and provides an indirect measure of the processing quality of milk"
According to
Dr. Donald E. Pritchard. Dairy Extension Specialist
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/dairy/newsletters/0901nlet.PDF
"By using bulk tank milk somatic cell count (BTMSCC) information, producers can get an
estimation of the percentage of both cows and quarters in the herd that have udder
infections."
So are these people also just biased? The US has a maximum allowance of 750000 cells per ml in their milk (almost double the amount in Europe), according to https://www.nmpf.org/washington_watch/labeling/SCC
Therefore, by definition, somatic cell count implies that the milk that you are drinking comes from cows with udder infections.
WordPress.com Support
So according to Frank Oskri (who wrote an anti milk book) there is pus in milk. Sounds like he is a person that doesn't have an agenda!
Go back and read the part where I talk about what somatic cell count is. Is it pus? No.
A cow completely free of any udder infection will still have somatic cells present. While the US Allowance of is higher than some other countries, individual processors have capped those limits at a much lower number.
Overall you seem to be missing the point that somatic cell is not the same as pus.
MilkLuv
Does somatic cell presence = pus? No. All milk contains white blood cells.
Is high somatic cell presence correlated with udder infections, and therefore mean some pus is likely to be present in the milk? Yes.
For purposes of reducing the gross-out factor, Dairy Carrie has helpfully broken pus down into its components: white blood cells, dead skin cells, and bacteria. It was still pus when it left the cow.
Pasteurization renders whatever small amount of pus makes it into your milk harmless. But it begs the question, is this the best way to do business? In the interest of selling more milk, some farmers use hormones to increase milk production beyond what a cow can manage naturally. Cows can develop persistent mastitis (very painful, by the way), which is treated with antibiotics. So depending on where your milk comes from, there may be low levels of hormones and antibiotics in your milk.
I am not anti-milk. I understand that many farmers do not use hormones, they treat their animals ethically, and if their cows need antibiotics they do not sell their milk. That is why I buy my milk from a single (mid-sized) farm where I know their practices. BOTH SIDES of this battle would do well to understand the concerns of the other side and truly address them, not just discredit. I assume Dairy Carrie treats her cows well and is frustrated with the bad rap dairy farmers get from the anti-everything groups. However, consumers have real concerns stemming from reports of mistreated animals, dirty conditions because pasteurizing kills everything, use of hormones, and so forth. Telling us pus isn't pus and it's not enough to matter, doesn't help me feel better about those bigger issues.
OnceLovedMilk2k21
Just reading the word pus and milk in the same sentence has put me off milk. I’m gutted because I used to love a bowl of cereal, whether there is pus or not in the milk and the fact that I do not know who to believe, I’d rather just not risk it, it wouldn’t reach my lips before I thought of yellow and red goo. I’m angry at the people who brought this to my attention.
clyde
Ive been drinking milk for years out of the tank and absolutely no problems. Another liberal sensational overreaction.
Maqui
Good for you!! Keep the blog and the education on the city people. We have a Dairy Barn down in Uruguay and we just love it! GO GIRL GO!
Nemi
You have explained and defended the idea of pus in milk (I'm not convinced given that SCC is still suggestive of infections),but can you defend or explain the ethics of dairy farming? separation of mother and child? the veal industry and the beef industry? Your defense of milk seems rather flimsy in the reality of the situation, don't you think?
dairycarrie
I'm not sure what you are looking for here. If you want to learn about why we separate cows and calves on dairy farms, please read this post- https://dairycarrie.mystagingwebsite.com/2012/04/16/newbaby/
If you're looking to tell me that I need to defend the ethics of what I do, please tell me first if you are my customer? If you aren't a consumer of dairy then you aren't my customer and ultimately it is up to my customers to decide if they feel what dairy farmers do is ethical or not. This blog's intent is to show them what we do so they can make an educated decision.
Stephanie
"My cows"????? Ha!
JoAnne Davis
I had no idea there was even an anti-milk movement out there. I unfortunately cannot drink milk because I am severely dairy intolerant, but when I was younger I drank milk all the time. Loved it! And ice cream... Mmmm. I lived on a goat farm and we actually raised milk goats. I loved goats milk too. It's so much harder to find, though, because of all the weird regulations on it. Thanks for the info! I'll hold onto it for when one of my crazy Facebook friends/relatives posts this nonsense. 😉
Roman
Have you tried Lactaid? It's milk, without the lactose.
jbandsma
Thank peta for that pile of nonsense. They've been touting the 'pus milk' meme for several years.
Todd Oxenford
jbandsma,
Sure sounds like it! Read further down, to my other comments about a "celebrity herbalist" who took the name of an Egyptian sun god and calls milk liquefied cow snot...but on every blog post he pushes his detoxification product.
Then you have the fringe that calls the dairy industry "cruel." We have several dairy farms in our area and all I see are healthy cows out grazing in their pastures during the day...doesn't look very cruel to me.
Susan foresta
There is no defense for your ethics, that is why you can't defend them. The dairy industry is not only cruel, but the product is unhealthy, unless you are a calf. The calves are removed from their mothers within 1 to 2 days so HUMANS can drink the milk. The male calves become veal, the females are destined to become milk producers like their mothers. PS there is pus in milk. This is partly why i choose almond milk..... I would not support any cruel animal industry.
Joe Bfnl
New to this blog? How about looking around and doing some reading first, then comment.
Roman
Milk is pretty damn healthy, stocked full of calcium. What's up with anti-milks and vegans and strawman arguments?
Lawrence Neal
I drink raw milk and use raw milk products like cheese, kumis and butter. Pasteurizing kills all the good, beneficial bacteria in milk. Could you comment on this?
Nicole
I have only ever drank raw milk, as my father did before me and his father, and so on. You do realise that it is highly likely that all of your grand parents, and great-grandparents, and great-grandparents, drank raw milk there's entire lives. If it was good enough for them...
KBH
Pus or not... Our dairy consumption habits are not healthy. Walter Willet (Harvard medical researcher) has been fighting the influence of industry on public health for years. If you have concerns about the control of the food lobby over public health, read his work. Carrie is heiress to a large dairy farm. She's much less interested in your health and much more interested in promoting the consumption of dairy products. Carrie, besides working for the dairy industry, what are your public health credentials?
dairycarrie
My public health credentials? Well as an heiress to a large dairy farm I find work repulsive.
Betsy
Be careful Carrie! Trolls don't understand typed sarcasm.
Danielle Vajda
If you have to follow a blogger just to find a way to weasel yourself into an argument you seriously need to reevaluate a good use of your time. Carrie explained why some people would assume there is pus in milk and backed it up by facts. End of story. For every rebuttal you make there is some other Ivy League medical researcher that is PRO dairy consumption.
As for being an heiress, that is not how things work on the farm. Which just shows your lack of education regarding the dairy industry. Most farms are not just passed along to the next of kin. They are earned- blood, sweat, tears, and a mortgage payment.
Ello Vieye
Pus or no, how is drinking bovine breast milk any less gross than drinking the breast milk of other animals (dog, horse, cat,), or humans for that matter? Adult animals do not need breast milk, and it's frankly rather disturbing that we integrate it into so many meals. I feel much better since going off it last year (clearer sinuses, less sluggish), and now the odd time I taste dairy, it has a sour, dirty taste.
Roman
Go watch Rhett and Link, they tried human breast milk on their show and judging by their facial expressions and reaction it's pretty gross.
Todd Oxenford
I suffer from sarcoidosis, and a while back, another member from my online support group posted a link from a self-avowed "herbalist" quack who calls himself Djehuty Ma'at-Ra (not his real name) refers to milk as "liquified cow snot." I just rolled my eyes.
And sarcoidosis as merely a "skin disease." When it occurs inside your body, where most of the damage is done, he says it's on your "inner skin."
Did you ever hear such nonsense?
Mark
I'm as suspicious of your take on pus as I am the anti milk people. Your conclusions sound like you are a rep for the Milk People. Anybody can blog about something. Quote some scientific research not associated with the Milk Lobby and it might carry more weight
Todd Oxenford
So, you take the stance as the guy who took an Egyptian Sun God as his name? The same guy, who has zero medical training and calls your internal organs the "inner skin."
Human females (as well as all female mammals) also produce milk...is that pus or "liquefied snot" too?
Well, allrighty then....
dairycarrie
You do realize that I am a dairy farmer right? My posts are based off of my own experience and that thing called science that you may have heard about.
Franklin
There is no such thing as independent research. Everyone is funded by someone with an agenda. Pro milk, anti milk, vaxer, anti-vaxer, fossil fuel, renewable energy. You will never find research performed by someone who doesn't have a stake in the outcome.
Sarah
What is funny to me is that of all the hundreds of articles published evidence in regards to blood and puss and mucus in milk...people are going to believe in one random blogger girl. Either way... the most important point is missed in this article. The dairy industry is evil. The abuse and torture these animals go through is horrific. For that sake no one should support it.
dairycarrie
Hundreds of articles? Can you tell me where these articles get their information from? How about studies, can you provide links to peer reviewed studies that have this information? I may be a"random blogger girl" but I am also a dairy farmer, as close to the milk as you can get without being a cow. Tell me how it is that the random article writers that wrote the hundreds of articles you have read on this subject are more aware of what is in milk than I am? I'd also love to hear how those random people are more believable to you than someone that actually has experience with cows.
Todd Oxenford
Sarah,
You have nothing legitimate to add to the conversation so you go right for one of the oldest logical fallacies in the book...the red herring.
When you make sweeping comments, you had better have evidence to back up your claims, otherwise you come off as a fringe nut from PETA.
Jon
Hi Carrie, great article. I hear so much from vegans on this, and it has duped me in the past, so thank you for providing some balance!
Sidebar: Surely the arguments against consuming dairy can be supported with better arguments than "ew there's cells in my milk!" - too much bad science tied up with veganism for my liking sometimes.
Amy
Hey, I just recently heard about the "blood in milk" thing, and I ended up on some anti-dairy websites (which I don't trust). I'm glad for the info you provided, but I have a question: you pointed out that we don't mind blood in our meat, but according to what I can find, the red stuff in meat is usually myoglobin, because most if not all blood has been drained off already. So what did you mean when you referred to blood in meat?
dairycarrie
Hey Amy, you're correct on the myoglobin/blood front. When I wrote this I didn't really understand the difference between the two myself. But I think that people will still understand the concept that I mean.
Amy
Wow, I didn't think you'd respond so quickly. Nice!
Okay, I just wanted to double check what you were saying. So, does meat actually have white blood cells when we eat it? Even without the whole blood, I mean? I'm still slightly confused on that account, and since the whole myoglobin thing is pretty new to me, I'm not positive about things regarding raw meat.
Aneutralparty
wait you don't trust the anti-dairy websites but you trust the pro-dairy websites? maybe you should look at neutral websites like science based ones and look at their studies. In This very article if you read exactly what she wrote, you can conclude that there is in fact pus in milk. in the Beginning she stated what pus is(dead white blood cells and bacteria), then stated that, they pasteurize (kill) these live white blood cells and bacteria ( by the way there is bacteria in everything). Once they have killed these live white blood cells and bacteria they remain in the milk just dead, inactive, not harmful. These pasteurized white blood cells and bacteria are in fact by definition = Pus.
Roman
So our bodies are filled with pus?
clyde
The american people are so misinformed especially in the h term ng industry. Thank You for Posting the truth about what happens on the farm.
Frank Lepave
It is also worth pointing out that cell counts in milk have been falling for years as we improve cow health and hygiene. Milk is cleanest it has ever been and humans keep living longer
Chan
Thank you for this post. I used to be able to drink milk before developing an allergy and loved the taste. I get people who tell me I'm lucky to have never been fed pus filled milk as a child. I tell them my parents never gave me anything with pus in it anyway lol it makes me so mad when groups try to scare people into eating their way. I say enjoy a frosty glass of milk for those of us who can't! 🙂
inconceivablephilosophy
It's not so much the pus or steroid scare, animal based foods all causes of high acidity in the human body which is one of the main causes of cancer and other degenerative disease aside from toxic water the air we breathe. Since many corporations (including drug and medical conglomerations) rely on the consumption of these things, it's understandable there will be a continuous back and forth on this. It's all economics and the truth is somewhere in between.
inconceivablephilosophy
Here in America we pay for information, blatant lies or otherwise. Our entire civilization is based on the 'info' we get get via the mainstream media. Most people believe the mainstream media, that is why these corporations are so successful and people are so sick and confused. It's kind of like hearing a thousand different versions of the gospel, each one asserting they are the 'truth'.
ChicagoHealth
Just this morning Erich "Mancow" Muller was spouting off on his radio show about "pus milk". Clearly this propaganda has not yet died, nor has a single shred of new evidence emerged to substantiate the overtly bogus claims made by it's supporters.
Lets face it folks, in any animal, any bodily fluid that has contact, either directly, or via capillary membrane will absolutely contain white blood cells. They are there in 100% healthy tissues for a good reason, without them, the animal would have absolutely no natural ability to fend off any form of bacterial, fungal, viral or parasitic infection in any form. White blood cells are as proactive as reactive in the body in terms of immunology.
By the anti-dairy element's claims on what defines "pus", you have more pus in your own mouth then the milk you are drinking. With that logic, we should all stop drinking milk so we don't contaminate it while it spends that brief moment in our mouths before we swallow, because it could make us all terribly ill.
Pardon me while I go mix up some chocolate syrup and ice cold milk, drink up, and laugh as the bones and teeth of these scaremongers slowly decalcify.
Mark
But, you said, "white blood cells and dried up dead skin are pus" then said "milk contain some white blood cells" ..SO, which is it?!
I drink milk and would REALLY LIKE TO KNOW!? Because my kids love it! But if is indeed unsafe, I'm damned sure not gonna jeopardize my families health just for someone else's financial keep sake!!!
dairycarrie
Mark, if having a presence of white blood cells is equal to pus, then our entire bodies are full of pus because we have white blood cells in our blood.
Nick
WOW that’s a ridiculous analogy!
Kman
So you start with there's no pus in milk at all then there is only a little bit of Pus in there come on dude lol and by the way we are the only animal on this planet that drinks another animals milk. Some food for thought.
Roman
White blood cells =/= pus
Lucas Anderson
Hey, this is a rather great post. One thing I'd like to point out is that, that steak from the store, doesn't contain blood anymore. When they slaughter the cow, they drain the blood. That red liquid that often accompanies meat is actually the protein in the meat being broken down which happens over time. It's a protein called actin and myacin. As a meat processor it bothers me when people refer to this as blood. But other than that, cool post. GO MILK!
Pedro
Lucas, is there any blood left in the meat? I'm not sure if all the blood is removed.
Zarakillz
Great ass article, so glad i found this
Syl
As a former dairy farmer, I am very disappointed in this propaganda. I raised my children on milk from our herd. They were always healthy and strong. If we had any bloody milk, it was not put into the tank. All milk from cows given injections of any kind (when I farmed, hormones were not used in any way) was held back for 2 or more milkings...the same with cows who had just freshened(had a calf) This milk was held back because it was bloody or had colostrum in it. This usually went to their calf. When the milk haulers came to pick up the milk, they took samples and tested the milk before it was even hauled away to the processing plant. If there was anything off in those tests, they refused the milk. So, you see, dairy farmers have a lot to lose if their milk is not up to the high standards set forth. I am older now but I can not understand why milk is made to be such a terrible food.
Brandy
Thanks so much for taking your time to send this to me! I couldnt drink the milk when I read that pus was in it,it was just all in my head that that's all I was drinking.......pus that comes from zits! Icky!!! But now that I e read this and done more research I'm happy to say that I can drink mild again! Thanks so much!!! MILK really does the body good!!!!!
ShareEarthAgain
Who cares? Pus or not, doesn't matter. Drink milk if you want to, and if you don't want to, good for you! Respect other people's decisions and respect other peoples opinions. Most people that don't drink milk do it for environmental reasons or because they don't want any harm to calm to the cows (or for the cows to be treated like they are only a thing and not a being etc).
Garry Miln
A large percentage of humans lose the ability to digest lactose after they are weaned off milk. It's all in your genes.
I was brought up on cow's milk 'hot off the press' so to speak (we had our own cow, hand milked), for the first 14 years of my life.
I don't seem to have had any reaction to drinking milk in my later years. Mostly on my breakfast (porridge or 'weet-Bix' and in coffee (coffee milkshakes are great, 2 shots coffee, sugar & milk), hot chocolate and sometimes in tea, often I have black tea.
Kadie
Thank you for standing up for dairy industry against animal activists! I was wondering if you used any sources in this post. I often share your blog, but unless I offer other research and evidence, people badger me for "credible sources" and discredit whatever I'm saying. No matter how many years of experience you have in the industry, it's never enough for them to believe you!
Friendly guy
I had someone tell me that there was blood and pus in milk about 2 years back and I couldn’t get this out of my head, that K you for clearing this up for me and helping me to enjoy my milk once more
Roman
Lactaid's great. You should try it.