Our new milk machine

[phoenix]

Outside our (French) supermarket is a new milk machine. It's owned (rented?) by a local farmer who fills it up every day with fresh raw (unpasturised) milk. Plastic bottles are available but you can use your own container. It comes complete with a large plastic cow that moos at you, I have seen children try to milk it! (not 'my' one but the one at Montauban actually has a facebook page!)

I think that are pros and againsts.
Pro: local few 'food miles', no 'middle' man so farmer gets more money, milk very fresh, ?? no processing including pasturisation.
Against: possible problems if machine not cleaned thoroughly, safety of unpasturised milk

What do you think?

[noblehead]

Seems like a good idea Pheonix!

I like the idea for the reasons you stated, but would have concerns with cleaning/hygiene etc. What ever happened to the vending machines where you could purchase fresh cold milk in cartons, use to see them in bus and railway stations.

Nigel

[Synonym]

Takes me back to my childhood when we collected our milk in a churn from behind the squeaky barn door at the farm just up the road. It came straight out of the cow, into the chiller and then into our churn and tasted wonderful!

I assume that the milk machine is chilled so the only other thing I would be concerned about is the hygiene aspect and whether it is cleaned regularly.

[mehdave]

that milk will have pus and blood and whatever else in it yuk. pasturised milk doesnt just kill bacteria

[Synonym]

Clearly we are bred tough in our part of the country!

[phoenix]

Blood and pus? presumably mastitis... I assume that they don't use milk from an infected cow...surely it would show up in the lab tests.
We had some the other day, I forgot to shake the bottle so got a rather nasty cup of creamy tea (long time since that's happened) apart from that it didn't taste any different from pasturised.
I regularly eat cheeses made from raw milk, I don't expect the risks are much greater.

[kay957]

Milk is always tested, even by the farmer. Farmers don't milk sick cows, mastitis etc...even if they are on anti biotics the milk will not be used.