TikTok's Beloved Raw Milk Comes With A Tuberculosis Risk

Pasteurization is a process in which milk is heated enough to kill any harmful pathogens it might contain before being cooled down and bottled (or cartoned, as it were) for sale.

Raw milk TikTok is a thriving subcommunity where influencers promote drinking unpasteurized milk. However, this can expose us to infectious diseases, like tuberculosis.

A compilation of scientific studies, published in the medical journal Tuberculosis, showed that raw milk can carry Mycobacterium bovis, the bacteria that causes bovine tuberculosis.

In 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report tracing 35 tuberculosis deaths in NYC to cheese made from raw milk. 13 of the victims were children.

While many influencers supporting the raw milk trend have claimed that pasteurization reduces the amount of vitamins and minerals in milk, there is no evidence to support this.