Should Colostrum be pasteurised?
Absolutely! Cow manure can easily splash onto the udders contaminating them with E-coli, salmonella and other pathogenic bacteria. This creates the potential for contamination of dairy products. Dairy products (for human consumption) must be pasteurised to kill these pathogens. There are two ways of pasteurising colostrum – the optimal flash (15 second) pasteurisation and a slow 30-minute vat process. Flash pasteurisation uses the expensive, high-tech equipment found in the modern dairy that does not denature the colostrum. With the less expensive, 30-minute pasteurisation process, a huge vat of colostrum is heated from the outside. It takes a long time to heat a large kettle of colostrum to the required temperature. During this interval, bacteria grow in the colostrum. As the bacteria feed upon the colostrum, it denatures and destroys its effectiveness. Most colostrum that is being sold to the public today has been prepared for the animal feed market and has not been pasteurised. Colo
