All milk sold to Norwegian consumers must still be heat-treated. The Ministry of Health decided not to allow sales of unpasteurized milk for human consumption.
Milk producers across the country have been waiting in excitement for a year and a half for the decision, but on Thursday, the Ministry of Health and Care Services stated that it would not allow the sale of unpasteurized milk for consumption in Norway, newspaper Nationen reports.
“The Ministry of Health and Care Services has decided not to change the regulations for the sale of raw milk for human consumption,” the Norwegian Food Safety Authority wrote in a press release.
“The probability is high that raw milk contains disease-causing infectious substances,” the supervisory body noted.
A warning from the Food Safety Authority
The bacteria can cause diseases of varying severity, ranging from mild gastrointestinal disease to serious illness, which – in the worst case – can be life-threatening, the Food Safety Authority warns.
It has been mandatory to pasteurize, i.e., heat treat, milk and cream for consumption in Norway since the beginning of the 1950s.
“A restrictive regulation is the most important risk-reducing measure to avoid illness in connection with the consumption of raw milk.
“This is ensured, among other things, through heat treatment of all raw milk,” senior adviser Margrethe Hovda Røed in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority noted.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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