By: Ozren Podnar |
Milk contaminated by infected cattle food? |
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Croatian Ministry of Agriculture is trying to mitigate the panic that arouses due to the discovery of potentially carcinogenic aflatoxins in UHT milk produced by Dukat and Vindija.
Aflatoxins are toxic compounds produced by a mold Aspergillus flavus.
This mold is widely spread in nature and can attack and contaminate crops prior to harvest or during storage.
Aflatoxins’ victims are cereals, potatoes, fruits, nutty fruits, cotton seeds and food of animal origins, especially milk if animals had been fed by contaminated cattle food.
“Aflatoxin is very carcinogenic for humans, that has been scientifically proven. Namely, large number of people that had for a prolonged period of time been consuming food contaminated with this first class mitotoxins has developed cancer. Allergy outbursts are also possible, followed by vomiting in more sensitive individuals” – said Dr. Franjo Plavšić, Director of the Institute for Toxicology.
The good news is that cancer can develop only if contaminated food is consumed for prolonged periods of time, mostly several years, but it is also possible to develop cancer sooner if toxin concentrations are considerably higher.
Toxins are “minimally over allowed levels”
The Ministry stated that levels of aflatoxins in milk produced by Dukat and Vindija are just minimally over allowed levels and that they are harmless to human health.
Furthermore, the Ministry added that regulations on determining aflatoxins’ harmful levels are much stricter than those in force in the USA or Russia.
But, Ministry of Agriculture has ordered that the products in question be removed from the market, while the Croatian Veterinary Institute conducted testing, sending samples with increased aflatoxin levels to Vienna for additional testing.
The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina also banned imports of milk produced by Vindija and the Government of Montenegro soon followed.
Vindija’s product will be allowed into Bosnia and Herzegovina again after they successfully pass ten consecutive tests.
According to Croatian officials, contaminated milk did not come into Croatia from abroad, but from Croatian farms, which would imply that Croatian corn, used for cattle food production, is probably infected.
Last month aflatoxins have been discovered in Slovenian milk and Slovenian authorities also believe that the source of contamination lies in infected corn used for making cattle food.
An alternative to commercial milk
Such problems occur because of industrial livestock farming, when animals are being fed unnatural cattle food (cereal and soy concentrates, waste agricultural products etc.).
Not to mention growth hormones and antibiotics that are present in milk, a food item that no longer can not be considered as natural due to industrial processing (pasteurization).
Buy organic milk on the markets or in healthy food stores or milk from mljekomat (Mljekomat is a device that combines an automated dispensing system, cooling system and software control system for the sale of fresh milk). But, make sure to ask milk producer what he feeds his cattle with.
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