Love Island Australia star Phoebe Thompson has put a call out for ‘raw milk dealers’ Down Under, saying she’s too frightened to drink ‘crappy’ pasteurised cow milk.
The influencer, 31, said she used to drink almond milk until she discovered the ‘scary’ ingredients used to make it, and she now wishes to ‘transition’ to drinking raw milk.
In an Instagram post, shared by influencer watchdog Amber Paul this week, Phoebe said she was concerned pasteurised milk would give her ‘acne and inflammation’, but seems unaware of the dangers of drinking raw milk—which contains dangerous bacteria.
‘Transitioning from almond milk to cows milk is so scary,’ the former reality TV contestant began her lengthy message, sharing an image of her hand holding a milky iced coffee.
‘I’ve always associated dairy with skin issues like acne and inflammation so I try and only consume goat cheese, feta, and halloumi on occasion.
‘The more research I do, it appears it’s what they do to the dairy, and how they treat the cows that makes it crappy.’
Love Island Australia star Phoebe Thompson, 31, (pictured) has put a call out for ‘raw milk dealers’ Down Under, saying she’s too frightened to drink ‘crappy’ pasteurised cow milk
Phoebe went on to say she hasn’t ‘drank milk since I was a kid’, but is now so scared of the ingredients used in almond milk that she doesn’t want to drink the alternative any longer.
She added that she’s been slowly transitioning back to cow milk by eating foods like Greek yoghurt and Parmesan cheese ‘because it’s unpasteurised’, but is scared of making the leap to drinking pasteurised milk.
‘I would love to try raw milk but it’s literally illegal to sell in super markets in Australia I’m pretty sure, but you can buy alcohol and cigarettes on every street corner,’ she said.
‘I seen so many people’s stories about how raw milk healed gut issues. So, I’m looking for a raw milk dealer if anyone knows where I can get it.’
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Phoebe’s representatives for comment.
According to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), pasteurisation is a process that heats milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time, killing bacteria responsible for diseases.
A risk assessment performed by FSANZ in 2009 deemed the risks from drinking raw cow milk were ‘too great’ to change the processing requirements for cow milk in the Food Standards Code.
The consumption of raw milk can bring on illnesses caused by bacteria such as Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, and pathogenic Escherichia coli.
The influencer said she used to drink almond milk until she discovered the ‘scary’ ingredients used to make it, and she now wishes to ‘transition’ to drinking raw milk
In an Instagram post, shared by influencer watchdog Amber Paul this week, Phoebe said she was concerned pasteurised milk would give her ‘acne and inflammation’, but seems unaware of the dangers of drinking raw milk—which contains dangerous bacteria
Raw milk, which is illegal to sell for consumption in Australia, can also include parasites like Cryptosporidium.
Those who contract an illness caused by these bacteria and parasites—and are otherwise healthy—may face renal failure, paralysis or even death.
Young children, elderly people, people with compromised immune systems, and pregnant women have an increased vulnerability to diseases caught from raw milk.
FSANZ says pasteurisation is currently the safest way to guarantee the harmful bacteria in raw milk is killed off completely, as ‘even extremely good hygiene procedures will not ensure dangerous pathogens are absent’.
Some foods, such as certain cheeses and yoghurts, are able to use unpasteurised milk as an ingredient, so long as they meet certain requirements approved by FSANZ, because the cooking process ‘has a similar outcome to pasteurisation in that it reduces pathogens’.
According to CSIRO, raw milk contaminated by bacteria has caused several outbreaks of disease across the world in recent decades.
In Australia, raw milk contaminated by bacteria such as Campylobacter and Salmonella caused at least nine outbreaks of disease between 1997 and 2008, leading to 117 cases of illness.
