Regular readers of crunchy mommy blogger Modern Alternative Mama (Kate Tietje) know that she’s an ardent opponent of pasteurization.1,2,3,4 According to Kate’s twisted view of science, pasteurization kills all the “good” bacteria in food products (milk, honey, etc.), leaving room for the “bad” bacteria to grow. She also falsely believes pasteurization destroys all the beneficial enzymes in food, leaving what we eat devoid of nutrition.
For reasons I’m about to reveal, I was a little shocked then to find this fantabulous recipe idea–a “monkey smoothie”–on Tietje’s Facebook page:5
Modern Alternative Mama likes this milk. Only one problem…
“Monkey Smoothies” made from Silk brand cashew and almond milk are pushed as a healthy kids’ breakfast by Kate. There’s only one problem here…
These products are pasteurized! Here’s the quote from Silk’s product information page (click image to enlarge):6
From the Silk FAQ. Silk almond & cashew milks are pasteurized. MAM says this is dangerous. (click/enlarge)
Oops!
Now, to be sure, these products are safe, and pasteurization helps make them so. Kate Tietje makes a plethora of scientifically ignorant statements on pasteurization in her blog posts (such as unpasteurized products having never killed anyone–they certainly have).
But I’m not here to argue the merits of pasteurization (I’ve done that already). The purpose of today’s blog post is to point out Kate’s hypocrisy. She says pasteurization makes food products more dangerous by killing off “good” bacteria, leaving room for dangerous pathogens and destroying essential nutrients–so why then is she feeding this “dangerous” brew to her children every morning?
Kate?
References
(1) Kate Tietje: Monday Health, Raw Milk
http://www.modernalternativemama.com/2011/08/01/monday-health-raw-milk/
(2) Where Does Your Dairy Come From?
http://www.modernalternativemama.com/2015/01/20/dairy-come/
(3) Raw Milk: Finding It, Using It, And More
http://www.modernalternativemama.com/2011/02/25/raw-milk-finding-it-using-it-and-more/
(4) Ten Benefits And Uses For Raw Honey
http://www.modernalternativemama.com/2012/07/03/10-benefits-uses-for-raw-honey/(1)
(5) Modern Alternative Mama Monkey Smoothie (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/ModernAlternativeMama/posts/10153103399762913
(6) Silk FAQs
https://silk.com/faqs
Image Credits
Facebook, Modern Alternative Mama, and Silk screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.
Bad Science Debunked 
There is a huge difference in the pasteurization of raw cashews and raw milk. Milk in itself is not easily digested my humans, especially adults. Raw milk, closer to breastmilk than pasteurized, is the alternative to pasteurized for those suffering the symptoms of milk intolerance. When milk is made into cheese (breaking down the lactose for us) or cultured, we can more easily tolerate it. For those suffering with a milk allergy or a lactate deficiency, a nut milk seems to be the best alternative.
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