Unpasturised milk and products

It says on this site that cooking should kill listeria: http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/nutrition/foodsafety/cheeseexpert/

But maybe you should double check with your midwife - it isn't something to take risks with.

I think it would be safe if you are using it in baking, as long as what you are making gets cooked right the way through im sure it will be fine. Im from a dairy farm too and my family has drunken unpasterised milk all their lives and no one has ever gotten sick. Its a personal choice really.

Hi Delli
we had this conversation with our GP when I first got pregnant, as we only use unpasteurised milk from a local farmer. He explained exactly what the concern is (listeria 99%, very little else) and that listeria is killed by heating. So long as whatever you are using is heated well and through, boiling's not really necessary.   
the other thing to bear in mind is that listeria is a bacteria that grows after the milk comes out of the cow - it's hygienic to that point. So our GP's advice was that if we wanted to keep using the unpasteurised milk, then just make sure it's fresh - no more than 2 days old - and stored well in the fridge. You can look up websites that show the growth of bacteria in milk - the first two days there's very little, then after that it starts to pick up rapidly - thus the 2 day rule. Pasteurisation doesn't really require that much - look up how long and how hot milk needs to be if you're interested.
I'm still using it for everything (waits for the gasps of horror) and we just make sure that I don't use it (unless in something cooked) if it's been more than 2 days since we got it from the farm. The farmer has a fantastic record on hygiene and every load of milk collected is tested - he's not had any problems with any bacteria for about 15 years.
We think the health benefits from unpasteurised, full cream milk straight from the cow outweighs the very very VERY small chance of listeriosis. But that's your call - and as long as you cook it, you don't even need to worry about that.
Maybe a chat to your GP might be more helpful than your midwife..?

ETA - I'd forgotten you're just up the road! You probably know who we get our milk from. And our GP is at the Phoenix Health Centre in town if you wanted someone to talk to about it. He's great.
Did you end up with Twink as your midwife?

Edited by lisame

I have put of getting a home milking cow bacause of being pregnant. Plan to get her once buba is a couple of months old. We want to try for our second child quite soon after. Do you think there is any danger is hand milking while pregnant?? Risk of bacterial infection etc??