German food surveillance authorities report about Zoonose-Monitoring 2019. The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has highlighted the risks of drinking unpasteurized, raw milk after tests found some of it was contaminated with Listeria, Campylobacter or Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). The three pathogens were detected in up to 5 percent of about 360 raw milk samples examined.
BVL recommended that milk from the farm is boiled before consumption to kill germs. In Germany, drinking milk is generally heat-treated before it is sold to consumers. Those such as small children, the elderly, immunocompromised people and pregnant women are advised to not have unpasteurized, raw milk products.
In total, 18 of 368 samples, or almost 5 percent of bulk tank milk, which is untreated milk directly from the producer, was contaminated with STEC. Bacterial isolates often had the eae gene — one of the main virulence factors.
Campylobacter was detected in nine of 360 samples of tank milk from dairy cattle farms. Listeria monocytogenes was present in 11 of 369 samples but Salmonella was not found in 370 samples.
ESBL or AmpC-producing E. coli were detected in 37 of 368 samples of tank milk.
More informations referring to the zoonoses report via the link to BVL: BVL – Pressemitteilungen – Rohmilch kann krankmachende Keime enthalten (bund.de)