Is Swiss milk safe to drink... or full of rubber?

Many people have never questioned the safety of milk coming from Swiss cows, which spend their summers grazing on pristine Alpine pastures. But a new university study refutes this wholesome image.

Scientists at the Federal Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne (EPFL), working on behalf of the Federal Food Safety Office, have identified several rubber-derived chemical substances in Swiss raw milk.

The analysis revealed the presence of four rubber-related chemicals in raw milk.

According to the EPFL’s press release issued on August 14th, “As dairy farms are often located near roads, chemical compounds derived from rubber can end up in milk, thereby potentially exposing consumers to these substances.”

On the other hand, “none of the targeted compounds were detected in the three samples collected from alpine farms located far from heavily trafficked roads,” the study reported.

But rubber residues discovered in milk do not come from road traffic only.

“Dairy equipment could itself be the source of part of this contamination. Analysis of pipes, joints and other rubber components used in dairy production revealed the presence of 14 rubber-related chemicals,“ said Florian Breider, head of the EPFL’s Central Environmental Laboratory.

“What is surprising is that these compounds come from materials whose contact with foodstuffs is legally authorised,” he added.

Now for the most important question: is drinking Swiss milk safe?

The study simply states that “the implications for human health remain unknown.”

It is, however, worth mentioning in this context that the analysis was done on raw milk only.

There is no data to show whether the pasteurisation process, which destroys harmful bacteria present in raw milk, also kills rubber-derived chemical compounds.

Nor do we know at this point whether the concentration of these pathogens in bottled, pasteurised or UHT milk sold in Swiss supermarkets is high enough to make us sick.