What is Milk & Health?
This website aims to expose the relationship between the consumption of milk, milk products and their health impact based on scientifically valid information. In this connection, milk will necessarily be referred to as plural. Milk quality and milk origin can be strongly differentiated by the current laboratory techniques, so that on the one hand it becomes clear which parts of the milk matrix and which elements of milk treatment harm or promote health. Milk quality needs to be differentiated and the generalizing statements in scientific publications about milk is outdated. On this website you can therefore find information from multiple scientific disciplines to provide insight into various aspects of milk and health.
Behind Milk & Health
The content of this website is under the responsibility of Prof. Dr. Ton Baars and Dr. Catharina Berge. Together they act as consultants for raw milk production.
As an agricultural ecologist, Ton Baars is interested in the prevention of problems, including health problems and systemic solutions. Through (previous) membership in various organizations (Weston Price Foundation, Price Pottenger Foundation, Slow Food, Biodynamic Association, Genootschap voor Melkkunde) and through his own scientific research, the need arose to connect the knowledge from different disciplines. Since July 2019, he has been a senior researcher at the University of Utrecht, Department of Immunopharmacology (part-time 20%). Earlier he was a senior researcher for milk quality and animal welfare at the Swiss Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Frick (CH). He worked 25 years as a researcher for organic grassland and animal husbandry at the Louis Bolk Institute in Driebergen (NL), (1980-2005). He has held the 1st chair for biodynamic agriculture at the University of Kassel in Witzenhausen (D), (2005-2011). In all of these positions, research into various aspects of milk quality was an ongoing theme in his work.
Ton Baars is an advisor to the German Vorzugsmilchverband (www.milch-und-mehr.de). From this position he is interested in fresh, unprocessed milk and he is involved in international discussions about milk and health.
Dr. Anna Catharina (Cat) Berge is a Swedish veterinarian and epidemiologist with experience in animal food production from farm to fork. After a short time as a large animal veterinary practitioner, she worked in veterinary legislation and policy, at the Swedish Board of Agriculture, the National Food Administration and the European Commission. Thereafter, she then spent 10 years in western United States researching zoonoses in dairy farming, in particular bacteria such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter, and antibiotic resistance. She completed her Master’s study in preventive veterinary medicine and wrote her PhD research on comparative pathology. Nowadays she lives in Belgium and runs her own international consultancy. Dr Berge is also a scientific adviser at the University of Ghent for the Epidemiology department, where she is also involved in farm biosecurity, zoonotic bacterial and antibiotic reduction.
Cat’s interest in raw milk arose from her own allergy to pasteurized milk and milk products. After having lived with milk allergy for more than 20 years and the resulting reduction in quality of life, she wanted to make safe, raw milk available to other people with similar problems. She discovered that for raw milk, as for most other European foodstuffs, there are hygienic methods of production that does not need ‘final decontamination’ through pasteurization. Dr. Berge actively supports the work of raw milk producers to limit existing risks using a holistic approach where all aspects from grass to milk are taken into account. Her extensive knowledge of different dairy farming systems, combined with her epidemiological, microbiological and veterinary knowledge and her knowledge of human health provide unique skills to guide farmers in their daily work in order to run a safe and hygienic dairy farm.
Anna Catharina Berge, DVM, MSc, MPVM, PhD
Berge Veterinary Consulting BVBA,
Belgium: Oulstbergstraat 24, 1570 Vollezele
Tel: +3254243554, Mobile: +32499703112
Website: http://bergevetconsulting.com
E-mail: cat@bergevetconsulting.com
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