Father of Toddler Who Died After Drinking Raw Milk Knew It Was Dangerous

A court has heard that the father of a three-year-old boy who died after drinking raw milk knew that it was dangerous when he gave it to him in small amounts.

The father, who has not been named, said he knew that Mountain View Farm’s Organic Bath Milk had been labelled as not for human consumption, but said it looked like ‘every other milk carton’ on shelves.

The Herald Sun reported that on Monday, Victoria’s Coroner’s Court heard that the toddler’s father ‘understood’ it had a label warning for it not to be consumed but that he gave it to the child rarely and in small amounts.

Coroner’s solicitor Rebecca Cohen said: “Due to his intolerance to dairy, (the child) would only drink very small amounts of the unpasteurised milk, and only on odd occasions.”

After drinking the milk, the boy was taken to Frankston Hospital having fallen ill in September 2014. He was admitted four days later and was transferred to Monash Medical Centre, where doctors found that his entire large bowel was infected with Hemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS) which stems from ecoli.

The boy died within days of being admitted to hospital.

In 2014, the company voluntarily withdrew its organic bath milk from production, yet there is no suggestion that it breached health and safety laws.

At the time, Vicki Jones, Mountain View Farm’s owner, however, said that despite being forced to warn consumers of the dangers of raw milk, she said she drank the milk herself.

“We label it as bath milk, for cosmetic use only, not for consumption. It’s quite bold, so it’s easy to see. I drink it, but it is a raw product, I can’t say that it’s safe to drink,” she told the ABC. 

The boy’s death caused wide concern in 2014 with health officials warning the need for caution with raw milk products.

The sale of raw milk for drinking purposes has been illegal for years, but retailers are still able to sell it as a cosmetic product. Despite warnings that raw milk is more likely to contain bacteria which can cause serious infections – particularly among children, there are still those who have continued to drink it believing that it is not harmful and may even benefit their health.

Dr Rosemary Lester of Victoria’s Department of Health has already advised people not to drink it since only a small number of pathogens likely to be found in raw milk were needed to cause serious harm.

“Since the 1940s, it has been compulsory to pasteurise cow’s milk in Australia,” she said. “Packaging of unpasteurised milk is often very similar to other milk products. Unpasteurised milk should not be consumed.”

The inquest in to what killed the toddler will conclude next week, with coroner Audrey Jamieson giving lawyers for Mountain View Dairy more time to submit evidence that they say could rule out the milk from having caused the boy’s death.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk and Heraldsun.com.au