One can do a quick Internet search for "home pasteurization kits" and find
many sources - often sold to home wine makers, but also to those who save
home goat's milk, etc. Look in the Agricultural Extension Services, too.
Perhaps an understanding of what is entailed in pasteurization and how milk
is assured to be free of pathogens may help direct the legal questions and
answers.

For a handout on home pasteurization, this is helpful "Preserving Beverages:
Water, Juice, and Milk":
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5354.html

There are two basic methods of pasteurization used in the dairy world, batch
and continuous, both involve special equipment. To get an idea of what is
involved, you can get a great education at this webpage:
http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/pasteurization.html

It is very worthwhile to follow and read their link to Thermal Destruction
of Microorganisms at
http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/TDT.html

Using home appliances, one would have to heat the milk to higher
temperatures (boiling or even using a pressure cooker for lower
temperatures) and hold at the appropriate temperature long enough to render
them free of pathogens, but in the process would destroy enzymes, vitamins,
and certainly all the living cells (macrophages, lysozymes, etc.) that make
human milk so special.

Seems to me that pumping and saving is a whole lot less time-consuming - for
all the pasteurization effort, why not pump? (I know - she's a lawyer and
has long hours where pumping isn't possible. We face the same issues here
with women in the movie industry. I once consulted with a mother who was a
script consultant on a movie with working hours of 6 am to 6 pm, only her 6
week old had very nicely regulated herself to graze throughout the day and
was sleeping 6pm to 6 am and she wanted me to help her preserve bfing. I
suggested she nurse at 5:30am and 6pm, pump at 9pm and use formula the rest.
Well, do you know, that clever little baby only took 2 days to figure out
when mom was now available and simply swapped her nights for her days - the
babysitter thought she was such an easy baby and mom didn't mind a nighttime
grazer. I didn't do much on that consult!)

Katharine West, MPH, MSN, RN
Sherman Oaks, CA

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