Does milk contain pus?

[BasilSeal]

Serious question, PETA's anti milk campaigns claim that major constituents of milk are blood and pus, based on the premis that the milk industry used the somatic cell count as an indication of good udder health, so the presence of white blood cells in milk means that milk contains blood and pus.

I occasionally come across people making these claims on internet discusion sites, and i'd like a definative answer here. I know that the cells measured in SCCs are lucocytes and epithelial cells, which are present in all milk even human breast milk, and just normal parts of a body's functions, they aren't blood, and surely pus is only present in cases of clinical mastitis, and cows with mastitis wouldn't get put in the tank.

However, in a herd with a rolling count of say 150, it's possible that some cows have individual counts of say 700 or so, which are balanced out by cows with lower counts but which indicate a degree of underlying sub clinical infection.

Basil, I’ve never had a printout yet that didn’t show one or more cows with a SCC of over 400 but I feel quite relaxed about that – in human health terms I’d be more worried about any showing Johnes (which thankfully they don’t)

It is illegal to put milk containing blood in the bulk tank essentially anyway.

Somatic cells are present in all milk, they are cells from the interior of the udder, I personally use the terminology 'pus' for the collection of engorged and dying white blood cells you will find whereever infection is present- leuocytes and phagocytes that have eaten so many bacterium that they die.

Normal milk will not contain pus. Let PETA get on and say what they wish. Some people on planet earth have lived on nothing save milk, blood and beef for many generations.

Yes - according to my vet.

Moreso if organic. Sorry.

It depends on your definition of Pus.

"Pus: A thick whitish-yellow fluid which results from the accumulation of white blood cells (WBCs), liquified tissue and cellular debris. Pus is commonly a site of infection or foreign material in the body." according to a medical dictionary.

Pus is generally considered to be the aggregation of activated WBC's along with dead bacteria and various pro-inflammatory proteins. So unless there is an active infection, milk won't contain pus. It will contain unactivated WBC's, but they are present in blood and meat as well.

And whilst milk will have haemoglobin, as a source of iron for the calf, there will only be Red Blood Cells (RBCs) present if there is a bleed.

[BasilSeal]

Thanks for the replies so far,

This is a definition of pus:

Long: Thick white or yellowish fluid that forms in areas of infection
such as wounds and abscesses. It is constituted of decomposed body
tissue, bacteria (or other micro-organisms that cause the infection),
and certain white blood cells. These white cells form one of the
defense mechanisms of the body. Known as phagocytes, they rush to the
area of infection and engulf the invading bacteria in a process called
phagocytosis. Many white cells themselves succumb in the process and
become one of the constituents of pus.

and this is an explanation of what somatic cells are:

"The majority of the cells in a somatic cell count are leukocytes
(white blood cells), and some are cells from the udder secretory
tissue (epithelial cells). The epithelial cells are part of the normal
body function and are shed and renewed in normal body processes. The
white blood cells serve as a defense mechanism to fight disease
(infection), and assist in repairing damaged tissue."

With this in mind, would i be correct in thinking that pus would only be present as a result of clinical mastitis, and that the extra lucocytes present as a result of fighting a sub-clinical infection are not, in themselves, pus?

There is no doubt that there are small concentrations in milk of the cells that taken together in large quantities make up pus, and also very small concentrations of all the cells that make up blood. Similarly there are small concentrations of sodium and chlorine ions in even the purest drinking water (or even the purest de-ionised water now I come to think of it), but it would be a very strange perversion to say that drinking water contains seawater. Mind you, PETA? Perversion?

It is only fair to point out that true Vegans only stay alive long term by eating the animal slime that lives on the surface of lettuce (and other greens). Shows, doesn't it?

Pus in milk takes the form of cruds and clots.

There would naturally be some WBCs 'on patrol' in any body fluid, for example, tears.


In milk, SCCs have a natural level and over this you're into shades of subclinical mastitis/natural defoliation of the glandular tissue before heading into clinical mastitis.

To try to say normal milk contains 'pus' is simply disingenuous.

this remind me of squeezing warble maggots out


I will think of puss in the morning over my cornflakes thank you very much

Originally Posted by Strawrick

this remind me of squeezing warble maggots out


I will think of puss in the morning over my cornflakes thank you very much

It often looks more like runny custard. You know, the stuff from the tin.............

Milk is filtered blood.

Ghengis Khan and his fellow warriors could ride for weeks with no food other than a ready supply of mares' milk and horses' blood. And it didn't seem to do them any harm. I'm not sure about how the horses fared, because there would only be sparce grazing each night.

I would rather not give PETA any recognition.

Having said that forewarned is forearmed.

They are a bunch of dangerous individuals trying to force their questionable morals and ideals on others. Some of the things they come out with are down right lies meant to cause offence and spread fear.

[BoPeel]

Pass the black-pudding!

Funny really cos i thought Lord Melchett was trying to convince everyone that us ordinary dairy farmers produced milk full of antibiotics. You'd have thought all them antibiotics would have got rid of all the pus.