Food Protection Trends - January/February 2018 - 49

DISCUSSION
Limitations of this study
Data on fluid milk consumption was obtained separately
from data on dairy product consumption in the online
survey. In a preliminary inspection, the data for dairy product
consumption was mostly incomplete. Because unpasteurized
milk is more widely available than are dairy products
made from such milk, and because unpublished data from
the survey indicated that few survey respondents homeprepared dairy products from their unpasteurized milk, it was
decided that the primary outcome behavior for the mental
models would be best represented by a variable designated
Milk Product Consumption. This variable considered the
available data for both fluid milk and dairy products. Another
limitation of the study is that consumption of pasteurized
dairy products is a function of state laws; thus statistical
sampling across the USA is not possible.
A third limitation of the study is the use of a modified
snowball-sampling technique for recruiting respondents.
The choice was made to use the technique to sample a
"hidden" population (20), which means consumers of
unpasteurized milk vary from state to state because of local
laws and regulations, and because of previous work that
revealed the reluctance of such consumers to participate in
funded research (15). The primary interest was to recruit
and characterize the largely understudied unpasteurizedmilk consuming consumers who obtain their products as
it is locally. Pasteurized milk consumers were recruited as
a comparison sample. The intention was not to recruit a
statistically representative sample, especially since the size of
the unpasteurized milk consuming population is not known.
Not unexpectedly, a large portion of the collected data was
deleted from the analysis because of the type of sampling and
recruiting methods used. This loss was due to failure to meet
inclusion criteria, missing data, and inconsistent data that was
uninterpretable because of what appeared to be respondents
motivated to participate for the financial compensation.
However, all who entered the actual survey were offered
financial compensation as per IRB protocol.
Pasteurized and unpasteurized milk consumption,
urban groups
It was surprising that urban respondents in both the
pasteurized and unpasteurized milk consumption groups
were not strongly characterized by their political beliefs,
even though the unpasteurized group did make a claim
of libertarianism. The passion felt for unpasteurized milk
consumption in the urban group was most likely born from
their libertarian views, but not to the point of activism for the
cause. There were inconsistencies evident in their agreement
with and support of government protection and regulation of
public health, their relatively low level of Affect, and evidence
that they avoid searching for milk safety information. They
may use depth to process information they do read, but

the sources of information were common Internet sources.
However, the urban, unpasteurized milk consumption group
showed the strongest preference for professional information
sources, as compared with the pasteurized milk group
(Table 3). The depth of information processing would be
tempered by their relative belief in media bias in milk safety
information. It is notable that neither of these groups were
highly knowledgeable of food safety information.
Consistent with findings in this study, unpasteurized
milk consumers strongly believe in the healthful aspects of
consuming milk in its "natural state" (15). A major contrast
between these two groups was the relative lack of concern
(pasteurized milk consumers) and concern (unpasteurized
milk consumers) about the healtfulness of milk products.
We have previously learned that issues related to hormones,
pesticides, and manipulation of the nutritional quality of
animal feed as related to milk quality were major issues for
consumers of unpasteurized milk. We had also found, and
there is evidence in the present study, that urban consumers
of pasteurized milk were overall unconcerned about milk
safety, basically trusting that the products on the grocery
shelf were safe and nutritious (15). The unpasteurized
milk consumers were committed to their beliefs about the
healthfulness of unpasteurized milk, enough to seek out a
source of unpasteurized milk either through legal sales or
through a herd-share, supplementing products with grocery
purchases. Overall, urban milk consumers were satisfied with
the type and quantity of milk they preferred and with the
efforts required to obtain that milk.
Pasteurized and unpasteurized milk consumption,
rural groups
Dairy producers were among the respondents to this study.
In areas of the country where fresh-produced milk is available
for purchase, as gifts or for personal use, rural residents may
have more opportunities to obtain unpasteurized milk more
conveniently than urban residents do. However, we have
found that rural residents are more skeptical about participation in research studies (15); thus, we chose to use an online
survey with trusted sources of referral to gain access to the
rural participants.
The tendency toward conservative political philosophy,
libertarianism, and a belief in government oversight of public
health were notable and defining characteristics of the rural,
pasteurized milk product consumers. Conversely, the lack of
trust among rural, unpasteurized milk product consumers
was also defining.
Of the four groups studied, the two rural groups demonstrated the most opposing views regarding their views
on consumption of unpasteurized milk products, trust,
and regulation. Both rural groups differed from the urban
groups from their lack of Affect and especially in their
knowledge of food safety. Both rural groups demonstrated
statistically greater knowledge of food safety than the urban

January/February Food Protection Trends

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