Every country’s dairy industry must conform to a standard for somatic cell counts, which are indicative of a diseased or healthy cow. On the one hand, we want our cows to be exposed to a variety of microorganisms, so they build up all-important antibodies that can then be transferred to our bodies and help to fortify our own immune defenses. But, somatic cell count is indicative of how much disease a cow is carrying around. It is not necessarily indicative of more antibodies but may indicate that the cow was diseased and unable to muster the necessary defenses to ward off illness. High levels are considered abnormal and may render milk unsafe for humans.

One good thing about American colostrum is that the U.S. somatic cell count levels are quite low compared to other countries. The European Union Milk Hygiene Directive limits this level to a count of no more than 400,000 in pooled milk, which is the currently proposed reduced standard level in the United States being recommended by the National Mastitis Council and supported by the American Dairy Association, among others. Other countries have much higher tolerances. The New Zealand Dairy Board notes that country’s colostrum has “. . . an average somatic cell count of 1,324,000.” In 1967, the International Dairy Federation set a standard stipulating that milk having a somatic cell count (SCC) higher than 500,000 was indicative of an infection of the udder with pathogenic microorganisms (mastitis) and that the milk should not be sold for human consumption. Remember, all colostrum products are pasteurized and therefore safe, so you do need to worry about infectious illness. But the somatic cell count may indicate reduced immune function in these herds. Ask your colostrum distributor for the somatic cell count of their product. Again, at Anovite, since we are a primary producer of colostrum in the United States, we can provide this information and do so willingly.

Avoid Filtrated Products When colostrum is filtrated, this is done for one specific group of compounds, but you lose others that are left behind. So, if you filtrate for specific immunoglobulins, you have filtrated out other components and are limiting important immune components, as well as growth factors, vitamins, minerals and other important constituents found in colostrum.