They claim to have reviewed the available literature on the subject. Most studies conclude that commercial pasteurization allows a small percentage of MAP to remain viable. Even the study that the milk industry loves, one that was done by the USDA, doesn't give a blanket endorsement to commercial pasteurization. Such a dubious basis for the FDA position could explain their sudden allergic reaction to the press. Scientists perform pasteurization studies because MAP is suspected of being an infectious agent causing Crohn's disease, a debilitating human intestinal disease characterized by inflammation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, rapid weight loss and even death-symptoms remarkably similar to those of MAP infection in cattle.
Diseased cows shed the bacteria in their feces and in their milk.
If the organism survives pasteurization, it has the opportunity to infect humans. Researchers and others are questioning the FDA's motives for their position on pasteurization and MAP . That regulated products are honestly, accurately and informatively represented. That's what they say. I believe that in the case of possible MAP contamination of milk that they have failed on every count to live up to their own mission statement.