ArticlePediatrics2013
Microbial contamination of human milk purchased via the Internet.
Article in Pediatrics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- Balancing access to donor human milk: Rationing vs expanding use.Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition · 2026Review
- A Framework for Evaluation of New Processing Technologies in Human Milk Banking.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2025Review
- Exploring barriers to human milk banking acceptability among nursing mothers in Iran using social cognitive perspectives.International breastfeeding journal · 2025Article
- Understanding modifiable barriers to human milk donation in the United Kingdom.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Article
- Formal and informal human milk donation in New Zealand: a mixed-method national survey.International breastfeeding journal · 2024Article
- Peer-to-Peer Human Milk-Sharing Among Israeli Milk Donors: A Mixed-Methods Study in the Land of Milk and Honey.Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association · 2023Article
- The Use of Saliva Samples to Test for Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection in Newborns: Examination of False-Positive Samples Associated with Donor Milk Use.International journal of neonatal screening · 2023Article
- Addressing milk kinship in milk banking: experience from Singapore's first donor human milk bank.Singapore medical journal · 2023Article
- Microbiological Quality of Milk Donated to the Regional Human Milk Bank in Warsaw in the First Four Years of Activity.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- An 'incredible community' or 'disgusting' and 'weird'? Representations of breastmilk sharing in worldwide news media.Maternal & child nutrition · 2021Article
- Work and breast milk feeding: a qualitative exploration of the experience of lactating mothers working in ready made garments factories in urban Bangladesh.International breastfeeding journal · 2020Article
- Gender dynamics in the donation field: human tissue donation for research, therapy and feeding.Sociology of health & illness · 2019Article
- Childhood otitis media: Relationship with daycare attendance, harsh parenting, and maternal mental health.PloS one · 2019Article
- A pilot study on nutrients, antimicrobial proteins, and bacteria in commerce-free models for exchanging expressed human milk in the USA.Maternal & child nutrition · 2018Article
- Psychosocial dimensions of human milk sharing.Maternal & child nutrition · 2018Article
- "Someone's generosity has formed a bond between us": Interpersonal relationships in Internet-facilitated peer-to-peer milk sharing.Maternal & child nutrition · 2018Article
- Use of shared milk among breastfeeding mothers with lactation insufficiency.Maternal & child nutrition · 2018Article
- Awareness and prevalence of human milk sharing and selling in the United States.Maternal & child nutrition · 2018Article
- "Breastfeeding" without baby: A longitudinal, qualitative investigation of how mothers perceive, feel about, and practice human milk expression.Maternal & child nutrition · 2017Article
- "Breastfeeding" but not at the breast: Mothers' descriptions of providing pumped human milk to their infants via other containers and caregivers.Maternal & child nutrition · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo quantify microbial contamination of human milk purchased via the Internet as an indicator of disease risk to recipient infants.
methodsCross-sectional sample of human milk purchased via a popular US milk-sharing Web site (2012). Individuals advertising milk were contacted to arrange purchase, and milk was shipped to a rented mailbox in Ohio. The Internet milk samples (n = 101) were compared with unpasteurized samples of milk donated to a milk bank (n = 20).
resultsMost (74%) Internet milk samples were colonized with Gram-negative bacteria or had >10(4) colony-forming units/mL total aerobic count. They exhibited higher mean total aerobic, total Gram-negative, coliform, and Staphylococcus sp counts than milk bank samples. Growth of most species was positively associated with days in transit (total aerobic count [log10 colony-forming units/mL] β = 0.71 [95% confidence interval: 0.38-1.05]), and negatively associated with number of months since the milk was expressed (β = -0.36 [95% confidence interval: -0.55 to -0.16]), per simple linear regression. No samples were HIV type 1 RNA-positive; 21% of Internet samples were cytomegalovirus DNA-positive.
conclusionsHuman milk purchased via the Internet exhibited high overall bacterial growth and frequent contamination with pathogenic bacteria, reflecting poor collection, storage, or shipping practices. Infants consuming this milk are at risk for negative outcomes, particularly if born preterm or are medically compromised. Increased use of lactation support services may begin to address the milk supply gap for women who want to feed their child human milk but cannot meet his or her needs.
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Registered trials
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