\nmean the organization wants conventional dairies to just discontinue
\npasteurization and sell their milk raw. As the organization says on its Real
\nMilk web site<\/a>, it “recommends Real Milk—that is, milk that is full-fat,
\nunprocessed, and from pasture-fed cows. We do NOT recommend consumption of raw
\nmilk from conventional confinement dairies or dairies which produce milk
\nintended for pasteurization…Real Milk, that is, raw whole milk from grass-fed
\ncows (fed pasture, hay and silage), produced under clean conditions and promptly
\nrefrigerated, contains many anti-microbial and immune-supporting components;
\nbut this protective system in raw milk can be overwhelmed, and the milk
\ncontaminated, in situations conducive to filth and disease. Know your farmer!”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With growing
\nnumbers of consumers willing to pay $7 and more a gallon for raw milk, more
\ndairies are looking to say good-bye to their local processors, who pay on the
\norder of $1 to $1.50 a gallon for milk intended for pasteurization. While there
\nare no exact figures, in states where raw dairies are licensed, like
\nPennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts, the number of raw dairies has been
\ngrowing. Even in states where raw milk can only be sold via private arrangements,
\nknown as cowshares or herdshares, like Michigan and Ohio, the number of dairies
\ngetting into raw milk is understood to be rising sharply.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The biggest <\/p>\n Wightman <\/p>\n It’s precisely <\/p>\n Part of the <\/p>\n A Wall Street Journal blog <\/p>\n In a truly open <\/p>\n Therefore, it’s up to the raw milk community to police itself. It could be there needs to be a raw dairy association, with real authority to penalize dairies that don’t meet high standards. If the raw dairy community won’t take the responsibility to watch over its interests, the government will likely take over this responsibility even more than it already does, and the results won’t be geared toward protecting our rights to access the foods of our choice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Whatever happened to the government’s war on raw milk? Just a shift in tactics<\/a><\/p>\n Can a new USDA advisory committee make the dairy industry less pathetic?<\/a><\/p>\n
\nproblem may be that at least some farmers are slipping up in their production
\nof safe raw milk. That doesn’t mean raw milk can’t be produced safely on a
\nconsistent basis. Obviously, many dozens of dairies are doing it day in and day
\nout, year after year. But as Tim Wightman of the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation<\/a> points out, “There is value in understanding what happened” at the dairies that
\nhave had outbreaks over the last year.<\/p>\n
\nsuggests that dairies experiencing outbreaks may in some cases have unwisely
\nresponded to increases in consumer demand by introducing animals purchased from
\na factory system known for problems. “Looking for the best deal has its hidden
\ncosts…for the farmer and the consumer, and the very web we depend on,” he says. <\/p>\n
\nbecause of its success that the raw milk community is now being placed under a
\nmicroscope by the media and regulators. There have been lengthy features challenging raw milk’s safety in
\nboth The New York Times<\/a> and The Wall Street Journal<\/a> in just the last few weeks.<\/p>\n
\nchallenge for raw milk proponents is that at least some have not wanted to
\nadmit to the reality that people can become sick from drinking raw milk (just
\nas they can, and do, from pasteurized milk and other foods). It’s been thought that cows that
\ngraze on pasture or eat hay produce milk that isn’t susceptible to pathogens.
\nIt’s also been assumed that public health authorities are biased in their
\ninvestigations of outbreaks. As a result, the Weston A. Price Foundation has
\nexpressed skepticism about whether raw milk has really been the culprit in the
\nColorado and Wisconsin outbreaks, among others. <\/p>\n
\nposting<\/a> following up on the paper’s article accuses proponents of “dismissing
\nwarnings about bacterial contaminants…” Unfortunately, the knee-jerk
\ndefensiveness in the face of probable outbreaks, which wasn’t noticed when raw
\nmilk was a fringe food, just won’t cut it any more now that raw milk is
\nregularly making the media big leagues.<\/p>\n
\nmarket, the marketplace would force the bad dairies out of business. But we
\ndon’t have a truly open market—we have one where regulators are in a position
\nto force good dairies out of business for the transgressions of bad dairies.<\/p>\n