The government continues to over-regulate small farmers, and even lemonade stands are not safe.
There are many concerns about how raw milk can harm you, but few realize just how safe modern raw milk production is, and how raw milk harms fewer people than vegetables.
Using government figures for foodborne illness for the entire population, Dr. Beals has shown that you are about thirty-five thousand times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk,” says Fallon Morell. “And with good management practices in small grass-based dairies offering fresh unprocessed whole milk for direct human consumption, we may be able to reduce the risk even further.”
“It is irresponsible for senior national government officials to oppose raw milk, claiming that it is inherently hazardous,” says Dr. Beals. “There is no justification for opposing the sale of raw milk or warning against its inclusion in the diets of children and adults.”
This one got fined for the crime of having a birthday party on the farm. Hardened criminals, dontcha know.
Perhaps the most offensive provision of the ordinance authorizes “private personal gatherings” at wineries. Someone obviously forgot to tell Fauquier officials that in America, we don’t need government permission for private personal gatherings on our own property.
Sheesh. If you’re in Washington DC this weekend, you might want to drop by this rally for the right to, you know, grow and eat stuff.
Well, I originally had a 3 paragraph post on my thoughts on raw vs pasteurized, but in the end it boils down to: I don’t trust businesses to look after my health when left alone. Aggressive raids are over-the-top unnecessary, but regulated practices really are necessary because foodborne disease is no laughing matter and businesses will cut corners on sanitation. I often had raw milk from my great aunts’/uncles’ cow as a child and honestly I’m surprised I didn’t get sick from it, looking at their facilities with adult eyes. I’ve also learned from past employment that Mom & Pops can be just as twisted and greedy as the big guys. I feel the best practice is what is in place in several states now – raw milk can only be sold by the farm directly to a consumer. I know I certainly wouldn’t buy raw milk from a facility I couldn’t look at myself. Sometimes with these stories though, I feel like I’m not being told the whole picture…
That’s very fair.
EVERY farm should be inspected and regulated. We all agree with that.
What you missed is right there in your comment:
“…raw milk can only be sold by the farm directly to a consumer.”
That’s the point. Raw milk CANNOT be sold in many states anywhere, not by a farmer to anyone. They cannot sell it to a store, to their neighbor. Period. You are not allowed to get it as a consumer.
In addition, the government is trying to pass laws forbidding the sale of any artisan products of any kind from any small farm. This includes the production of cheeses.
What my state recently tried to do was to pass a law that you could not consume milk product or make milk product of any kind from your own goats or cows. Not cheese, nor butter. Not just for sale, but for you to consume yourself.
You’re being told the whole story but you’re not getting it.
I cannot, as a consumer in my own state, go buy milk from a dairy as I want to buy it.
I can, however, buy a cow share and get the milk that way. This makes sense, how?
Within the last two years, my state tried to ban ALL artisan dairy products. This would put out of business the nunnery up the road that specializes in artisan cheese, as well as most of the Mennonite and Amish farms.
Yep, I’m against it.
No one is saying that farms shouldn’t be inspected. That is a straw man argument. No one suggested any such thing.
What we are saying is any farm that meets health standards should be allowed to sell its products. Corporate farms are trying to put small farms out of business with bullying lobby tactics that create laws that make it impossible for them to compete. That is what is going on here.
I would trust the food from the farms from which I buy and that which I raise with my own hand over any corporate farm which indulges in questionable hiring practices and does not utilize free range, grass fed animals.
You did not read the post about the farm that was fined for selling product because the county commission revoked its license by changing the license law 30 days after they got their license! This is fair, how?
It has more to do with zoning commissioners trying to put a farm out of business to sell the $2.5 million property across the street, if you ask me.
Just to be fair, I popped over to the CDC to check the actual stats on diseases from milk consumption. And oh, the irony, the pasteurized milk I pulled out of the fridge today was spoiled…anyway.
In the eleven year period between 1998 and 2009, there were 93 outbreaks of milk borne disease. The total outbreaks resulted in 195 hospitalizations and 2 deaths.
In eleven years.
Um…OK.
There have been NO deaths from the consumption of raw milk in over a decade, with the only reported death from raw milk product of any kind from consumption of raw cheese traced to an illegal quesco fresco.
http://www.naturalnews.com/034169_CDC_raw_milk.html
I don’t know about you, but considering the millions upon millions of gallons of milk consumed, I’d say that’s a pretty low number. I’ve got a much higher contagion rate just going to San Diego Comic Con.
By contrast, there are 71,000 case of E Coli infection in the US on average ANNUALLY, with 62 deaths per year from food sources other than milk. Recall that there have been only 2 deaths traced to milk in eleven years.
One 2007 E coli outbreak caused the recall of over 21,000,000 lbs worth of meat. Other common sources of E coli infection are bean sprouts and spinach.
In Germany and France, you may buy raw milk, which is essential for the production of artisan cheeses.
In the USA, we terrify people into believing fresh milk is more of a problem than spinach or beef. It isn’t.
We need clean farms, not scare tactics, swat team invasions, and bans on goat cheese.
The government regulatory agencies make no money off the sale of a product directly from farmer to consumer. Therein lies the reason for these laws.
I’m severally lactose intolerant, so this issue is kinda lost on me personally, but it’s easily translated to just about any other industry.
Well, I know we’re all supposed to charge sales tax for stuff in my state, and I just got hit with a $18 penalty on my sales tax for screwing up on the April form. But, yeah, I’m betting lots of people don’t pay sales tax on direct sales of this stuff.
The protest today went off without a hitch. There were no arrests.
http://www.examiner.com/article/activists-sold-raw-milk-and-lemonade-illegally-saturday-without-arrests
The idea that one has to get a permit when entertaining a large group on one’s own private property is also bizarre. As I understood it, no one was being charged for any of the food at the gathering (so, not a “for sale” issues). And the criminal wastage of the food the authorities made them throw away was insane.
There is more and more creeping intrusion from all levels of government about what we can and cannot do in the privacy of our own homes and on our own property. What gets me is that the authorities don’t even have to prove that something hazardous is actually happening!
I won’t be surprised if in the near future there are actual instances of civil resistence and defiance of these things.
Yeah, I know people are having trouble wrapping their brains around this, but yes, the farm was cited for a birthday party attended by a handful of girls aged about ten, and a pumpkin carving contest. This is nuts.
The raw milk and lemonade protest in Washington was a civil disobedience protest. It is illegal to sell the milk and the lemonade. Three arrests last year, none this year.