Wednesday, March 10, 2010
agriculture Big Shots Discuss Raw Milk Behind Closed Doors
Posted by Mika Belle on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 11:10 AM
Raw milk walks a thin line between love and hate.
Organic farmers love it, the dairy industry hates it and the state agriculture department says it just wants to keep the public safe. The latter put together a raw milk program and brought it to the Legislature this year, but it ran into opposition from folks arguing the program was too strict.
The three sides of the milk debate recently met with politicians at the Idaho Capitol to try and iron out their differences.
The Boise Weekly showed up at the meeting, but was asked to leave. It was closed to the public and press, which is legal because it was not an official Legislative meeting.
“There was some resolution and compromise,” said Rep. Ken Andrus Wednesday morning. He recently expressed concerns about the Ag Department rule that some felt nearly made raw milk illegal.
“As I read [the rule], farmers had to have a permit to use it, even for personal use, even for one cow,” Andrus said.
Andrus said the private meeting was a negotiation process to make exceptions to the rule, allowing farmers (with an agreed number of lactating cows) to use raw milk for their personal use and for cow shares. But he said there was strong opposition.
“The dairy industry is concerned about their industry, and their profits,” he said.
Andrus declined to discuss specific details about the new agreement until he sees it in writing, hopefully by March 15.
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Comments (3)
Showing 1-3 of 3
When pastuerized dairy was first becoming popularized there was also a movement among those who wanted unpasteurized milk to have "certified" (fresh) and "pasteurized" milk. The consumers would make the choice at the store, or at the time, by their choice of milk man. Opening up the market to raw "certified" dairy would take a miniscule amount of milk drinkers away from the conventional dairies but probably would bring back the soy and rice milk drinkers to a product they find more palatable. More is more here. More people drinking milk would be the result of an opening up of the dairy market. My family drinks raw milk. If raw milk were unavailable to me I would not buy pasteurized milk. The only reason raw milk is available to me is because I own a Jersey cow. Many people who desire the product don't have the ability or the desire to own their own cow. In my opinion, raw dairy products will take little if no market share away from conventional dairy. It is a suprise to me that the conventional dairies feel so threatened instead of encouraged that there is a burgeoning market for dairy. Especially since so many are experiencing such economic hardship right now.
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I have owned and managed stores that sold raw milk and I wouldn't touch the stuff or let my children go near it. I saw firsthand how people got sick from drinking it. We routinely had to clear the shelves when outbreaks arose. It is a lot easier to keep one cow healthy than a small herd. People like Blaire forget what life was like before pasteurization was invented. As for soy milk and rice milk, don't make me laugh. They are the ultimate in over-processed food.
Good points CeCe, I wouldn't touch soy or rice milk either and I don't remember when unpasteurized milk was available to the public. I do know that the conditions the cows are kept in and their diet are cornerstones of healthy raw milk. This was the consideration of the person (a doctor who recognized the health benefits of fresh milk from clean dairies) who lobbied to create the "certified raw milk" label back in the late 1800's when pasteurization was becoming popular (for good reason). I don't think all milk should be unpasteurized but I think there should be options for people who want safe and healthful fresh milk. The milk that was being sold in your stores that was making people sick was obviously contaminated. The book "The Untold Story of Milk" gives a pretty good rundown of what life was like when dairies became industrialized, it wasn't pretty. Very high infant mortality. This was directly attributed to dairying practices (sick and indigent workers with open pails) and the diet of these poor cows (spent distillery grains mostly).
Once again, I don't think all milk should be pasteurized and I do think that most dairies are probably pretty clean. I think this subject is more a function of consumer freedom. The law should allow for certified raw milk dairies. The consumer can make the choice. If you think it's unsafe, buy pasteurized. The law allows for the sale of raw eggs and meat which have caused outbreaks and disease. The law allows for the sale of alcohol and cigarettes. The raw milk option seems reasonable.
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