I’ve been trying to make sense of the exchange of comments following my “Resistance Tales” a few days ago, and I don’t mean that as a criticism. There’s just been a real lot of amazing discussion going on and it’s a lot to follow. A few reactions:

* If you want to learn something about the nature and dynamics of E.coli, and its role in food contamination, check it out. There is some fascinating information about E.coli, much of which challenges common perceptions about its origin, danger, and how it is spread. The discussion is about as micro as you can get, but is extremely interesting reading. Also, on a previous posting where there was much discussion about raw milk safety, I suggest taking a look at a new comment/statistical analysis of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data by Greg Bravo underscoring the relative safety of raw milk.

* On the macro side, a few people make note of the media’s inadequate coverage of the government’s shutdown of Organic Pastures, the California raw milk dairy and probably the largest raw milk producer in the country, last fall. I did write about it for BusinessWeek.com, at a time when I knew much less than I know today about raw milk. I can tell you that it was (and is) a complicated story. A serious journalist has to make all kinds of decisions about the level of detail to include for a large audience, much of which isn’t all that interested in such details, all under the pressure of daily deadlines. All you have to do is review the comments about E.coli I just alluded to, and you’ll begin to understand the complexity of just the E.coli aspect of the case—to say nothing of the regulatory and business aspects. Add to that the fact that most journalists think raw milk is weird stuff, for kooks and about kooks, and you have a formula for poor journalism.

* The “Grand Canyon” Miguel alludes to separating the bacteria-phobes from natural process advocates also comes up repeatedly. While Melissa’s rejoinders may seem repetitious, she does a good job of playing the bacteria-phobe role and standing up for her viewpoint.

While Melissa is very much in the minority in this particular discussion, I was reminded by a number of developments over the past several days that they remain a force to be reckoned with.

Mary Zanoni, an expert on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) informs me that there is a new move in Congress for creating a single agency—now divided between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration—for overseeing food safety. What’s especially intriguing is the mechanism being pushed for this new agency to do its work. The Congressional proposals, she says, “contain a provision which, if enacted, would grant authority to the proposed new agency to create not only a mandatory NAIS, but in essence, mandatory tracking for all food products, apparently including produce, grains, virtually any food or food-producing animals. This is NAIS on steroids. In fact, it would subject local, small-scale producers of vegetables and fruits to the same regulatory hell that NAIS would impose on livestock owners.”

And if you want a taste of how the government can push NAIS on farmers, consider what’s happening in Wisconsin. There the state government has set a May 1 deadline for farms to complete “premises registration.” For the apparently significant number of farmers resisting registration (the state’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection on Wednesday held a packed meeting to discuss resistance by farmers), Wisconsin has come up with a tough stick. (I’m not sure it ever had a carrot).

It has sent out letters to dairy plant operators ordering them to, “Please inform unregistered producers that premises registration is a condition of licensure. All milk producers, new and existing, must have a registered premises to avoid jeopardizing their milk producer’s licenses.” (In Wisconsin, dairy plants pass out milk producer licenses.) So Wisconsin joins Michigan in pushing the USDA’s NAIS agenda. (Michigan made registration mandatory for all cattle as of last March 1, though it hasn’t come up with the cute dairy licensing trick of Wisconsin.)

One final note: Pete Kennedy, a lawyer for the Weston A. Price Foundation, informs me there is a federal move afoot to outlaw the herdshare approach for making raw milk available in states that ban retail sales. Such a ban, which will apparently be on the agenda for dairy industry governing bodies (not known for being raw milk enthusiasts), could then easily be adopted by state agriculture deparments, and effectively make raw milk distribution illegal in as many as 40 states, he says.

So there you have it: federal and state governments gearing up to be able to track down and get rid of every single E.coli in the country. We’re going to be so well protected…