The Complete Patient

The conversation might start somewhere in Customer Relations, who would then refer the issue to Marketing, and perhaps also to Research & Development. A final check would then occur in Legal, and the resultant written response (no verbal dialogue allowed) would probably look a lot like this:

A dairy company with a mission of creating healthier dairy products wanted to introduce a heart-healthy milk. They asked Cargill to help them develop it. Cargill supplied them with CoroWise Naturally Sourced Cholesterol Reducer plant sterols, and worked with them to develop a way to incorporate it into dairy products without negatively affecting taste…Now the dairy sells a product with a uniquely successful niche in the marketplace, while consumers can choose to reduce their cholesterol with a naturally healthy drink…

Or, perhaps, there would be nothing at all, since just because an issue is raised, does not mean that it is to be dignified with a response. Depending on the nature of the inquiry, this last is the most likely result.

After a successful career at the manufacturer (or, perhaps before that successful career at the manufacturer), some of the executives involved would move over to the regulatory side, and adopt the same tactics (see, e.g., previous topic entitled, "It Sure Would be Nice to Have a Discussion....").

Or how about the conversation I had with a Customer Relations rep with Trader Joe's Company, asking if their private label organic milk came from cows on pasture or on primarily grain rations? She assured me the cows were well fed and met the organic certification standards (but didn't say what), and "couldn't" disclose the name of the dairy/dairies that provided their private label milk so I could contact that dairy to ask.

BTW, when I first started asking more questions a few years back about Trader Joe's Company various foods and food sources, I was cheerfully given a little card with the Customer Relations number, fax and corporate mail address (PO Box). No problem with the 3-4 calls I made asking about various products over a half year to year period. Then I made another call about something else and was told that the stores weren't supposed to be giving out those cards anymore and directing questions to Customer Relations, because they were getting too many calls; the stores should handle questions on the store level.

Hmmmm. That was about the time I started buying raw milk, from a dairy that answered my emailed questions right away when I couldn't find answers to my questions on their website, with answers from the top, not a CSR. And not long afterward, we stopped by the dairy on a slight road trip detour and were given a tour by the owner. Where's the transparency at TJ's? The store level people don't know the answers to my questions and the corporate level won't talk, so it's like looking through a brick wall.

I don't mean to pick on just Trader Joe's for lack of transparency, either. At other conventional grocery stores, the answers I get to my questions about whether the organic milk comes from pastured herds or not are just as bad. They answer back with bland, standardized statements about how organic certification means that herds get lots of fresh air and clean bedding, blah, blah, blah, and sidestep the issue of if the herds get pasture time outdoors or are confined in huge concentrations eating (organic) grain rations all the time. I still shop at TJ's for some things (dark chocolate), but for a lot less of our staple foods, like produce, milk, and meat. I now source nearly all of those foods more directly, from places that answer my questions. I stick to TJ's for wine, chocolate, olives, maple syrup, mustard, and such.

Perhaps you should just look at their website www.corowise.com. It has a lot of great info on how these new milk products work and shows the milk companies that have added CoroWise to their milk - Kroger & Giant Eagle. Pretty cool.

So the milk has medicine in it now? My knee-jerk reaction is a dubious glance, followed by a nervous knotting of my stomach, accompanied by a faint revulsion that any kind of extracted additive (no matter its source) is marketed as natural. If it was so natural wouldn't the cow be producing it?

I'll go to the website and read more about it, but my instincts are telling me this isn't the healthiest option.

We recently had our annual farm picnic for my fellow shareholders, friends, family, neighbors, etc. We all bring a dish or dessert to share, and our farmer supplies the barbecued chicken, raw cow & goats milk and home-made raw milk ice cream. (No words can describe the ice cream - I had about three bowls before the supply ran out!) The kids romp around through the hay maze while the adults socialize, then we all load up on three tractor-pulled wagons for the farm tour. The biggest hit is always the layers - everyone has a great time chasing the chickens around and occasionally catching one. My family usually stays late and everyone still left sits around the bonfire roasting hot dogs and marsh mellows. I've yet to have any local grocery, confinement farm or agri-business multi-national corporation invite its customers to anything equivalent! :-)

You can see some pictures from our picnic at http://www.ohiorawmilk.info/picnic2008 . (My youngest son is in the green & blue shirt, my oldest is in the red t-shirt and I'm wearing the white t-shirt.)

That is what I love about buying local and direct, I know my farmers. My milk farmer sent out an email recently because the cows got into something in the pasture that made the milk taste very off. So some people asked about it, they let the rest of us know that if we ended up with any gallons that tasted bad, they would credit us. Now that is customer service!!! We also went to the farm for an open house day and it was so fun. My kids loved taking a hayride back to the pasture to roam with our cows and to see the new babies.

If it is added then how could it be "natural"?

An article posted on chinaview.cn states that Israel largest dairy Tnuva Foods Ind. has been fined $16 million US dollars for adding "excessive" silicone to their milk. Is there nothing that the food MFGs will not add to food?
Is silicone added to the boiled dead milk here in the US, if so why and what are the health results suffered by our fellow citizens that consume this adulterated product?

David G., funny you gave a similar conversation I've had a few times with a few milk customers these last five years, but mostly they just rave about how delicious the milk is and how much they love it... and how they would never go back to the other "stuff".

Of course, one reason I have so few comments is, I always hand out a detailed, 4-page FAQ to new customers that spells everything out, from how I feed and milk the animals to how to handle and store the milk when they get it home, plus how to make their own butter, kefir and soft cheeses, as well as what to do should they ever find the milk less than satisfactory.

I must be doing something right... in five years, no one has ever been unhappy.

Jenny,
Any chance you might want to share that document with me? It might be helpful for new producers here in Colorado. You can email me offlist -info@rawmilkcolorado.org .
Thank you!

Don - thanks for the wonderful pictures- beautiful farm & family!

I love the connection to local farms, and news about what's going on - one dairy had a calf-naming contest - winner got a free half-gallon of cream - and I won!

That's a connection you can't break.
-Blair

Hi Blair, I got the skeleton of my FAQ from WAP's raw milk site (www.realmilk.com), which had a section for dairy farmers who wanted to start cow-goat shares. Unfortunately, on checking back, I see they have removed that whole section. I can mail you a copy of my FAQ, though.

Hi, Jenny,

Would you be open to sharing the document with me also? I'd like to learn how to make my own cheeses.

Thanks,

Maurice
goalyeehah@yahoo.com