The Complete Patient

Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture is mounting a full-court press to eliminate retail sales of raw milk, via legislation that would confine sales to farms. Connecticut is one of just a handful of states that allow retail sales, and the state’s location in the middle of the Northeast, adjoining New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, which prohibit retail sales, make it a handy shopping spot for out-of-staters and Connecticut residents.

Today, the issue came to a head during hearings in the Connecticut legislature. The commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, F. Philip Prelli (seen in the photo, at left, debating the matter with one of about 150 consumers who showed up to oppose the effort), gave a presentation to the legislators that sounded as if it was drafted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

He used as evidence of the need for tough penalties—the third finding of pathogen contamination for any farmer would be a Class A misdemeanor—two cases in Connecticut involving production of tainted “bathtub cheese.”

His biggest selling point was a case recounted here last summer in which 14 illnesses involving confirmed or suspected E.coli 0157:H7 were tied to a Connecticut raw dairy. “We found during the 08 outbreak that it was difficult to identify potential consumers and impossible to identify those who purchased the tainted milk from Whole Foods Markets in the Hartford area,” he said. This was the first case of raw milk contamination in recent memory, and Prelli said after the hearing he couldn’t recall any other cases.

Proponents of raw milk were ready. They were well organized, passing out bumper stickers and t-shirts in support of raw milk as the hearing started. Ted Beals, the retired University of Michigan pathologist, and Gary Cox of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund flew in to testify against the proposed legislation.

Owners of several of the 14 dairies licensed to produce raw milk appeared at a press conference after the commissioner’s testimony to make the case that passage of the legislation would seriously damage their businesses. Chris Newton, who says he milks nine Jersey cows, and distributes his milk via seven retailers, said that a prohibition of retail sales means, “I will lose 50% of my profit.” Elisa Santee of Foxfire Farm in Mansfield, said she has built up her raw milk business over the last twelve years by selling via retailers. “If you pass this bill, I am out of business.”

Most significant, at least five Connecticut legislators appeared at the press conference to voice their opposition as well. Diana Urban, a representative who seemed to be leading the effort, accused the Connecticut Department of Agriculture of employing a double standard. “You look at peanuts, spinach, even pasteurized milk in Massachusetts (four died in a listeria outbreak in 2007) and you realize this is using a chain saw to cut butter.” She also stated that the FDA was behind the agriculture agency’s push.

I asked Prelli about the charge of FDA influence. Despite the fact that his presentation referred readers to the agency’s notorious 69-slide 2005 anti-raw-milk Powerpoint presentation, he denied FDA influence: “I have not been contacted by the FDA.”

The chances of the legislation passing seem to be up in the air. The agriculture department has already abandoned its original stance requiring producers of raw milk to pay for all pathogen tests.

But its concern about retail sales seems confused. At one point in his testimony, Prelli stated, "Our greatest fear is that an uninformed consumer or consumer with a casual knowledge of the risks of retail raw milk will think that raw milk is safe or even more beneficial than pasteurized milk for their children when the overwhelming evidence suggests raw milk is not safe to consume." Then he noted, the majority of retail raw milk consumers are quite devoted to this product," and thus won't mind traipsing to farms to make their purchases. Are raw milk consumers "uninformed" or "devoted.” 

Finally, he strongly suggested that because raw milk drinkers comprise such a small segment of the market, they aren’t all that important. “Let me put the Connecticut retail raw milk industry into perspective. We have over 150 licensed dairy farms in this state. 14 of them are licensed to produce retail raw milk ... The producers of milk for pasteurization produce over 41 million gallons of milk a year (average 290,000 gal./yr per farm), we consume 70 million gallons of milk a year in this state. The 14 retail raw milk producers produce approximately 170,000 gallons of milk annually or about .25% of all the milk consumed in this state.”

Like the FDA, Prelli had all kinds of reasons for marginalizing raw milk—just pick your favorite.