We all know the story of the shepherd boy who found entertainment in telling villagers his flock of sheep was being attacked by a wolf. The first time the boy sought help, the villagers came running, only to find the boy was joking. The same thing happened a second time.
Then, when a wolf finally did attack, the villagers ignored the shepherd, and he lost his entire flock to the wolf.
Is a modern-day version of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” unfolding in New York? You decide.
In my previous post, I described the latest example of a questionable finding of listeria monocytogenes in the milk of Chuck Phippen, owner of Breese Hollow Dairy in Hoosick Falls, NY.
It turns out that the finding isn’t just questionable, but very questionable. Here’s the story: When inspectors came calling at Breese Hollow Dairy on Tuesday, May 26 for a sample of the dairy’s milk to test for pathogens, Chuck Phippens wasn’t around. For good reason. He was at a meeting with top NY Ag and Markets officials to discuss, of all things, raw milk safety.
The meeting had been organized over many months by another raw dairy farmer, Jerry Snyder, owner of Sunny Cove Farm in Alfred, NY. Jerry hoped to gain some insight as to why there have been as many as a dozen listeria contamination findings at New York’s raw dairies, without any illnesses. “I’m trying to figure out how to address this whole issue,” he told me. “What are the safety issues?”
Among those present were Jerry Cosgrove, Deputy Commissioner of Ag & Markets, and the head of Milk Control and Dairy Services, Will Francis.
Others there were a dairy expert from Cornell University’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center and Ted Beals, a retired University of Michigan pathologist, who has testified as an expert witness about raw milk safety in a number of the court actions involving raw dairies.
So when the inspectors arrived at Breese Hollow Dairy on May 26, Chuck’s wife, Diane, spotted them at the barn taking samples, and rushed to take her own sample out of the bulk tank. When Chuck returned from the session on raw milk safety, he sent the sample to Cornell’s Quality Milk Production Services for testing. He has a regular relationship with the university service, sending a weekly sample to be tested for listeria, E.coli 0157:H7, and salmonella (doing more on the safety front than the state, which tests monthly).
Last week, NY Ag & Markets informed Chuck his milk was contaminated with listeria monocytogenes, and forced him to not only pull his milk off the market until a new all-clear test came back, but also put out a press release that was picked up around the state, including on television and on the Associated Press (the nation’s largest wire service), per my previous post.
The results from Cornell? You guessed it. No sign of listeria.
I inquired with NY Ag and Markets about the timing of its sampling of Breese Hollow, and an explanation of the discrepancy in results, but hadn’t received a response by close of business today (Monday).
I’m sure they would have said the timing of the visit to Breese Hollow on May 26, while Chuck was meeting with its officials, was a coincidence. And there are some technicalities about the testing that Linda Tikofsky, the Exension Veterinarian at Cornell’s Quality Milk Production Services, explained to me Her lab’s test was a “rapid PCR that looks for (listeria) DNA,” she explained. (PCR stands for “polymerase chain reaction,” which amplifies DNA activity.) It’s designed to improve food safety by providing more rapid results that conventional testing, enabling quick alerts to consumers. Makes sense. She noted that if her testing shows a positive result, then the sample is tested further via a culture. “Cultures have always been the gold standard,” she said. That’s the test the state conducted.
I asked Linda Tikofsky if it wouldn’t make sense for the state to use her lab’s test as a screening device, to keep from coming up with so many questionable cases of listeria-contaminated raw milk. “Potentially, yes,” she said. But, “It would take a change in the system.”
Why won’t NY Ag and Markets entertain a slightly more flexible approach, that wouldn’t compromise food safety? Chuck Phippen thinks he knows why. “Their agenda is to put raw dairy farms out of business,” he said. “It’s such a disconnect. They should be on our side.”
Jerry Snyder, the dairy farmer who organized the safety get-together that led to Chuck’s absence from the farm, agrees. The listeria findings amount to “a speed trap waiting to catch someone going 30 in a 30 mph zone.”
And if you don’t think NY Ag and Markets is above retribution against farmers who speak out, consider this story from Jerry Snyder. A year ago, when gas prices were so high, one of his customers, an elderly woman who lived about 25 miles away, determined that she couldn’t afford the cost of gas to travel to his farm for a $3 half gallon of raw milk. “It was costing her $5 in gas for a $3 container of milk.”
Jerry called an official of NY Ag and Markets to request an exemption to the requirement that consumers come to the farm to buy their raw milk. “I asked him, ‘Would you give me permission to deliver that woman a half gallon of milk? He said no. It was against the law. I lost it. I told him, ‘I know what you are doing, and it stinks.’”
A couple weeks later, inspectors showed up at his farm, and he flunked on several inspection items. “I’ve been milking for 33 years,” says Jerry. “My regular inspector doesn’t even bother to go in the barn” since it’s so clean. “They showed me if they wanted to, they could come after me.”
These stories prompted me to come up with this suggestion for what to name the NY Ag and Markets version of the old “Boy Who Cried Wolf” game. How about “Yassuh Mastuh, Yassuh”?
***
P.S. You won’t find too many braver individuals than Chuck Phippen and Jerry Snyder. They’re putting their livelihoods on the line, not only to enable ordinary consumers to have access to raw milk, but beyond that, they’re fighting for a freedom that people like Will Francis, Jerry Cosgrove, and Patrick Hooker, the commissioner, are trying to sabotage. If you want to let NY Ag and Markets officials know about your displeasure, their contact information can be found here.
Stories like this just reinforces the unjust treatment of the farmers. Not to ignore the downright hatefullness of not allowing an exemption for the woman who spent more on gas. Really pitiful.
Maybe when the dairy industry comes to it’s economic and scientific senses, this unjust regulatory antagonism will slink back into it’s dark hole:
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20090608/NEWS01/906080304
"…Throughout his long career in the dairy business, Schoch has sold his raw milk to a dairy co-op which handles the pasteurizing and marketing of the product. With fixed costs for feed going up and the demand and prices fluctuating, he has been investigating the possibility of producing cheese and possibly selling raw milk under his own label.
"I want to stay in the dairy business, so hopefully there is a niche market out there for locally produced products like these," Schoch said. "I’d like to see this dairy passed on to my sons and grandchildren." "
The ones that survive these times, anyway?
-Blair
I have called and left two messages with John Schoch. He has not returned my calls.
I get the feeling that John is interested in bottling raw milk because pasteurized milk is a totally losing proposition. However, if John is to be successful, he must be also interested and committed to things that have nothing to do with the dairy farm like:
Consumer education.
Politics and farm tours
Market engagement
Shelf space at stores.
Delivery trucks going to stores that stay cold 100% of the time.
A website that connects to consumers and answers their questions.
Organic or all natural production.
Little or less grain
Grass or forage for his cows and never any antibiotics.
Testing testing testing…!!
Being inspected intensively and treated like a biotorrist.
From the looks of the picture…his cows stand in manure and his history tells us that he is dedicated to super breeding cows for high production. Raw milk begs the exact opposite. Remember Alta Dena and their repeated salmonella recalls, they had the same conditions. You can not just decide one day to be a raw milk dairy. It takes a change of heart in the way the cows are treated, their conditions and an investment in the rest of the food chain…
I want John to join Claravale and OPDC…we need more political support and we need more raw milk educators and suppliers in CA…but we do not need conventional dairymen that think that raw milk is some cake walk and that it is safe to do conventionally.
I think we will hear more of this from conventional dairymen as the pastuerized milk car wreck worsens. It is last ditch speak. I hate to be negative….but what we do at CA raw milk dairies is very much under appreciated.
I will call John again in the morning. If he is truely serious I will help him all I can.
As for the listeria hysteria…..there must be an outrage from the consumers. The one thing I love about California is how our citizens know how to get pissed and do something about it. Nothing makes me more upset that passive raw milk drinkers that let the dairy take all the heat yet want their raw milk.
The time is now for the consumers to get up and fight. Take to the legislature and hold hearings…demand change and your rights. Meet with your elected representatives and get loud. Stop being passive…. it is unAmerican and frankly it is embarrassing.
In CA if they tried to take away our raw milk….there would be an uprising and politicians and the media would hear about it immediately.
I know….it already happened and our "mother lions roared". Raw milk is food activism and we must never forget it. Being passive leaves nothing to be remembered by your kids when you are gone….more importantly….it leaves nothing for your kids at all.
Rise up….it feels damn good, nourishes the soul and keeps America American. Stand behind those that provide you living food.
Mark McAfee
Well spoken! You are a whirling marvel; don’t know how you do it but I’m glad you do! It is always so clear to you – you are a visionary. I get caught up in eddys in this stream, lost in details, and you always rally!
I see the lines blurring (New York regulators being the ‘die-hard with a vengeance’ ); and there will be more backlash, but all told, the cat’s out of the bag….and good luck to those who try to stuff it clawing pissed but free, back into the drowning bag. Pretty fierce, and man, those nasty nails sting permanently. An army of militant moms is no laughing matter – but what about when they get complacent? Because they do sometimes. MOst times.
David’s blog entry about talking past each other – I’m still thinking about that one, and how to stop doing that, and really listen. Hell hath no fury like a PERSON scorned. (Well OK, women keep better track, bless their hearts) . 🙂
But my point is, there is way too much scorn in this paradigm shift – on both sides.
We’re all just human, and all too frail. The ones with the guns have power but no authority.
Will we never escape ‘test, test, test’? will that always be the measure of milk quality?
-Blair, trying to digest this one piece at a time….
When the raw milk mother lions roared….they were courteous and beautiful and filled with grace.
They came to Sacramento in great numbers with kids in their arms and dads by their sides. They came in peace with a passionate personal story to tell. There was no denying moms that told stories of Asthma going away, no lactose intolerance, increases in bone density and IBS being resolved….all by raw milk. Then the scientists Dr. Hull and Dr. Beals, and Wholefoods President Walter Robb…backed them up 100%.
The other side ( CDFA and the FDA ) did not even show up to defend their lies. Thats what I mean….it was not a violent militant revolution…it was moms explaining to those in the legislature what raw milk has done for them. It was with passion but yet with tenderness and it was absolute determination from moms.
Those voices will never be denied. That is what makes our CA moms so awesome. They are positive and impressive. Under their skin they can get pissed off also….but that is not as impressive as the mom that just tells her story and asks for her rights and the nutritional rights for her family. This melted the hearts and convinced the legislature and the elected representatives. Now many of them drink raw milk. They are people too!!
We need more of this.
As far as John Schoch ( Salinas Dairyman ) is concerned….he called me this morning and I meet with him tommorrow. From what he tells me…I think he will be a fine addition to Claravale and OPDC in CA. He owns six Jamba Juice stores ( in addition to his dairy ) and understands consumers and markets. He understands his local community and loves raw milk.
I welcome him to the CA raw milk producers community and will do everything I can to assure his success. He is already making raw Montery Jack cheese. Yum!!!
A rising tide floats all boats. Raw Milk is Rising. Now OPDC will have 1/3 less political crap being thrown at us and 1/3 more educating and marketing effort being done.
Mark McAfee
Nutritional rights; why would there be a need to "ask" for a right to consume something? There is no requirement to "ask" for the chemically laden fast/processed phoods, which are poison to the human body and environment. I know, it is about power and money, why else would people try to force thier agendas on others? I hadn’t realized that was what America has come to stand for.
I hear what tptb say about raw milk, just as I have read other web sites/books that oppose tptb, I wouldn’t swallow every word either party speaks. It is called informed choices. It seems that many get defensive if your thinking doesn’t sway you to thier way or the misleading/lies are pointed out. Tptb seem to have most of the media on thier side, so when distortions are pointed out from tptb, it may make a tiny blip on the radar, when a distortion from the opposing side is made, it appears to be plastered all over the place. No fairness/balance in reporting.
It is about choices; if you wish to consume that big mac, go right ahead, I’ll cringe as I listen to your arteries harden, watch as the stroke evolves, watch as your girth expands,watch those stasis ulcers form because of the chonic edema, explian the process of DM II, hear your cries as that renal calculi tries to slide out, explain why the PPI is needed for your gut,the list goes on and on, yet, I can think positive about it; job security for me….
My son Aaron and I spent three hours talking with John Schoch and his three grown sons at his dairy just north of Salinas.
His story is the traditional California pioneering story with all of the spirit and hard work that accompanies this tradition. His father once operated a 300 cow dairy in near Salinas in the 1930’s and they were "all hand miliked". This took ten milkers and was the largest dairy in the USA at that time.
The Schochs will be a great addition to Claravale and OPDC when they get ready to do raw milk. They have a way to go but have a very good sense of market and have the passion down deep inside to build their market. We shared everything we have learned about raw milk with them and all the secrets we could tell in three hours.
Yes they have pastures and they currently milk about 100 cows.
Mark McAfee
thanks for your thoughts.
Here are my tidbits of advice for your call to Mr. Hookers office.
I would speak as if you are representing tens of thousands of angy moms that would like to come visit him. That you represent a huge group of people that are getting ready to have the legislature hold hearings on this issue. I would speak with calm passion and with intellengence….have your information adn facts straight. Know what you want from him and have a clear strategy for making change happen. In other words make a reasonable request and demand.
The great thing is that you are making calls…..and engaged.
Do not think for one second that the things I have listed are an exageration….because you have tens of thousands of people behind you and you can convince a legislative representative to call for hearings to see what the heck is going on and demand "oversight and answers". When 50,000 people per week in CA can go to 400 stores and buy 13 raw milk products and you can not do that….you can demand change!!
You are an American citizen.
Everyone in Weston A Price and every state raw milk organization will call the legislative representatives if requested. This makes a massive impact. They will think that a Raw Milk north Korean is attacking. This will wake them up. In the past this has worked very well.
In fact when we did this in CA, I had legislative representatives calling me and begging for the calls and faxes to stop. They were getting calls from Australia, France, EU, Italy and Russia on top of calls from all over the USA and Canada. This is an international effort that can and will focus its power and passion on any particular point of resistance…and smash it with the arguments that can only come from a consumer with a story of healing after drinking raw milk.
Never underestimate the power of a very small group of dedicated smart people that are focussed on change. You are the change and you have all of our support…just let us know the plan and we will start calling, and calling and calling.
Use the WAP chapter system and Sallys national and international network of WAP Alerts to bring in the Raw Milk Army. You are far from alone.
Mark
Food Inc : Documentary on your dinner
Opens Friday in San Francisco
Important article and 2 minute trailer
" The fact is they don’t want us to see how the food is made. They don’t want us to know what is in it, and they don’t want us talking about it." Filmmaker Robert Kenner
If his statement is true what are "they" hiding? Are "they" the so called food producers so utterly greedy that they do not care at all about the harm they are inflicting upon their customers for they will go to extreme measures to prevent anyone from stepping out of their foul system.
Anyone who yet "believes" the war against the small raw dairy farm families has anything to do with food safety is indeed missinformed.