The unsettling news about questionable factory foods just keeps coming.
A few days ago, it was Coca Cola saying it found a fungicide in orange juice it produces in Brazil for sale in the U.S.
A few days before that, the USDA was proposing to approve GMO corn that will be based in part on the herbicide of Vietnam War fame, Agent Orange.
Last year, it was 36 million pounds of Cargill turkey contaminated with antibiotic-resistant salmonella.
Before that, it was news that more than two-thirds of our chicken is contaminated with campylobacter and/or salmonella, while the public health community looks the other way, and focuses on shutting down dairy farms.
Each time we are reminded of the truly scary dangers in our food system, the marketplace for nutrient-dense foods expands. Each time we learn that we face an increasingly serious risk of being poisoned by legal and illegal adulterants in our food–GMOs, mercury, fungicides, antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and so forth–more people become wary of buying their milk, meat, eggs, cheeses, and vegetables out of the factory system. Each time a new study shows a growing incidence of asthma and allergies, or the dangers of nitrites, artificial sweeteners, and high fructose corn syrup, the unease about shopping at Kroger’s and WalMart increases.
Before you know it, you have a growing army of disillusioned consumers ever more open to joining a food club, or buying into a herdshare arrangement, or venturing out to farmers markets. (The photo above is of some of the crowd that turned out yesterday in sub-freezing temperatures for an indoor farmers market in Norwich, VT.)
Equally significant, these individuals become receptive to the arguments of the budding food rights movement.
One of the facts that stuck out to me in Blair McMorran’s incisive examination of the benefits of raw milk testing protocols was this little aside: in Colorado, “at least 20 (raw dairies)…have just started up.”
Yes, conventional dairies continue to fold. But raw milk dairies have launched, or converted from conventional production, in significant measure because there is a lucrative growing market for raw dairy and other unprocessed natural foods. The same thing has occurred in California with herdshares, not to mention many other states.
This growing market demand may well turn out to be the saving grace in the growing controversy over RAWMI, and the standard-setting/oversight issues that many here worry about.
Toni Baer lamented in a comment following my previous post, “From my European and scientific perspective nothing is worse within a small movement, if people start attacking each other openly on websites. It only helps those who are against you, which are those who want to get rid of the raw milk.”
I don’t doubt the enemies of food choice and freedom take pleasure in the disagreements here. But they may be taking false comfort. The marketplace is smarter than many of us. As people become ever more worried about their health and the health of their families, they will seek out information about making changes.
Part of what we’re talking about is the difference between a trend and a movement.
A market trend is simply that, a move by increasing numbers of people toward particular kinds of products and services. Sometimes it’s a matter of popularity (music) and fashion (clothes, accessories) and sometimes a trend grows out of fear.
In the case of health, a seemingly healthy market trend (toward nutrient-dense foods) can be subverted by a combination of corporate marketing (providing its version of “safe” and “natural” food) and government propaganda (those people organizing the movement are a bunch of kooks and weirdos and disdain “science”).
The key question for those of us worried about the trampling of food rights, is whether the trend–fear of tainted food that is driving ever larger numbers of people to seek out good food–can be transformed into a movement. I don’t pretend to be an expert in the development of movements, but I do know they unfold in significantly different ways.
We tend to think of the Civil Rights movement as having burst onto the scene in the 1960s under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., but the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was actually founded in 1909.
The Occupy Wall Street movement and all its spinoffs seemingly materialized over a few weeks last year…and then just as quickly dissipated…or did it?
Look at the women’s rights, gay rights, and home schooling movements, and you will see different dynamics in each.
We don’t yet fully appreciate the dynamics of the food rights movement. My sense is that it will take a heavy focus on local organization, rather than some top-down approach. The local organizations need to take responsibility for publicizing particular local events, like last week’s arraignment of Wisconsin raw dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger.
Gayle Loiselle was rightfully upset that Hershberger’s private contract distribution approach didn’t get a clearer presentation in the media. It “was a missed opportunity because the media was there and ripe for the picking but the most credible well-spoken media savvy heavy hitters in the raw milk movement were not. With at least 2 networks there the message of choice…individual rights … and the abuse of power by the government… could have all been spun into powerful sound bites by those who know how to use the media to the best advantage.”
I agree, but those “media savvy heavy hitters” aren’t necessarily the ones the media even want to hear from–very often, they prefer articulate local people, who are most familiar with the circumstances at hand. I know some local leaders were on hand for the demonstration outside the courthouse on behalf of Hershberger. Perhaps they need training, as Loiselle suggests, to make sure Hershberger’s message comes through. Maybe that becomes part of the education focus of the Raw Milk Institute.
All by way of saying, we shouldn’t necessarily fear a variety of organizations (like the Raw Milk Institute, the Raw Milk Freedom Riders, the Farm Food Freedom Coalition, Food Sovereignty, Alliance for Raw Milk, Weston A. Price Foundation, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, etc., etc. ) Nor should we fear serious debate as a means to inform and help people crystalize their views.
So the big unanswered question right now is whether the trend toward serious worry about the quality of our factory food will translate into a sustainable growing movement for the right to access the foods of our choosing. Since the trend isn’t likely to abate any time soon, we have expanding opportunities to get the movement into shape.
***
Deborah Peterson expressed frustration, following my previous post, about developing mission statements. Since she mentioned it, here’s one just completed by the Raw Milk Freedom Riders. I think it’s pretty decent.
“The Raw Milk Freedom Riders are dedicated to overturning the FDA’s criminalization of interstate raw milk shipments as a way to end the agency’s ongoing assault on dairy farmers and the consumers they serve. The assaults include raids on small dairies that distribute raw milk, undercover investigations of ordinary citizens who consume raw milk, and assorted efforts to destabilize private food clubs, among other actions.
“We are committed to intentionally defying the interstate ban as a way to publicize the reality that raw milk isn’t a public health hazard and to publicly expose the FDA’s violent acts listed above.
“We demand that the FDA leave raw milk decisions entirely to individual states, and respect the rights of individuals to enter into private contracts with farmers to obtain the foods of their choice.”
The Raw Milk Freedom Riders have already held two demonstrations involving civil disobedience. And the organization will have a booth at the upcoming Constitutional Sheriffs Convention Jan. 29-31.
***
Here’s an in-depth look at one slice of the food rights struggle…and a pretty fair one, at that, from The New American magazine. Includes some worthwhile history, as well. Also, it provides the views of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, without bowing to them.
And an interview with me on Agricultural Insights web site, about the government crackdown on raw milk, by Chris Stelzer.
I read the New American article, and it was a very good overview of the issues surrounding raw milk. I think the only thing I would really fault it on is what we are seriously failing to address here, and that is the economic impact of reclaiming our agricultural traditions and rights. There is an awful lot of work to do to make a truly substantiated breakdown of this, but it is terrifically important issue that needs to be addressed.
If the facts that I have heard bandied about within my state are accurate, the dollar that stays on the dairy farm in this state (commercial and "normal" distribution chains) goes through the state 4x. Therefore, a simple presumption, but apparently quite likely, if the food dollars stay within the community instead of going to mega marts -that are importing 78% of produce, and consolidating the numbers of farmers- we should be able to have that food dollar go through our own community more like six times. This should increase the buying power and economic viability of communities in general.
There is a tremendous rural sociology paper out there comparing two very similar communities. One was surrounded by a couple of corporate farms, the other by roughly the same acreage in "mom and pop" farms. The standards of living were compared, and in the second community, people had more, were more content, and work was more profitable and poverty less. Why? Because the smaller farms bought within the community and the dollar moved through the local market places instead of on a train straight out of the area to the corporate headquarters.
This is the largest issue in the local food movement, and we are not effectively addressing it. If we want economic viability, it comes from being able to reap profit from our labor and exchange the products of our labor in a level playing field marketplace. Since we haven't had that by design for fifty plus years, we have lost our food quality, our small community quality, and the China Mart mentality is not the model we need to follow to get out of it.
Obviously, buying local should be more than a socio-economic fashion statement.It's actually a self preservation tool!
Thanks for listening!
I couldn't agree more. What's astounding to me most immediately about the assault on food rights is that politicians who rant and rave about the importance of creating and saving jobs (like Obama) can sanction the wholesale elimination of jobs by endorsing the FDA's scorched earth policy on "food safety."
In your state, when FDA went after Morningland Dairy and shut it down, six jobs were immediately eliminated, and an unknown number more lost via the ripple effect, when Morningland discontinued buying products and services within its community. The hysteria over "safety" has made such discussions about economic development and economic impact verboten.
Of course, it all enters into the larger picture of economic development that you describe. To the extent that locally-based farms are encouraged to develop and grow as locally-based entities, the entire community benefits in untold ways, economically and socially. Conversely, to the extent the corporations are given free rein to suck farming communities dry. entire communities suffer in untold ways.
We see the effects of all this as a society because so many of our politicians now effectively work for the corporations.
David
I am building a Dutch style cheese press (here is a picture and the plans http://www.karensgarden.net/OK/BYPress.php). I am trying to understand about how to calculate the pressure. The recipes I use are from Rici Carroll's home cheesemaking book and it talks about pounds of pressure. When I calculate the force of the press, a 20# weight at the last position equals 70# of force exerted by the press (distance from the hinge to the weight divided by the distance of the hinge to the piston, then multiply the weight by this factor). However, pressure is force divided by are of the follower. When I divide the 70# by the 7 square inches of follower area, I'm only exerting 10# of actual pressure. This is significantly less actual pressure. What is meant in the recipes? Force or pressure?
Thank you!
Why is everyone so fearful about establishing/sharing best practices for producing the safest raw milk possible? I just dont get it.
Food Safety New wrote something about the colostrum issue in California http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/01/dairy-ends-sales-of-raw-colostrum/
I never cared for soy and avoid it. I lean towards the research that it is unhealthy. I have pointed out to people that in Asia it is eaten mostly fermented and not in huge amounts that it is consumed in the US. http://www.utne.com/print-article.aspx?id=6886
I am currently in the heart of cargill and tyson country in Little Rock. I will check out their Whole Foods and see where the meats, etc come from. Walking through the regular grocery stores shows that processed and/or imported phoods are king here. Raw goat milk is legal here NOT cows milk.
Slow poisoning of the masses. Makes big $$$$$ for the cargills, pharms, healthcare, etc.
Education is key. People don't appear to realize they have a voice, perhaps showing them that they do have a voice would give them the needed education and courage to use it. I think the information is confusing to many, there seems to be a disconnect when a lay person reads a study, they don't see the whole picture; who funded it, what questions to ask, etc so they walk away with a very narrow outlook on the results and those results appear to be absolutes to them because they don't know any different. The farmers market under the bridge in Sacramento on Sundays had grown immensely in the last 3 yrs that I was there. Written flyers with bullet statement information, word of mouth, blog posts and links, social media,ie facebook, etc
(If I was able to, I'd have my own little farm, I do realize that I would need help as I cannot do it alone. Soy is forced on the masses and GM is slowly being forced on them, more toxins)
It has a story titled 'Seniors driving local food movement'. They interviewed farmers from Hot Springs CO-OP, etc. It stated that "locally grown food had been growing by about 10% a year since 2000" "Nearly 80% of those starting small scale beef production will not make it to the 3rd year and virtually none make it in the long haul", "There are lots of want-to-be farmers who really don't know what they are getting into. There really isn't anywhere to turn to on this type of production unless you know someone." "The USDA is mostly irrelevant for local small-scale farmers. Of its near billion-dollar-a-year-budget in Arkansas, 80% of the money goes to the top 10% largest farms. They get an average of $64000 a year. Everyone else gets $760. "
The farmers markets and co-ops are increasing, it is a slow process. As said here many times, each time there is an out break – it drives more people to seek healthier foods, more eyes are opened to what the system is.
I think the article in whole is very positive. Over-all people need to be taught about their foods.
I attempted to post before this one and got a message that it had to be cleared before posting. I did attach a link to it…not sure what changes David is doing, it is understandable.
For those who havent listened to this interview with Dr. Huber then I urge you to do so, since it parallels much of the discussion that has occurred on this blog about our relationship with plants, animals and organisms.
Dr Huber states in the interview that, Our Knowledge is so premature, so infantile that to assume that we have these silver bullets that you can just put into a revolver and spin the chamber for whatever stress or problems you have, just doesnt work.
Ken Conrad
Why is everyone so fearful about establishing/sharing best practices for producing the safest raw milk possible? I just dont get it.
Food Safety News wrote something about the colostrum issue in California. I couldnt post the link because then I couldnt post the comment. If anyone is interested in reading it, they will have to go over to Food Safety News and take a look.
Mary, for many it is about food rights, not just raw milk. As a human it is my right to choose what I wish to consume just as it is your right as a human to choose. Obviously tptb aren't only focusing on raw dairy. They are targeting all foods to control.
I would doubt the majority of dairy farmers don't engage in safe standards. It would be suicide if they or any other farmer didn't practice safe standards. I would bet that most farmers follow some sort of basic standard of sanitation. Why would they need someone to come and write a mandatory standard? Any good farmer will teach about what they do and their product.
What kind of "proof" do you need to assure you that the milk is safe? I felt very safe in drinking the milk I got from the cow share in Ca. I did not need to look at any lab results, I talked to the farmer, I observed the milking, I listened while the whole process was being done.
There is no proof that foods sold in stores are safe to consume and they sicken more people yearly than raw dairy does.
Cow Share Canada has never been transparent. There are a few, and I do mean a few people in Canada that know something about the organization. Most others just stand back and scratch their heads wondering what Cow Share Canada is.
If you ask Cow Share Canada for the standards they feel Canadian raw farmers should be using, you will be told one of two things. 1. You have to pay the yearly fee to Cow Share Canada before any information will be given. 2. You must take Cow Share College.
Why should farmers, some who have cow shares and some who are just selling a little milk on the side have to fork over hard earned money to find out what the standards are?
In Canada the term dirty raw milk is thrown about quite a bit. The thought behind that is all these farmers who have raw milk leaving the farm in whatever form (herd share/cow share./selling) have dirty milk, and only Michael and Cow Share College graduates have clean milk. If that was the case, Canada would have an epidemic of sick, dying, or dead raw milk drinkers!
If someone has standards for how raw milk should be produced then please share them free of charge with everyone!
You get to test drive the car before buying, but you can't see the standards without buying a membership first, and quite possibly without signing up for Cow Share College first! I'd say that's pretty transparent, right Mark?
Nothing will change with regards to how a lot of Canadians feel about Cow Share Canada until they truly become transparent!
January 16, 2012 | Registered CommenterAya Simms
Not sure if you are trying to be humorous with this comment: "If you dont prove you are serious about producing safe raw milk, when outbreaks occur the hammer is going to come down hard."
I think you know by this time that even if you can prove you are serious about producing safe raw milk, and there are no outbreaks, the hammer can come down hard. And that partly explains the reluctance about RAWMI. Some farmers feel RAWMI will turn into a regulatory-type organization, in partnership with government regulators, who have shown themselves to be highly arbitrary about correlating food safety and "the hammer."
Separately, I have not introduced any new features regarding comment approvals or links. I am trying to find out if some bug in the system.
David
For those who havent listened to the interview of Dr. Huber by Dr. Mercola then I urge you to go to the Mercola.com website and do so, since it parallels much of the discussion that has occurred on this blog about our relationship with plants, animals and organisms.
Dr. Huber states in the interview that, Our Knowledge is so premature, so infantile that to assume that we have these silver bullets that you can just put into a revolver and spin the chamber for whatever stress or problems you have, just doesnt work.
Mary,
GMO technology has a great deal to do with high quality and safe raw milk. Read the above link and perhaps you will understand why.
Ken Conrad
And I have to ask, would you sue your Uncle if he made your child sick from the food cooked at a family picnic? Would you institute standards, and testing, and health officials to monitor this and haul him away to jail or pay huge fines?
Mary is serious.
Those of us who have formal training in HACCP and who work in FDA regulated environments know how serious these food safety issues are. This doesn't mean I agree with the FDA. I have many disagreements, from rBGH, GMOs, antibiotics and drugs in the food supply, our society's over-reliance on pharmaceuticals, to the relative risks of raw milk. It just means that I understand how the system works and why it is this way.
I share many of the concerns about the increasing corporate control of the food supply, and in particular, the concentration of agricultural land ownership into fewer and fewer hands.
However, I do not believe the solution is more of this "laissez-faire" attitude. Rather, what is needed is an intentional grassroots effort to redesign our food system in a more democratic fashion. "Laissez-faire" individualism ultimately works only for those who are already wealthy, privileged, and (in the case of farming) own land. It will not work for the majority of people, especially of my generation, who are currently alienated from food production and agriculture by no fault of our own.
In my opinion, RawMI is defunct and will not be successful. Instead, raw milk farmers who are serious about food safety need to come together and form their own trade organization to establish food safety standards if they want to prevent the "hammer" of state and federal regulatory agencies from coming down on them. Unfortunately, the worst raw milk producer will reflect poorly on the rest, even those who are clean and responsible. Unless the rest of the producers are prepared to demonstrate their commitment to food safety, we will continue to see raw milk criminalized and driven into a black market.
That is just the reality of the situation, like it or not. I did not make it this way, I just understand this reality and have tried to do something about it.
We have to learn to keep this raw milk issue in perspective, and not get too wrapped up in ourselves and our own little worlds. Raw milk is but one part of the food movement, and indeed, the food movement itself is but one part of the broader movement for social and environmental justice and grassroots democracy.
Happy MLKjr day, everyone!
"The means by which we live has outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." -~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry. Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong with capitalism. There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism". ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Mary – you may not see the connection between GMOd products & raw milk products, but there is a huge connection between the two. As others pointed out, the biggest connection is as Jennifer relates in her post. It is a very important factor in the availability to safe, natural, unadulterated, nutrient dense foods. As per my original intent on my previous post, I wanted to direct some of the discussions on this blog to all the other issues that plague us with regards to safer, beneficial foods, not just raw milk products alone. I am thrilled to see all these latest posts that have picked up on that & have opened additional posts & comments about all of this!! This is great, the more people that can be directed to all the issues…not just the raw milk product issues, the better in bringing about the needed changes that are so desperately needed.
Raising cows or goats to produce raw milk is far different than growing vegetables to sell. Do people believe that just anyone can do this?
David, I was serious. There is just this F-you attitude within the raw milk movementdont tell us what to do or how to do it. I think it hurts the movement. It seems that everyone is freaked out about standards, what about a website that allows farmers to post best practices for the different types of milking practices? People can post anonymously, so they feel safe. This website can also have all the information about good soil, etcneeded to produce nutrient dense raw milk. The milk will only be as good as the food the cows or goats eat.
From what I see, the biggest drama is around people who are crossing state lines to get their milk. This is supposed to be a local movement. At the very least, local should mean purchasing food produced in your own state. Why would anyone risk getting the FDA into their lives? If you want raw milk, find a farmer in your own state. Unless there is an outbreak, I just dont think anyone cares.
David, I obviously have a different perspective than you do. Farmers are BREAKING THE LAW when they take their milk across state lines to sell, and then they cry victim when they are caught. Raw milk is a state rights issue. If a person feels strongly enough about the need to consume raw milk, then move to a state where it is legal or buy a cow or goat.
Jennifer, I dont eat food served at picnics. Too dangerous. People are stupid about food safety, especially if food has been left unrefrigerated. Besides, I eat healthy. Most people I know who would invite me to a picnic would not have food there I would eat.
And yes, I believe nearly 'anyone' can produce safe raw milk if they have interest in doing so. Just as most of us can actually raise children to healthy productive adulthood without special training. Or can our garden produce. Common sense, an ability to process information and/or a good mentor is priceless.
This is my third attempt at posting a comment I hope all three dont appear at once.
For those who havent listened to the interview with Dr. Huber by Dr. Mercola then I urge you to go to the Mercola.com website and do so, since it parallels much of the discussion that has occurred on this blog about our relationship with plants, animals and organisms.
Dr. Huber states in the interview that, Our Knowledge is so premature, so infantile that to assume that we have these silver bullets that you can just put into a revolver and spin the chamber for whatever stress or problems you have, just doesnt work.
Mary,
GMO technology has a great deal to do with high quality and safe raw milk. Read the above link and perhaps you will understand why.
Ken Conrad
Let's start with this:
"From what I see, the biggest drama is around people who are crossing state lines to get their milk. This is supposed to be a local movement. At the very least, local should mean purchasing food produced in your own state. Why would anyone risk getting the FDA into their lives? If you want raw milk, find a farmer in your own state."
It is ILLEGAL for a farmer to sell raw milk in my state. It is ILLEGAL for me to cross state lines to purchase raw milk. How am *I* supposed to get raw milk, Mary?
I will tell you how. I bought a cow. I milk my own cow for my family. She is a family cow. My ENTIRE life changed FOR raw milk. Did I know how to do this? NO. Did I know anything about cows? NO. Did I know anything about farming? NO.
I certainly do now. I would GLADLY pay somebody 6,8,10,12 dollars a gallon for raw milk. I am not allowed to. Where does this leave me? To do it myself. Do I even want to know what it costs me for my raw milk? No, I don't want to add it up. The food, hay, minerals, vet bills, milk machine, vacuum pump, getting my cow bred, the wood to build a stanchion, my TIME. My life revolves around my husband, my kids and this COW. All because my state outlawed everything raw milk a few years ago.
Mary, you ask "Do people believe that just anyone can do this?"
I did. And I am "just anyone". I grew up in the suburbs. Never went to the county fair. Never had a garden. My parents fed us "typical food". I was a normal kid.
I am opting out of the industrialized food system. And if I want my family to have milk (I do), this is how it has to be done.
I haven't killed anyone yet. Not even sickened anyone. I haven't even watched the videos you mentioned or read the booklet you mention (didn't know they existed). And guess what Mary? There are lots and lots and lots of others out there just like me…just anyones and we are just doing it…
I think you're right about growing masses being alienated from the sickly factory farm food and demented drug pushing medical establishment. I would hope that someday we will be a majority, but I don't expect that any time soon. There are too many people brainwashed by the current system and all of its' misleading propaganda. I agree that our best strategy is education and a bottom up approach. That is where RAWMI could serve best, to provide open and transparent education to both farmers and consumers on what practices are best suited to raw milk production and safety. Also, a RAWMI certification could help to provide reassurance to the many new consumers that products will meet quality expectations.
I agree with Mary that testing standards are needed for large dairies, especially when the milk is sold retail at stores. In this situation, some kind of voluntary certification would be ideal and RAWMI could very well make this happen. For direct farm to consumer sales, voluntary certification could also be helpful for large operations where consumers don't have the chance to visit the farm, as could happen with raw milk sales at farmers markets – which I would really like to see in every state and every country. I also like the private model of sale from farm to consumer, whether it be by herd share or by food club. Voluntary certification could also be helpful for food clubs, because I suspect most food club members don't take the time to go and visit the farms.
I believe there should be different levels of certification for raw milk and I hope RAWMI will embrace this option. There should be a more rigorous voluntary certification for large dairies that sell to the retail market and a less rigorous and more affordable voluntary certification for smaller dairies that sell directly to consumers.
I met both Mark McAffee and Michael Schimdt at the recent Wise Traditions 2011 conference in November and I have the greatest respect for both of them. They both have dealt with considerable adversity and constant attention to every word they speak. I don't envy that position. We all make mistakes and I believe both of them will learn from their mistakes. I appreciate those who are honest enough to admit to mistakes and learn from them and I have seen this in both of these admirable men. I really appreciate their dedication and energy to promoting raw milk. For those on this list who believe they are Christian, where is the forgiveness? I believe forgiveness it a great character trait, regardless of religion.
I also appreciate this forum for exchanging ideas. I hope that we can focus on the important issues of promoting raw milk and food freedom and not get sidetracked by petty and detracting personal issues and personal attacks. David, I have learned much from your input, as well as those who comment here. Let's keep it civil and respect everyone's opinion, even if we disagree. I've changed my opinion more than a few times over the years 🙂
I likewise live in a state where buying raw milk is illegal. I am working towards the same goal a family cow.
At present, I drive to Pennsylvania to buy milk. I get tried of making that drive every week. And the risks associated with driving are significantly greater than from drinking raw milk.
As for the problem with links, the blog operator isn't sure about that. Suggests that if anyone receives an error message or some other message when trying to include a link, to please forward a copy to me (david@davidgumpert.com). It may be there is no error message, and the links are just being filtered out. I'll try to learn more.
David
Kelly, you bought a cow. Good for you. But you sound a bit angry about this choice. Your family is living with this animal. You are all building up immunities. This is the way it was meant to work. It is ONE cow. Im sure you have figured it all out with the help of a vet. What if you had 10 cows? Do you think you could give the same care and attention to making sure everything that went with milking was done properly? What if you had 20 cows? See how with each cow added to the mix of the job becomes more difficult to manage and an accidental cow poo-poo accident could happen.
Im sorry you were unable to find a black market source in your state. It seems as if they are all around. California alone has over 100. After following this issue for 5 years, I think black market within any state is the source no one cares about unless an outbreak happens. In other words, you do your thing and the farmer does his/her thing and as long as the farmer doesnt make anyone sick, no one has the time, money or energy to worry about it.
If you cross state line, you have a whole lot of people in your business. Why go down this road?
Or again, move to a state where raw milk is legal if it is such a priority in your life.
Wow, that is a real negative response. It is doubtful most can just pick up and move to another state and have a job, let alone afford the move itself.
Fast foods should be illegal, they poison people, yet tptb allow it and even encourage consumption of it.
Why shouldn't she be angry? She is forced to do something she doesn't want to do just to provide something she believes is healthful for her family. She should be commended to go the distance for her family.
TPTB laws regarding raw milk are outdated and unjust. It is not about food safety, it is about control by tptb and big ag, et al.
The govt doesn't appear to care about the rampant contamination of the foods (phoods) purchased in the local stores until there is an outbreak and even then they tend to down play it.
I didn't realize you were a lawyer in addition to being an educator–you say with such conviction that farmers are breaking the law when their milk goes across state lines. While lawyers disagree on that matter, judges haven't yet issued a final ruling. But just to correct your statement, in cases discussed here, such as involving Dan Allgyer, farmers are not bringing milk across state lines. Agents are bringing it on behalf of consumers who bought their milk at the farm. These are important distinctions.
Adding more confusion, the FDA has said it won't consider cases of consumers bringing raw milk across state lines into a state that doesn't allow raw milk, for their own personal use, a violation of the law. Does that mean such people aren't breaking the law, or FDA choosing not to enforce?… (and since when does an agency publicly declare its intention to not enforce a federal law?).
No, this is way more complicated than you and others in the anti-raw-milk camp choose to allow.
Kelly Hensing,
While I appreciate your vow to "never post or get in the middle of this mess" that is this blog, I am glad you did, and thank you for sharing your story. To me, it's a natural extension of the trend I reported on in my post–of people seeking all kinds of ways to escape the factory food system. You have certainly taken the bull (or the cow) by the horns.
Another option to the predicament you describe (of living in a state that doesn't allow raw milk sales or distribution) is to become involved in the civil disobedience being advocated by the Raw Milk Freedom Riders. There have been two rides, with no FDA interference as yet (despite lots of advance warning), and lots more to come. Does no interference mean yet a further change in "the law"?
David
Thank you for sharing your story about buying your own cow. That is the point I tried to make a couple months ago!!!
I never said that having your own cow would be easy, but how badly do you want clean raw milk???
The average age of a dairy producer is middle to late 50's with very, very, few new young people even wanting to take on the responsibility. Most don't even have any access to a farm, much less even knowing how to produce clean raw milk.
What better way to keep the raw milk movement alive than to produce your own!!!
After reading the comments on this blog for 5 yrs and hearing very legitimate arguments on ALL sides, and with all the legal matters, and rules, regs, etc., the most obvious answer is staring us in the face. With hard economic times on the way, the answer is to own your own cow[s] for those who can.
We can either exercise the rights we already have, or fight for the ones that we don't. While the popular idea in the raw milk movement is to fight for our rights, I would advocate we exercise the ones we already have – that is, to drop out of the system and produce our own milk from our own cows, just like Kelly did.
THIS has to be the New Agrarian Movement – those of us who care enough to eat healthy foods have to start taking the responsibility of producing it!!!
Anyone person that wants raw milk and crosses state lines to get it and bring it back to their home to consume is not going to generate an investigation. What has brought this into focus is the buyer clubs/ herdshare programs who are doing pickup and then transporting it all over the place.
Im saying, if you dont want the FDA breathing down your neck which places stress and drama in your life, be smart and discrete about it. No one is really going to care.
Life isnt fair. If raw milk is a priority in a persons life, I have all the confidence it can be found and purchased without drama. So a person has to drive a distance to get it. I have to drive 50 miles one way to Whole Foods. It is a bummer, but that is life. I bought a freestanding freezer for my garage to accommodate lots of food so I dont have to make so many trips to WFM. The same can be done for raw milk.
I just spent the last 3 days baking to stock up on all the food Chris can eat. Bummer. It would be so much easier to be able to purchase what I need for him. I get up at 4:00 in the morning every day to prepare food in order to make sure our family eats healthy. Bummer. I like sleeping, but it is a commitment I made. I dont whine about it because it is a CHOICE I MADE.
If you make a commitment to drink raw milk, there may be an inconvenience. Thats life.
By "mess", I meant several things. Yes, it gets a bit messy in your comment section sometimes…sometimes messier than my barnyard. But I respect the great job that you do. Also, by mess, I mean putting my name out there & telling my story. Some will say paranoid, others will understand.
As for civil disobedience, some might say that I am the picture of disobedience. I am not putting my money where I should.
Barney-yes, I read your comments some months back and almost posted then. While having a cow is possible for me, it is not possible for everyone. What is sad is that if my next door neighbor wants milk, she can not get it from me. If I have extra milk, I cannot sell it to help offset some of my costs (which are high). My state has also outlawed bartering. It is not a safety issue. It is a control issue. It is about where TPTB want your dollars to go. The majority of the people will not go the extra mile for milk (or other foods). Today it is milk, tomorrow it will be non-GMO tomatoes.
For me, an issue I will soon face is how to get non-GMO alfalfa for my cow. I don't have the space to grow my own.
Mary-was I whining? I didn't mean to sound whiny. I was merely pointing out the trouble that *I* have to go to in order to provide my family with fresh, unprocessed milk. My state is not the only state that outlaws raw milk sales entirely. Having a cow is not like having a dog. I can't run her to the corner vet's office when I have an issue. Is it an inconvenience? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Absolutely. You just made it sound so easy-peasy with your talk of "break the law. Cross state lines. Buy on the black market. MOVE to another state". Some of us absolutely cannot do any one of those things…and so I have told you my story. I am just a mom who wants fresh milk for her kids.
The following article has both of Dr Mercolas interviews with Dr Huber.
http://wakeup-world.com/2011/12/23/toxic-botulism-in-animals-linked-to-monsantos-roundup-herbicide/
From the interview included in the above article Dr Huber states, We had to recall 20 percent of our total egg production here last year or early this year because of salmonella.
You have to say, What's changed?"
The newspaper said that when they looked at the egg-producing facilities "they had chicken manure and they had rodent droppings." I have never seen a chicken coup that didn't have chicken droppings. They have manure. Any time you have feed, even with three or four cats around and whatnot, you're going to have some rodents. That's NOT the reason."
According to mother earth news.com Dr. Huber stated in a letter to Tom Vilsack that, It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders. such as toxic botulism
Ken
The following article has both of Dr Mercolas interviews with Dr Huber.
http://wakeup-world.com/2011/12/23/toxic-botulism-in-animals-linked-to-monsantos-roundup-herbicide/
From the interview included in the above article Dr Huber states, We had to recall 20 percent of our total egg production here last year or early this year because of salmonella.
You have to say, What's changed?"
The newspaper said that when they looked at the egg-producing facilities "they had chicken manure and they had rodent droppings." I have never seen a chicken coup that didn't have chicken droppings. They have manure. Any time you have feed, even with three or four cats around and whatnot, you're going to have some rodents. That's NOT the reason."
According to mother earth news.com Dr. Huber stated in a letter to Tom Vilsack that, It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders. such as toxic botulism
Ken
http://enenews.com/over-epa-limit-cesium-levels-in-san-francisco-area-milk-now-higher-than-6-months-ago
I am not sure the use of "sodium borate and/or zeolite" truly does counteract radioactive contamination.
http://enenews.com/over-epa-limit-cesium-levels-in-san-francisco-area-milk-now-higher-than-6-months-ago
While Mary laments that not just anyone can milk their own cow, Kelly comes along and does it.
As George Bernard Shaw said, "People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."
We have here a battle of two world views.
On the one hand is Mary, Mark, and a handful of others who believe in the industrial model of production, taking advantage of economy of scale, involving checks and balances, tests and regulations.
On the other hand is the (for lack of a better name) Transition Town model, that says local is better, and that a small farmer who consumes his own product is not going to make herself sick, and therefore his product is inherently safe.
I'm not ready to abandon the industrial food system (yet). But isn't there room for both approaches?
Mary,
The short answer to your question about herd size is that the best number of cows cannot be adjudicated out of context of their environment. It is entirely wrong to presuppose an inverse relationship between herd size and herd and human health.
We started with a single family cow, and I can tell you it quickly became evident that our pasture, our animal, and our family would do better with more cows. There are many reasons why (and just as many factors that might change the equation under particular circumstances). A brief perusal: Cows are herd animals and appreciate companionship. Pastures are healthiest when grazed aggressively (within parameters) and effectively trampled and manured. Competition among grazing animals fenced into focused pasture regions makes it easier to balance animals, soil, and forage, and encourages proliferation of desirable forage plants. With all that in balance, superior end-products are facilitated, which include not only good milk, but proper human and animal immune systems, physical fitness (Kelly can undoubtedly testify to that one) and a clean, healthy environment.
I don't mean to say that all situations are alike; the point actually is that all situations are different. It is the interplay between local factors that we must be attuned to and accommodate to. That is one reason diversity is nearly always beneficial.
One's paradigm tends to direct and inform one's questions. Your focus is exclusively on keeping manure out of the milk. You would do better by considering how to encourage strength of the broader system, so that the inevitable imbalance (including faults in cleanliness) will have no or minimal negative effects. I live as such, and as you know I am extremely content in my pattern, and not just because I and my family are healthier and stronger because of it. I also am pleased to know that I cause no damage to my region through inadvertent alteration of local biology (e.g. creation of virulent new bacteria, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and poorly resistant hostspredictable as bacterial stressors produce changes designed to improve bacterial survival).
________________________________________________
I think it's time once again to review the greater ecology into which raw milk and humans fit.
That ecology begins with the most abundant and durable crop on earth—grass—which unsurprisingly is a tremendously effective solar collector, a perfect companion to the soil and its microbial colonies, a cleaner of water and air, and a marvelous carbon store. Virtually indigestible by humans, grass is a necessary food for cattle. Fortunately for cattle, eating grass is the best way to generate more of it, since grazing it, walking on it, and expelling wastes onto it, stimulates root growth and balances and maintains the complex biological and geological factors that create healthy soil, water, and air (which is necessary for grass, cattle, humans, and everything else). Cattle transform that grass into milk, a food very easily digested by most humans, which happens to contain an astounding mix of ingredients beneficial to human health, including a complete protein, beneficial bacteria and enzymes (that can be enhanced by culturing, which also preserves the milk), calcium, vitamins A, D, B6, B12, and the anti-cancer agent, conjugated linoleic acid. Not incidentally, human exposure to that ecology all along its chain creates a strong immune system, and probably resistance to many non-infectious diseases (a process that we are just beginning to understand). That is at very best a mere glance at the glorious interconnectedness of milk ecology.
Now put it all into its historical context as a supporter of human health and economies since the dawn of man, and one might begin to understand how fatuous, silly, and really puny is the notion that we can improve lives by wrenching mankind out of nature and into our modern industrial, technological, legal, and regulatory systems.
But worshippers of man-made systems apparently cannot be dissuaded. They are confident. So confident in fact, that they would use force to wall natural men off from Nature.
This is, I suppose, how we got to the point where presumably intelligent people argue that low immunity—created in large part by living in an industrial, technological, legal, regulatory system—is why that system must now rule.
I certainly wish I had the land and the money to support more cows (they are addicting!). I don't. I am fortunate to be able to do what I do. My husband calls our backyard "Kelly's ecosystem", and it is very true. It is very small scale, and it works.
Mary-If I was milking more cows, you betcha each and every one of them would get the excellent care that my girl gets. Along with excellent care comes excellent milk. Have we had "poo poo" in our milk before? I am almost 100% certain of it. Did we drink it? You betcha!!! Why? I am not afraid of cow poo poo…or any poo poo for that matter. Purell scares me a whole lot more than poo poo.
There are hard-working people all around this country that milk lots more than 1 cow at a time. Is their milk tainted with cow poop because they milk more cows? No. It is not a number thing. Before I moved to the state I live in, I bought milk from a dairy that milked 30-40 head twice a day. Excellent milk. Excellent dairy farmers.
Joelie-Regarding alfalfa…I don't know why GMO alfalfa of all things. I would suspect that it is to target the grass-fed beef producers. The best way to "finish" a grassfed beef steer is on high protein alfalfa. If it is GMO, it can't be called organic anymore.
Jan-"Is there room for both approaches?" This question tears at me. Just because it CAN be done, SHOULD it? I am thoroughly opposed to CAFO's. If the dairy is treating its cows as a CAFO operation, I certainly would not buy my milk there. I am not saying it is bad milk, I just don't personally support CAFO's. I would look to a smaller farmer for milk (or beef or pork).
If you buy your milk (or beef or pork or whatever) from a farmer and you have the opportunity to speak to them, look them in the eye at your next pick-up and tell them THANK YOU. You probably have no idea what they go through to provide you and your family with nourishing food. Dave Milano is right…the physical part is tough. Some days though, the mental part is alot tougher…
especially:
"But worshippers of man-made systems apparently cannot be dissuaded. They are confident. So confident in fact, that they would use force to wall natural men off from Nature."
This willingness to "use force" is what I feel is a violation.
Laws are enforced. Enforcement, ultimately, means men with guns and clubs. Legislators and regulators are ultimately backed by force.
I am amazed at the hubris of those who believe they have a right to initiate force against others for the "crime" of arranging for food of their choice. It looks like naked aggression to me. That's why it's hard for me to want to "sit down at the table" with legislators and regulators.
Dave, your post about the reasons for having more than one cow are so right on! I subscribe to Stockman Grass Farmer (any other subscribers? It is so worth it!) and you would be amazed at all of the benefits that rotational grazing and mob stocking can have on the land. Stories of old over-worked farms where the soil was leeched of all nutrients and nothing could grow due to conventional farming practices – brought to life by cows, manure, and rotting hay bales.
Well….now we know. We have found the smoking gun…..Our dearly beloved Mr. Bill Marler esq. wrote a letter ( fully admitted to this letter in a recent Food Safety publication ) to CA Sec of Ag Karen Ross some months ago imploring her to seek control and ban Raw Colostrum as a dairy product. The law and definitions are clear about colostrum being classified as a Dietary Supplement and not a dairy product. The recall of OPDC products was the opportunity for CDFA to over reach their authority and ban raw colostrum as a legal human food product in CA, even though over the seven years that raw colostrum has been sold in CA no deaths or illnesses have been reported. None.
Perhaps we should ban killer cantaloupes, killer lettuce and killer spinach? Perhaps we should stop eating entirely to provide perfect food safety for the FDA…( they care so much about our health you know ) then they can treat our hunger with the next greatest hunger drug.
In CA, raw milk is under attack….no…. not the frontal attack that is easily seen or fought….this is an attack of attrition and nibble by nibble, inch by inch….fought by friends and surrogates of the FDA.
I have a fight on my hands….I have asked for meetings and will force state agencies to follow the law and not segregate raw colostrum into it's own category for the sake of he FDA and its dead food dogma. Colostrum is a dietary supplement …..a state agency can not change this on a whim. State agencies can not change the definition of milk on whim either. But they are sure trying hard to do just these illegal things.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5723a2.htm
http://www.marlerclark.com/pdfs/ClusterofCampylobacterinfectionsrawmilkEpi22007.pdf
2011 outbreak investigation report is still pending.
MW
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5723a2.htm
http://www.marlerclark.com/pdfs/ClusterofCampylobacterinfectionsrawmilkEpi22007.pdf
2011 outbreak investigation report is still pending.
MW
MW
Same old crap MW, can't you do better?
Mark, many do not trust tptb and this only reinforces it. You showed you were willing to work with them and bend to their oppression and look where it got you….
"Dave Milano is right…the physical part is tough. Some days though, the mental part is alot tougher… "
This is part of the reason I don't have a farm, and why I have no problem paying someone to milk and care for my cow or their cow. And there shouldn't be any interference from others in my private agreements.
My point was made for me. A raw milk dairy in Washington was recalled because E.coli was found in the milk. They have 20 cows and have been in business for 31/2 months. The owners have decided that the risk is to great and they will no longer be producing raw milk.
Today CDPH provided their investigational findings and report to OPDC. They confirm what we knew…that the calf area did have some samples that tested positive for Ecoli 0157H7. Two of these samples were a match ( to the ill consumers pathogen DNA ) genetically according to their blue printing technology. The others are still being investigated ( presumably they were not a match ). The report then goes on to guess about how five kids, at different times weeks or months apart and at totally different locations arround the state of CA became ill from the bacteria found in our calves. All tests of the cows milk, cows manure and creamery and all products were negative. To ponder how this happened is a wild intellectual investigation. How do these dots connect????
We know one thing….it does not take very much of Mike Taylors beloved Monsanto antibiotic resistant Ecoli 0157H7 pathogen to make someone sick.
CDPH will provide their report to the broader public via press release later this week. It is a measure of our OPDC Raw Milk progress with state agences that we have a working relationship and that they provide us a copy of the report well in advance of the public getting the information. That is some thing I do appreciate. Progress is measured in baby steps.
Like vaccinations…only a few (collateral damage) are harmed/killed but according to the cdc it is worth it to get shots….
I tried posting earlier today with a link, but then it didnt go through. If anyone is interested in reading the story, it can be found on Food Safety News. It demonstrates the point I was trying to make about the risk of people going into the raw dairy business. Milking cows is not like growing vegetables. This raw milk dairy in the state of Washington had been producing raw milk cheese. 3 months ago they started producing raw milk. They have 20 cows. Last week a sample of their milk showed up with E.coli 0157:H7 and now there has been a recall. There have been no illnesses reported. They have decided that the risk of producing raw milk isnt worth it.
Sylvia and Mark, I have been told that E.coli in raw milk (or any fluid) is not distributed evenly. I envision this to mean a blob of e.coli cells are floating in the milk. One person could consume the deadly blob. This is a very laymans interpretation, but it describes a nice visual. This also explains why a sample of milk could test negative for E.coli 0157:H7 and it could still be in the milk.
Thanks for sharing the news about the match between your calves' E.coli and that of the ill customers. Hopefully the followup information, and your own internal assessment of procedures and processes, can lead to some important learning all around.
David
before you rag on Mark McAffee about what MIGHT have happened in your overwrought imagination, climb out of that pit you've dug yourself into … get a few facts to work with, for a change
before you get all delighted about Frisia dairy going out of business, notice in the news report that not one person actually got sick, yet the health authorities shut 'er down.
every time this happens, suspicion increases that the – ostensible – e. coli is either being planted, or the lab tests are being faked. It happened to us, and we have their own documents to prove it. In my lawsuit, I'll prove it to a jury.
You probably don't believe that the drug cops would ever plant drugs on people they don't like? You'd never believe that the BATF sets up people they want put away … Oh, no, that'd never happen! In fact, it happens every day. British Columbia recently hired the guy who busted the LAPD for a bunch of "bad cops".
In Australia, it was proven that the big dairies poisoned the raw milk because it was out-selling their product, when consumers had a choice. Why WOULDN'T the same thing go on, in the milk biz.here?
I apologize for responding so late to your comment to me, you have other options for feeding your dairy animals, there are various grasses, clovers, Trefoils, vetches, and others that may grow in your area; that way don't have to worry about gmo alfalfa.
Hope this helps you,
My question to the labs that do the testing and find contamination especially where no one is sick – What was the procedure? Did they just run a gel and not sequence to confirm? What exactly are the results? Were they repeatable? Did you have one lone colony and could never culture it again (speaks to contamination of sample)? How many "fingerprints" are they looking for and what is the recurrence rate in the environment? Bacteria are not like people. Yes, they mutate and you can detect differences as a result, but how unique are these fingerprints? When they use fingerprint technology, they assume ignorance on the part of the people and we should bow down to the science and we will say"Oh, it's a match", but I know that it is not necessarily an exact and specific designation. Remember, in science, it is VERY easy to get the results you are looking for if you set out to do so! That is why double blind research is so critical. We can subtly influence the results by our actions and steps in the investigating process (even in DNA fingerprinting).
Mary, do you know how bacteria reproduce? It is exponential. Raw milk is non homogenized. You are always redistributing the molecules (hence the bacterial). Your imaginary single sitting blob of bacteria is not based in reality. The question has been asked – why only a few getting sick? Or no one getting sick? I have already spoken about the potential for incorrect lab results. But the other possibility is that not everyone will get sick. Who gets sick? Let's look at their immune system. That would be a greater health service to see why some fall when exposed to a pathogen, and others don't. Mary, e. coli is EVERYWHERE!!!! Even 0157:H7 has been found in the environment and wild populations. Health officials are so scared of raw milk because it it is a perfect environment for bacteria. You would think, then, that you would have people dropping like flies. You don't. Many times you don't even have an illness. WHY??? When you have a pasteurized milk outbreak MANY get sick. Hundreds and thousands. In raw milk it is just a few. And that is even in the case of a large raw dairy like Organic Pastures. Wouldn't you expect to see a proportionally higher number of people getting sick? You don't!!! It is a mistake, as has been pointed out here, to assume that limiting our exposure to bacteria will make us healthier. Health officials are running around saying "see, see, we found pathogenic bacteria!" But they are doing nothing to see why our incidences of illness do not match our incidence of discovery. They would do well to study under the "Cheese Nun". Look her up if you don't know who she is. There is an excellent article about her in the New Yorker fro a few years back called RAW FAITH.
I looked up the "Cheese Nun" she is an impressive lady.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2003708130_cheesenun16.html
"I never thought I'd milk a cow," said the Benedictine nun who would go on to hone her Connecticut abbey's cheesemaking practices, earn a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Connecticut, study fungi in France on a Fulbright Scholarship and star in a recent PBS documentary aptly titled "The Cheese Nun: Sister Nolla's Voyage of Discovery."
Wow, Jennifer, that was educational about the fingerprinting. I hadn't realized that he potential for error was so high with so many checks and balances that need to be done and I am guessing, are not done most of the time. Food for thought.
I looked up the "Cheese Nun" she is an impressive lady.
seattletimes.nwsource (dot) com/html/foodwine/2003708130_cheesenun16.html
"I never thought I'd milk a cow," said the Benedictine nun who would go on to hone her Connecticut abbey's cheesemaking practices, earn a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Connecticut, study fungi in France on a Fulbright Scholarship and star in a recent PBS documentary aptly titled "The Cheese Nun: Sister Nolla's Voyage of Discovery."
If you look up the pros and cons of DNA fingerprinting, it is universally acknowledged that it is only as competent as those performing the testing. That starts from the collection of samples (we all have heard about poorly collected milk samples), to the execution of the tests and even analysis of the results. Where I worked, a fingerprints were sequenced to confirm. I double, given the expense entailed, that the milk fingerprints are being sequenced. But health officials would need to give more information about results to know anything about the positive test results they have found. A positive result in the absence of the data means nothing to me.
As for the cheese nun – one of the interesting things she found was this: She used to use an old whisky barrel to age her cheeses. She found it gave her the kind of living environment she wanted for proper aging. At some point health officials made her give up the old barrel and switch to stainless steel. the other, they said, was a health risk. She did tests on both procedures (she has a Ph.D in microbiology) and found that pathogenic bacteria were more likely to survive and thrive in the sterile environment, where the barrel (which was probably the home to many happy healthy microbes) didn't give the pathogenic bacteria a chance.
I have been familiar with Sister Noella Marcellino's work for many years. (aka "the cheese nun"). In particular, her work studying the geotrichum candidum yeast/mold in French Sainte Nectaire cheese (from the Savoie region of France, bordering Switzerland) is outstanding.
I think she is a shining example of what this movement needs to do if it is to be successful at legalizing and/or decriminalizing raw milk. Rather than create a cult of like-minded political ideologues (as our current movement leadership has done) Sister Marcellino decided to take the revolutionary step of using SCIENCE to defend her position as a producer of raw milk cheese.
Sister Marcellino's abbey produces a cheese that is not only made with raw milk, but in which the milk is coagulated in a wooden vat (actually, a barrel cut off at the top). This would normally be forbidden under FDA and state hygiene rules, but because of Sister Marcellino's scientific research into the effects of the beneficial lactic-acid bacteria living in the wood, her abbey was granted an exemption by the local health authorities.
If I can be allowed to be politically inflammatory here — I would suggest that Sister Marcellino makes a far better role model than Joel Salatin. Hopefully more people will learn to follow her lead.
That would pertain to many professionals… I've seen many in the health care field where competency should be questioned.
"A positive result in the absence of the data means nothing to me."
I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.
Bill, I grew up eating American cheese, grocery store swiss, along with canned Parmesan, now, I would not touch any of those. When I first went to Germany in the early 70s, In the 13 yrs there I learned the world had better foods and my tastes improved immensely. We lived on the economy, not on the bases. Life was grand, walking distance to the baker, German Deli, etc…..
"her abbey was granted an exemption by the local health authorities."
Only her abbey was granted the exemption? Why not all? This is where tptb are selective in their oppression.
I think the Sister, Joel and many others can be terrific role models, even Mark has some good ideas. I think everyone has their own view of how their own world should be and that is ok. Just don't try to push one view onto another. I would love to live on a farm similar to Joel's, only on a much smaller scale.
I learned alot from it. The concept that one kid gets sick every three weeks for 10-11 weeks and all of the products test negative…all of them, hundreds of them, even all of the tests of product taken from their homes. Not just some of them. It is hard to wrap my brain arround. When 50-60,000 people per week are drinking raw milk from OPDC and only one child every few weeks gets sick???…how did this happen. Why did it happen sporatically. Why wasn't there illnesses every week. Why every several weeks at "one at a time"???
The cases are too directly connected to our calf area, yet all of these consumers deny visiting our calves.
If I was paranoid, I would think that someone visited OPDC and placed ecoli 0157H7 on the outside of cartons of milk and then threw the matching pathogen in the calf pen so the investigators would find it later. I am not paranoid….but perhaps I should be. How else would someone explain this type of very targeted sporatic spreading of bacteria. Why not more illnesses. If it came from a cow that was persistly shedding the pathogen over that 10 weeks, we should have caught it at least once in all of our many tests. We test for pathogens 4 times per week. During this period of time we did at least 40 tests…all negative. If it was inside the bottle and part of the milk….the investigators would have found it at least one time in the five bottles they sampled. They found it zero times.
We do know that at least two of the most sickened children did not drink raw milk,….but drank OPDC after it had been "fermented and cultured with store bought Kefir cultures ". This also changes the possibilities tremendously. If a pathogen was at extremely low levels in the raw milk and then the Raw Milk was cultured, that could mean that it was grown to much higher levels prior to consumption. This could be the hidden secret of why this happened to so few kids. Perhaps there was a pathogen the entire time….at extremely low levels sub clinical levels….but culturing then brought it up to the clinical level and bang!! There you go. But….that is not a great explaination either. The lab does the same thing when they culture for pathogens. Why was it not found in one of the other samples??? Perhaps it was not on the inside of the bottle….it was on the outside and found itself into the inside of a Kefir batch in some one home. We do not know all the rest of the stories….but they are coming out more and more and we are working to get the whole picture so we can protect ALL of consumers better in ther future. Even from our calf area.
My investigation contiues….one thing for sure….for sure. We will learn from this and we will get better and better and safer and safer.
Some thing freaky happening.
Perhaps Monsanto does one thing right for themselves. They have heavy security for all their plants and facilties. Perhaps OPDC will start looking more like an armed camp with high barbed wire security fences, video cameras and guards…. Obviously some one does not like what we do. Either in the lab or at our facilities.
Interesting point made…you get what you look for.
All employees have been highly trained to wash hands in our creamery plant.
Mark
Miguel! For shame, you know tptb don't want the public to know how worthless they truly are! It the masses knew the truth, then they would lose power.
This is where teaching comes in.
Jennifer, may I share your post;
beginning with: "To find the genetic finger print,…. and ending with "(even in DNA fingerprinting)." ?
Mark, I'd be paranoid…but then I don't trust easily.
e. coli can last for months on the surface of something, so it could very well have been a surface contamination and never present in the milk. Bio security measures on farms are in place to prevent accidental environmental contamination. If I were to raise both turkeys and chickens, I would need to be sure that the turkeys never come into contact with chicken manure because turkeys are prone to disease (they have a very weak immune system) and there are many pathogens that exist in chicken manure that are fatal to young turkeys. You would need a separate set of boots, even separate coveralls. Those that inspect the health of chicken areas use the same procedures to be sure they don't accidentally spread disease from one facility to another.
Mark, typically the fermentation of milk actually contributes to the absence of pathogens because you are creating an environment that is too acidic for them to thrive. However, 0157:H7 does thrive in an acidic environment, so maybe this is the problem. But you don't know how they treated their milk. When I make soft cheeses or yogurt cultures, I pasteurize my milk as a precaution. Did they do this? There are so many variables and the illnesses are so spread out that it does make you scratch your head.
Bill, I think that much research can be done on the microbiology of raw milk and cheese. But who is going to pay for it? Sometimes anecdotal evidence is equally valuable. Think about the hundreds of cheeses that were created through time when there was limited knowledge of microbes. Imagine a world that never acted except on the advice found in scientific research. And imagine a science devoid of imagination?
Two Einstein quotes I like:
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed."
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world."
When I first started WAPF, everyone glorified the benefits of raw milk and perpetuated the myth that pathogens cannot grow in raw milk and hence it is inherently safe. You know, the whole Sally Fallon real milk website idiocy. I was skeptical. I did not "drink the raw milk koolaid" for over a year or so.
Then, I got pregnant the second time around. I turned to WAPF guidelines and started making raw milk kefir. I thought, critical thought and cynicism be damned, my body NEEDS this stuff to make a healthy baby. I even made kefir smoothies with raw egg yolks. I got the vomit/diarrea flu 3 or 4 times that winter, a record for myself. I thought it was so strange that I got the flu so many times.
Then I read that the kids who were most sickened had raw milk kefir made at home. That could have been me, pregnant, immune functioning lowered and in the hospital and possibly having a miscarriage because of it.
Have a little fucking empathy for the victims here, you raw milk advocates!!! Seriously.
Obviously I am pissed and this issue has become way too emotional for me. I will no longer be reading the callousness on this blog. I will read the report when it comes out and still follow the Rawesome case, of course, as that is where the bubble burst in my happy little overly optimistic real food world.
Bye Bye raw milk. You tasted good. But stay the hell out of my house.
Good luck MW and MM. Mary, I hope one of the mothers sues the pants off McAfee and wins this time around with the EVIDENCE presented.
In the fall of 2009, in BC, the Chief Medical Health Officer of British Columbia got on his hind legs braying like a jackass,nation-wide, pretending 'some poor little girl was lying in hospital, sickened after drinking raw milk from Home on the Range dairy". When the media frenzy cooled down, I put it to him that he either had to put up or shut up = divulge the name of this 'child" so I could rebut. On official stationery he admitted that he had no such information. Thus, in the objective reality shared by the rest of us = IT NEVER HAPPENED
all that noise + confusion was the same old fable trotted-out by the dairy cartel, time and again. They got away with it for a while. Come on up to BC and sit in the public gallery when I present their own documents in open Court, showing the so-called 'lab tests' were bogus, and they knew it.
can you admit that their propaganda pushed your fear button, masterfully, so you've reacted just as they wanted, while you lack a single FACT about what's gone on, other than statements from people who are relentless enemies of REAL MILK? can you stretch your mind far enough to accept that you've been lied to ? Has the govt. ever lied to you before?
As to your war, Mr. McAfee, the war you speak of will go on into purpetuity as you are your own greatest enemy.
Good bye, and good luck.
Isn't there a warning label cautioning against using raw milk during pregnancy? I would certainly hope so. Also I would think that raw egg yolks could cause the symptoms you describe.
In any case, good luck to you and your baby.
please supply to us the names + addresses of the people whom – you say – got sick from drinking raw milk from Organic Pastures Dairy? And let's not have any stupid noises about "patient confidentiality" … either you have objective facts to go on, or you don't. So far, what we have is propaganda … the kind of unsubstantiated rumor in which paranoia thrives … your own message starts off warning that you're irrational!
what I'm doing is holding public officials accountable… have they. ever lied to you before?
By Mark McAfee's own admission, two of the sickest children got sick from raw dairy purchased from OPDC and made into kefir at home. Is he a part of your conspiracy as well?
No more talk of tptb creating fake sick children and thus a fake outbreak, please. Ask Mary Martin if her son is real.
Good day to you, sir. I am no longer replying to your cockamamie logic.
Kirsten,
Have you not heard WAPF pregnancy diet recommendations? Or read Nourishing Traditions? WAPF and Sally Fallon are some of your biggest raw milk supporters. Or their raw milk baby formula? Infants have questionable immunity as well, especially if they are not receiving the immunoglobulins from their own mother's milk. In fact, if I remember correctly THE WAPF baby formula calls for RAW MILK KEFIR.
How convenient of you to use the states required labeling in questioning my actions. I doubt Mark would even have that labeling on his bottles if the state didn't require it. Yes, I can read the bottle, thank you very much.
Aren't you the same gal who criticizes me for not getting a cow and milking my own? Maybe I should get a car manufacturing plant to make my own cars as well. Surely consumers have no right to "complain" in that industry as well if they don't have their own factory. Good day to you, madam, I am no longer replying to your cockamamie logic as well.
Kristen
It seems to me you and MM made decisions against your better judgement. Perhaps it was due to peer pressure, or perhaps due to your own wishful thinking.There is no magical food.
Chris is indeed a real person, and he is the loser in all of this, despite causation.
Yet, no relation to either illness in you or in Chris due to raw milk has been proved.
Madame, rest well.
You are right about Mn deficiency being caused by Roundup (glyphosate). It is being used by many governments as an airstrike deterrent to crops such as coca, and it has in itself caused human poisoning recently in Colombia.
High levels of Mn potentiate the abnormal configuration of proteins characteristic in prion diseases in animals. In Sylvia's link however, low levels of Mn seem to correspond with a higher susceptibility to food-borne toxins.
That is why Violet, Dave M., and miguel give such credence to animal husbandry and soil health issues. Balance is the thing.
As a raw milk consumer for the last 5+ years, mother of 4 small children, and traditional foods chef, I know about germs. Fermentation, culturing, poo-poo, illness, pregnancy, you name it, and I deal with it almost every day.
Every item we choose to eat is a decision to take the risk that the item is healthier for you than poisonous. This is not a static point on some theoretical scale that some scientists or doctors know and can educate everyone about. As someone who will spend a week in bed with flu-like symptoms after eating invisible amounts of wheat, I can say that one man's food is totally my poison!
My first pregnancy occurred after I had been on a raw foods diet for a few years- raw fish, raw egg yolks, raw cheese (milk wasn't available and I wasn't as aware as I am now), raw greens, raw juices, kombucha, and some cooked rice. That diet reversed years of infertility and I became pregnant with my son. Do you think I stopped eating raw cheese, raw egg yolks and rare meats because I was pregnant? That seemed even more dangerous to me than the risk of consuming quality nutritious foods that did, yes, carry some risk. I did step away from the raw fish, and seared it, as I did my steaks. My second pregnancy added raw milk and egg yolk shakes to my diet. By my third pregnancy, fermented veggies were a staple in my house. And fermented cod liver oil came along during my 4th pregnancy. Each of these additions added a degree of risk that I chose to take for the perceived health benefits for me and my children.
I have fermented cabbage into a stinky mess that was not edible, dairy into sour chunks (which my dog consumed without problem), and have grown mold on my kombuchas and my sourdough brown rice. These are natural consequences of working in a changing and dynamic environment of living organisms. That said, i've eaten seafood at a restaurant where 2 women we ate with got very ill for 2 days, and all of my children were fine eating off the same plates. That seafood was deep-fried, not raw. There are always risks.
State lines, laws, rules and regulations, if not actively contributing to the health of my children, are not high on my list of things to respect. I prefer to stay legal, but my duty is more to protecting my family, and raising them healthy, happy and well, to the best of my ability. I don't have to be a scientist, doctor, lawyer, or anything else certified/licensed to make these decisions. I appreciate that there are experts out there to educate, provide information, and research how things work and how to keep us safe. I think that the current availability of information is astounding and will lead to great things for humankind. But I also believe that the survival and health of our children is bigger than these things. As a mother, I have to believe in something more, that there is a design, a pattern, an intention, that makes things work. Like conception, childbirth, seasons, tides, it is not some flawed dangerous problem, but that perhaps, the answers are easier and simpler than we'd like. And perhaps we can benefit from looking back to what used to work as well as trying to move forward in our knowledge.
People need to be allowed to make mistakes, or take the risk of faith in others and in themselves, in order to live. I don't dictate that others make the same decisions as I do, but I request the same honor and respect from individuals, and especially from institutions.
I think we study disease too much; there is not enough study of health. Michael Schmidt describes cows grazing on verdant pastures with "rainbows on their coats", and asserts that the spiral in the cow paddy reflects the spiral of the cow's intestines, and that he is a life-long student of this pattern.
He also tests his milk.
I've never seen a cow with rainbows on it's coat.
-Blair