A cow mannequin is the center of attention at a new Paris health-food restaurant.
There is much media attention to Europe’s problems with migrants and terrorists, but the thing that strikes me most strongly while visiting over the last couple weeks is that food still counts for an awful lot.
It’s been about four years since I last traveled to Europe. I came this April to Paris and Lisbon expecting to find people on edge about the turmoil stuff the media throw at us. Instead, I find both places thronging with tourists from around the world (though with a huge security presence, in Paris especially), very early in the tourist season. Oh, yes, did I mention the food?
It starts with the most basic stuff, like bread and eggs. Sandwiches are generally made on crusty rolls that are a joy to bite into. Of course, the fact that the cheeses and hams on the sandwiches are rich and full-flavored helps a lot. Eggs, no matter where you buy them, including at convenience markets, are still sold unrefrigerated and have deep yellow yolks. Even the whole milk, pasteurized, tastes full and rich, devoid of the cooked flavor often present in American milk.
Europe’s deep commitment to tradition, especially with regard to food, remains amply on display. Just try to find take-out, especially in Lisbon. A Portuguese friend explained to me that the absence of take-out stems from the fact that Portuguese food, which is heavy on fish like cod and sardines, doesn’t travel well. So the Portuguese don’t even attempt take-out, even for coffee. There’s no effort to push you out the door when you’ve finished your meal, even at busy restaurants–you’re expected to linger and enjoy the full meal experience.
Paris is more trendy, as you’d expect. Health food is getting a lot of attention in Paris, and restaurants there do promote the take-out option. I must have seen half a dozen or ten vegan-vegetarian restaurants in just walking around on the Left and Right banks, and I sampled food in three of them. A lunch of fresh lentils, green salad, and falafel in one such place was a joy. The fresh veggie juices and akai bowls in another were fresh and scrumptious. All true to French tradition, and enough to make one think that it is possible to survive and thrive on a vegan diet.
At the health food restaurant pictured above, I was curious about the use of a cow in the front window to promote a vegan-vegetarian place. “Cows give us the milk we need for delicious cheeses,” the waiter explained, to point out that dairy can be part of a vegetarian diet. No foodie ideology here.
I know, I glamorize the European food traditions. It’s not as if you don’t see burger joints (some of them big American franchises) or chips and dips taking up substantial amounts of grocery store aisle space. But I sense Europe benefits in ways too numerous to calculate from having avoided the excesses of America’s mass-production food system (Big Ag) and from having put the brakes on GMO foods.
As long as I’m glamorizing, I’ll just add that I also like the feeling I get walking around in big cities knowing that very very few are packin’.
David,
I am leaving for the EU and a visit to England, Demark, and Colosay Scotland in a few weeks. My goal is to see Colonsay after 34 years and actually absorb the very old McFie Clan history, which are the origins of my family. When I visited when first married, I missed the import of it all.
With genealogy I now can confirm it all and trace back to 1300s name by name, death and death and birth by birth.
As far as raw milk is concerned, my gut tells me that a peak has been reached and raw milk is not a rebel food anymore. It has become mainstream at least in some markets in CA. Along with becoming mainstream, alternatives to milk are becoming all the rage.
Last week I authored an article that will be published in the Price Pottenger Nutritional Foundation Journal. The title was…..there are “no alternatives” to raw milk.
If you really appreciate what raw milk is….you will agree. Raw milk is the first food of life. It is also natures finest million year long evolutionary effort to create a perfect extremely complex superfood that assures that the most fragile new born babies will thrive!! Food for a baby that has not developed a digestive tract, has not developed an immune system yet. It is not just food….it is an immunity transfer system that could only be the result of natures generation by generation pressures over the millennia.
A handful of almonds plus some sugar and flavor is not milk….never has been and never will be. Smashed hemp is not milk either. Neither is smashed rice, soy or pistachios….
Truly, pasteurization has destroyed the reputation for cows milk and has augmented the consumers impression of what milk really is. Consumers after 100 years of declining good milk impressions have been left with allergies and a gut ache. It is no wonder that fluid milk consumption is dropping like a rock. Even the milk marketing experts are baffled. Cows milk is being neglected, ignorred and being left to rot on the shelves.
Those that know about clean, delicious extremely nutritious and life giving raw milk are happy and healthy. But….trying to get new consumers is a challenge. Milk has gained a bad reputation and the distance between farm to consumer is farther than ever.
There has never been a time when teaching and education was more essential. There has never been a time when raw milk was more needed. Immune failure is a crisis.
That’s what raw milk does…builds immunity, strong bones and controls allergies and asthma !
How do we get that message out when the Alternstive Noise is so loud?
When I stand on “my island” and feel the cool breezes, walk on green grasses, and really feel the clan history. Perhaps some sacred generous educational wisdom will ccme over me. Or maybe it will be stress relief.
Some how, some way, we that know raw milk need to rescue our country from its Alternative choices. The results of eating sugar based highly processed dairy case imitators has yet to be told. The gut will feel the impacts of these choices very soon if not already. With 1 million Americans with Crohns….I am sad to say that the impact is already here.
Our next generations will ultimately pay a dear price. In this generation we have ignored, neglected, shunned , adulterated, mislabeled, and begun to change a million years of natures best effort.
Perhaps waking up is the first step. It seems that Americans are in a stupor and unconscious coma, being fed what ever the media pharma say to eat.
How do you awaken the comatose? How do you change 100 years of indoctrination? Conventional Dairy has doomed itself. Along with massive over production of milk…there has been no over production of education. What a mess for the broader dairy market.
Raw milk is an island in the middle of some very stormy seas for sure.
Mark, I think raw milk is appreciated in Europe via cheese. A standard appetizer plate at most restaurants in Lisbon includes one or two soft cheeses, which I am sure are raw milk cheeses. (No distinctions are made in menus, or in stores, that I can see, between raw milk and non-raw-milk cheeses, but a number of the soft cheeses are just too good to not be raw milk cheeses.) France, of course, remains a raw milk cheese lover’s delight.
In the U.S., especially, I’m not sure all has been lost regarding the gut. The WSJ a couple months ago described new research developments out of Israel on the microbiome front that seem likely to lead to people being able to assess their individual gut makeup, and make dietary adjustments accordingly. Very interesting stuff, and much of it grows out of the years of debate and discussion about raw dairy.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/dietary-advice-based-on-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-1519614301
Have a great trip–good luck unraveling your family legacy!
Mark, over spring break I contacted 5 states to get final raw milk outbreak reports that involved the pathogen E.coli 0157:H7. I’m curious, have you ever seen OPDC 2016 final outbreak report? Some interesting information. I don’t think Cow 149 was the cause of 10, mostly children under 18, becoming ill, 4 hospitalizations and 2 developing HUS.
This is straight from the report:
The environmental sampling portion of this investigation focused on the outdoor areas of the dairy (i.e. OPDC in Fresno, CA), and a total of 77 environmental samples were collected including 56 cow feces, 18 soil and 3 water. Of the 77 samples, 22 (29%) environmental samples tested positive for E.coli 0157:H7….Of the 22 positive E.coli 0157:H7 environmental samples,16 were indistinguishable for the outbreak strain….
Evidence collected to date, indicates that one or more cows in the OPDC milking herd were shedding E.coli 0157:H7 that matched PFGE patterns associated with ten illnesses in January 2016. Cow 149 produced milk contaminated with E.coli 0157:H7, which may have been bottled and shipped to the public. Feces, soil and water collected from OPDC on February 8, 2016 tested positive for E.coli 0157:H7 and also matched the PFGE patterns associated with illness. The collection of environmental samples from OPDC on February 8, 2016 focused on feces likely deposited on February 6,7,8. It is unlikely that the positive findings from February 8, 2016 represent conditions linked entirely to Cow 149.
The strain of E.coli 0157:H7 isolated from the farm during this investigation and found to be indistinguishable from the outbreak strain was most likely present in the milking herd and transferred directly to the milk during the milking process. The isolation of E.coli 0157:H7 and non-0157:H7 Shiga toxin-producing E.coli from cattle used to produce raw milk for human consumption is concerning and could result in additional illness to raw milk consumers in the future.
Mark, I don’t think your RAMP safety program is working. As I have stated to you in the past, your dairy is too large. You have too many cows to produce raw milk safely. E.coli 0157:H7 is a deadly pathogen caused by cow shit and this pathogen was found all over your farm. Very scary!
Mary,
E. coli is in soil everywhere!! GOODNESS you are obsessed!!
I guess you don’t grasp what it means to have pathogenic E.coli all over a dairy farm that sells raw milk.
Mary, This post has very little to do with a large dairy in California. We are discussing European food culture in this blog.
Cat, I heard you once worked for public health. What is your assessment of this outbreak report? https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DFDCS/CDPH%20Document%20Library/FDB/FoodSafetyProgram/EnvInvReports/SignOff_OPDC%20FinalReport101116_Redacted.pdf
the RAMP program at Organic Pastures most certainly IS working … as demonstrated by the fact that it is delivering thousands of portions of REAL MILK, daily, to people who prefer it. When there is a problem, such anomaly is dealt with immediatement. Similarly, the TONS of fresh salad greens merchandised through retails stores, across the US of A, at this very hour, which have been proven to be tainted with E. Coli o157. Yet do we see that foodstuff outlawed? Not going to happen. … little One-Trick-Pony cranks ( Mary McM being the premier postergirl) can carp=away about raw milk for human consumption, all they like. Would help if she were to get her facts straight, first of all. ie “Cowshit” does not CAUSE E. Coli
REAL MILK has been normal-ized as part of the diet of America
A comments display problem on a smart phone:
The enlarged first letter of the comment obliterates part of the comment itself.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Yep
We’re working on it.
There is concealed carry in France, after reading your new story David, I looked up French gun laws, while a bit stricter than the us, there is a high number of gun owners in France, supposedly one of the highest in Europe. So there were probably a lot more folks “carrying” than you supposed there was!! It was even mentioned that shooting was a much more participated sport than golf is there. Guess we better outlaw cars and trucks now too??? They are being used as a weapon to kill people!! It is NOT the guns, it is the PEOPLE that are doing the killing. Go look at the British stats, people die every day there from being stabbed to death with a knife, Gonna make everything that someone can get hurt on illegal?? I can’t help but think of car windows, one kid crawls out of a moving vehicle and ALL of society has to change??? One child eats some pills and now all of us arthritic people have to fight with a damned lid on a pill bottle. This is just ridiculous thinking!! In Japan a few years back, there were quite a few people that were killed by hoodlums carrying baseball bats, I can go on and on with examples of stupid people doing stupid things and hurting or killing other people.It happens everywhere!! We are the nastiest bunch of primates on earth!!
Not sure where you are getting your info, John, but French gun ownership is at less than 20 guns per 100 people, versus U.S. slightly over 100 per 100 people. That’s a pretty significant difference, a factor of more than 5. Moreover, France ranks behind many other European countries, including Finland, Portugal, Greece, Latvia, Switzerland, etc…..though none are even close to U.S. gun ownership.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/mass-shootings/?utm_term=.d5bfbbc658e8
Actually, gun ownership wasn’t even the main stimulus for my remark. I was thinking more about the culture of gun violence that pervades in so many ways in the U.S.–movies, TV cop series, road rage, urban violence and, of course, the quickening pace of gun massacres in our schools, churches, concerts. We are so conditioned to all this gun violence we accept it as a given, as something to be dealt with by packin’ ourselves…..until we leave the U.S. It hit me on a trip to India a few years ago, where I traveled by car for two weeks, witnessing the most crazy congested traffic situations imaginable (cows on the road, farmers drying their seeds in the middle of a highway, people ignoring lights, etc.) and at the end realized I had not once seen anything even beginning to approach road rage. No one giving anyone else the finger, swearing out the window, threatening to blow the other guy away.
The European culture is similar in the sense that most people don’t immediately think about “getting cocked and loaded,” to use the words of our U.N. representative a few days ago to describe our action in Syria, to resolve anger issues.
I’m not saying other countries don’t have crime issues. Big problems in India over rape. Stabbings in UK, as you suggest. But there’s generally not the culture of gun violence that pervades life here and makes crimes based on impulse much more likely.
It does the soul good to get out of the U.S. occasionally, visit other countries. Not that other countries do everything right, by any means. Usually I’m glad to return home, but it can change your mindset.
or as Chuck Berry put it : “I’m so glad I’m livin’ in the USA”
One other thing, I am generally a liberal when it comes to societal issues, but I have to totally disagree on “certain” types of gun control!!
Dear David,
Thank you for your reflections from Europe. I recently visited Portugal myself. A fantastic country, where food stands central to life and culture! Especially in Southern Europe, food is like it has been for 100s of years, and the paranoia of our generation that has appeared through the internet epidemics have not really found any foothold in those countries. Because people say ‘How absurd, we eat and enjoy food like we have always done, why should we change?’. It is liberating to visit those countries where furthermore the word ‘health’ is not mentioned. Food is healthy, but not worshiped!.
Mary,
I think you are confusing data and dates. There was no investigation at Opdc in early 2016. No samples were taken by any state agency. Remember, this was a voluntary partial recall based on data Opdc had. The state said they had no reason to recall.
There was no water, soil, manure or other samples taken by the state unless they did it without our knowledge. The state simply does not do that. By the way, there was no HUS diagnosis on any persons sickened.
I know this data very well.
Please send me what you are reading. It is not related to January 2016. If it is, I have not ever seen it and it contains data that does not match up with what happened at all.
I am very comfortable with our RAMP program. We have twice daily pathogen and Coliform tests that confirm safety and extreme low risk. This data comes in before Milk is utilized on the farm.
Please send me a link to what you are reading.
Mark
Mark, you must be developing dementia. This is straight from the final outbreak report written in May of 2016. I’m sure if you think hard enough, you will remember them coming out to test the dairy.
On February 8, 2016, FDB (Food and Drug Branch)initiated an environmental investigation at OPDC. In the course of this investigation, FDB investigators collected a total of 97 environmental and product samples at OPDC, including 20 product samples (raw milk and cream), 56 cow feces, 18 soil, and 3 water. E.coli 0157:H7 was not detected in any of the product samples collected at OPDC. However, multiple environmental samples tested positive for E.coli 0157:H7, including feces, soil and water. These environmental samples were determined by FDLB to have 6 different PFGE patterns…..There were two PFGE pattern combinations that were predominate. Sixteen of the 22 positive samples had the same 2 patterns as seen in the case patients.
Mark, I am so disappointed in you. I really thought you turned a corner regarding the outbreaks, especially after our long conversation on the phone when the 2016 outbreak surfaced and you realized that for the 3rd time OPDC raw milk was contaminated with E.coli 0157:H7 and children were sick with HUS. I think everyone on this blog would be shocked to know the favor you asked of me and I did it. Remember? Never forget how kind I was to you during this stressful time and right now I could spill the beans and I’m not planning to, but don’t push me.
Instead of owning it, you do the same spin to cover your ass. It is so disrespectful to the children and their families. Four of the six children who were confirmed OPDC raw milk drinkers where ages 1-3. This is the age group that dies from HUS. You better thank God everyday a child didn’t die. When are you going to wake up and realize you can only dodge the E.coli bullet so many times until a child does die?
You know what I want to see from you Mark, the truth! I expect you to fess up to the outbreak and to apologize to the parents and children you have disrespected by denying this even happened. I know you thought you swept this outbreak under the raw milk carpet, but you didn’t.
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome is a rare childhood disorder. Why are so many children developing it after drinking OPDC raw milk?
Here is the report. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DFDCS/CDPH%20Document%20Library/FDB/FoodSafetyProgram/EnvInvReports/SignOff_OPDC%20FinalReport101116_Redacted.pdf
Farmers across North America who are following RAWMI Common Standards in order produce safe raw milk need to know how it is that those standards failed to prevent this 2016 outbreak. What went wrong? What in addition could have been done?
I have the same problem with the first letter obliterating some of the text on a smart phone.
This new programming is not a good as the last. It has some funky stuff going on.
Mary,
One thing I have learned about state epidemiologist screening data collection. Don’t trust it.
When we reviewed potential illness in January 2016, most had no drank or could have drank Opdc raw milk. Most denied drinking Opdc or any raw milk.
Case in point: one person that had ecoli in stool sample was from Humboldt County where Opdc is not sold and had not been distributed. They patient totally denied drinking Opdc. That person was on the stare heslth depsrtment list.
Another person had become ill a month earlier and denied drinking Opdc raw milk and was not a raw milk drinker.
The DPH screening and data gathering process is very very rough and must not and can not be used or relied upon as any kind of indicator of illness or illness patterns. They admit that freely.
You are really not seeing the science of this at all. Most importantly, we have caught pathogens in Fresh cows ( cows outside of our milk herd in our first screening tests ) since 2016. Our RAMP test and hold works very well. Cows are screen twice before they get into our milking herd. Then the milk is tested daily.
The idea that pathogens could easily get through prescribing tests then another test and then daily tests is pretty far fetched.
If this is true then the FDA validation process used to confirm BAX PCR that is used for all beef pathogen controls is invalid.
This is the FDA gold standard for pathogen tests. This is our NASA space shot technology for pathogens.
How about them eggs!!!!
I think it is reduculous that eggs should be destroyed when they are natural carriers for salmonella.
Gosh Mark, that is just not what the final outbreak report says.
Case Patient #1: age 3, Illness Onset 1/16/2016, Sonoma County, bought milk at Oliver’s
Case Patient #2 age 13, Illness Onset 1/18/2016, Santa Barbara County, bought milk at New Frontiers–Mark I think you know this patient very well based on the conversation we had at the time of the outbreak.
Case Patient #3 age 2, Illness Onset 1/19/2016, Alameda County, bought milk at Alameda Natural Grocery
Case Patient # 4 age 2, Illness Onset 1/25/2016, Fresno County, bought milk at OPDC
Case Patient #5 age 9, Illness Onset 1/28/2016, Santa Clara County, bought milk at Piazza’s
Case Patient # 6 age 1, Illness Onset 1/20/2016, Fresno County, bought milk at OPDC
Then you have 4 patients in 4 different counties not mentioned so far, ages 7, 18, 26, 10 that claim they did not drink OPDC milk, however, they may not realize that they were served raw milk in someone else’s home or could have picked up a secondary illness from someone who had consumed OPDC raw milk.
The young ages of these sick children breaks my heart and 2 went on to develop HUS. So tragic and all because the parents believed raw milk is a healthier choice.
resorting to an “argument from silence” is laughable
There is a cattle vaccine for E.coli O157, e.g. one brand at https://www.zoetisus.com/solutions/pages/srpecoli/index.aspx . The company website talks about its use for beef cattle, but is there an equivalent for dairy cattle? If so, then if a farm has a positive E.coli O157 test, then should the herd be vaccinated?
The current vaccine for E. coli O157:H7 is genetically engineered and based on that fact one might want to seriously ponder on these words by the late Dr. Mae-Wan Ho Director of Institute of Science in Society…
“Horizontal gene transfer and recombination is a major route to creating new pathogens and spreading drug and antibiotic resistance. There is nothing natural about artificial genetic engineering, which has greatly expanded the scope and accelerated the rate of horizontal gene transfer and recombination. Furthermore, E. coli is the primary bacterium used in genetic engineering. Many new genes and combinations of genes were created and amplified and propagated in E. coli, because the original bacterium was harmless. In the process, genetic engineers have turned an original harmless bacterium into deadly pathogens. The problem is surely that even when you have killed the bacteria, the recombinant (genetic engineered)DNA survives, and can be transferred into living bacteria in the sewage, soil, and water to create new strains”.
Suggesting that a vaccine be used to control the shedding rate of a bacterium such as E. coli O157:H7 is an act of sheer folly…
Notice that raw milk was not even mentioned in this article.
“As per the CDC, at least 48 million people in the country get food poisoning every year. The new report did not take into account rates of norovirus infection, which causes about 20 million cases of illness annually.” By my amateur math calculation, this would mean that one out of 6 people get food poisoning.
https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-04-18-48-million-people-in-the-u-s-get-food-poisoned-each-year.html
Glad I’m not one of them, but those of you who might be may want to reconsider what “safe food” is, and where raw milk stands on that spectrum. Not just in today’s corporate controlled, artificial GMO and pesticide laden USA food system, but worldwide and long term.
Thanks for sharing your European food experiences, David. Your trip sounds wonderful! Springtime in Paris must be lovely.
Although cattle are currently considered to be the definitive source for E. coli O157:H7 in the food supply, this view is simplistic and incomplete.
Mary’s suggestion that, “E.coli 0157:H7 is a deadly pathogen caused by cow shit” is equally simplistic and incomplete, not to mention, profoundly misleading… From what I have read it is “believed” that the widespread use of antibiotics is what has caused new virulent strains such as E. coli 0157:H7 to develop… I could think of a good many other invasive toxic aberations used in medicine, food processing and agriculture as well that could have resulted in such a mutation. E. coli O157:H7 can survive and persist in numerous environments such as soil, water and food, including animal and human feces. Moist nutrient dense environments such as the above undoubtedly provide the microbe with an ideal location to reside; they do not “cause” it…
Humans including many farmers show little appreciation and at times demonstrate the utmost contempt and disregard for the microbial life found in the environment, including the soil and animal shit. It is an outright tragedy of epic proportions and a testimony to just how far we have separated ourselves from that which is fundamental to our natural well being. We aggressively attempt isolate ourselves from the microbial world by sterilizing our environment and the food that we are destined to consume… then turn around and artificially try to make that sterile environment and food more “natural” and nutritionaly compatible! Horizon’s… Organic, DHA Omega-3 chocolate low fat, enriched concoction that they call “milk”, is a case in point! Why not just leave the milk in its natural/raw nutrient dense state? It would be far better for the environment and our overall health.
a good explanation of where E. coli 0157:H7 came from, is in the book “Big Chicken” by Maryn McKenna … a brilliant synopsis of how the CAFO model brought about antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This book is required reading for those of us in the political fray, particularly, its chapter “Resistance Begins”. In 1962 England’s National Institute for Research in Dairying, was warned that the use of antibiotics in the feeds of animals raised for food / milk, would ‘induce the establishment of strains of organisms resistant to their action’. Worse ‘development of resistance in pathogens against which antibiotics are at present the only means of defence’.
And here we are.
now that her credibility is less than zero, cranky old Mary Martin McGillicuddy would do much more good, applying her zeal to the mis-use of chemicals in Ag. Make a difference at the cause of the disaster, rather than rooting-around in some dairy’s manure pile, miles downstream/ decades removed from the genesis of the disaster
Thanks for pointing out Maryn McKenna’s book Gord.
Maryn McKenna’s Ted Talk below demonstrates why I stopped using antibiotics on my livestock and… why I signed a release form refusing prophylactic antibiotics when I lost a finger on the table saw and when in surgery for kidney stones…
Not stated in her lecture is the role that toxic medical interventions such as vaccinations play(ed ) in disrupting immune function and as such increasing susceptibility to serious infection due to severe and minor injuries.
The day health bureaucrats and people such as Mary and Bill Marler stop singling out microbes deemed harmful as the root of the problem and stop advocating toxic and destructive methods in an attempt to manipulate and control their presence in our food, water and the environment is the day human and animal health will take a turn for the better! Likewise, the day we stop using and manipulating these microbes in order to develop unnatural novel technologies (GMO’s) will also be a step in the right direction.
https://www.ted.com/talks/maryn_mckenna_what_do_we_do_when_antibiotics_don_t_work_any_more
Ken, how many cows do you have on your farm and how many do you milk?
Ken,
Where is the like button…..you are so right.
Pathogens are a product of the environment. Like alligators and swamps. If you create the right welcoming conditions you welcome pathogens. If you have other less conducive conditions, pathogens are rarely found. Antibiotics are one of the grand man made factors that have welcomed and incubated pathogens. There are plenty more to be considered as well: high grain diets, GMOs, Roundup use, confinement animal stress, weakened immunity in the cow and low body condition….to name just a few.
Here is a shocking piece of news!!
Horizon Organics just announced ( found out through our organic mi broker in LA ) that they are not renewing about 80% of their organic dairy milk contracts in California.
What does that mean?
It means that because of the huge CAFO organic operators in CO and Texas,( 10-15,000 cows each that are failing to pasture their cows ) there is a huge national oversupply of organic milk and the big brands are single sourcing their organic milk at one stop shopping out of state and huge numbers of CA state organic dairies will be closing.
I warned everyone about this pasture rule violation and the consequences. I just never in my wildest nightmares ever thought it would get this bad !!! In the stormy seas of UHT CAFO organic milk upset…..raw milk is an island. Wow. It takes my breath away. I ave so many friends selling cows right now. Organic beef is dirt cheap. Sad for everyone.
This is huge news!!
This European discussion, “Killing For Profit” will definitely challenge the public’s faith in the pharmaceutical and conventional medical industry…
European milk market changes impact US farmers
http://thebudgetnewspaper.com/2018/04/18/european-milk-market-changes-impact-us-farmers/
Dr. Heckman, the article you posted here is intriguing and could use some explanation, at least for me, so maybe you or Mark could explain some of the basics.
Although it starts out mentioning raw milk in the USA, it quickly switches to a European narrative about powdered or skim milk.
In my mind, those should not be considered to have any of resemblance to actual raw milk and my questions are:
After it’s dehydrated into powder form, even if it started out as raw vs. pasteurized milk, is there any scientific basis to compare the real thing to the long term, shelf stable dehydrated form? As in digestibility (lactose intolerance) or health/immune system effect?
I expect not, since “skim milk” is obviously modified as implied by it’s name, most of the fat content has been removed by some means. But maybe the fat content is crucial to the overall health aspect? I would think that in Europe, most people know the difference and would not confuse the two products.
I won’t even touch on vegetable based milk like soy etc. because those are just not actual dairy milk.
I also meant to post links to these articles I used as reference:
https://eatsiptrip.10best.com/2018/04/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pasteurized-vs-raw-milk-cheese/
https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-04-18-48-million-people-in-the-u-s-get-food-poisoned-each-year.html
Raw Milk Cheese
https://eatsiptrip.10best.com/2018/04/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pasteurized-vs-raw-milk-cheese/
https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-04-18/index.html
The FDA CDC Warned today that in response to more than 50 people being sickened from Romain Lettuce by Ecoli and at least 9 with HUS, that “no person should ever drink raw milk!!! ”
Ok. Ok. Ok. But I could not pass up the obvious.
This is the second time in 4 months that Romain lettuce has created ecoli issues with large numbers of consumers reported with Ilness?
How come no one gets excited about lettuce but will jump off cliffs over raw milk? Raw milk safety has never been better and is trending to become one of the lowest risks foods on earth. With testing and safety plans….it is one of the lowest risk foods and prevents asthma. Show me an Alternative Milk that can save lives? Asthma kills 13 kids a day in America!
Mary …..any thoughts on this? Seems pretty biased to me. Clearly, the CDC and FDA can put a warning label on all fresh lettuce or ban them outright. They are so horrible. Something must be done. The vegans deserve to be protected better than this.
( for those that don’t know me….this is my form of politically incorrect dark humor )
Mark, you should probably read the link that you post it. 16 states are involved, 53 ill, 31 hospitalized and 5 with HUS.
This lettuce was sent all over the U.S. Just think, your last outbreak documented 10 who became ill in one state, 4 hospitalized and 2 with HUS. That is 20% with HUS. In this outbreak, only 11% have HUS. Pennsylvania has the most illness with 12.
The difference here is that young children typically do not eat lettuce, so it is an older population that is becoming ill. The last I read the ages of the ill ranged between 10 and 85. The media has only mentioned one person who has developed HUS. She was a 66 year old woman who said this was the worst pain she had ever experienced. Coming from a woman who most likely has given birth to a child or multiple children. Think about this when these young children get sick from raw milk and suffer unimaginable amount of pain. All because parents believe this was a healthier, healing choice to give their children. No foundation is telling people if they feed their children leafy greens they will be healed from every illness that exists.
Raw milk, prepackaged leafy greens and hamburger are all equally dangerous, except, hamburger is the safest to eat because there is a kill step for the E.coli bacteria. Cook it to 160 degrees with a thermometer and the bacteria will be killed. With raw milk and raw pre-packaged lettuce, it is a game of Russian roulette. It is just a matter of time until the pathogenic E.coli bacteria makes someone ill. You can throw raw sprouts onto this list also. The seeds are contaminate.
What do these three foods have in common? Cow shit that carries pathogenic E.coli, with E.coli 0157:H7 being the most common.
With raw milk, cow shit is all over the cow and around the dairy.
With leafy greens, a cow, goat, deer, pig or sheep shit on the greens.
With the cow, the intestines are nicked during the slaughtering process and shit gets in the meat.
It is all about the shit that has pathogenic E.coli in it. 250,000 cells of the bacteria can fit on the head of a pin and it takes a few as 10 cells to make someone extremely ill.
Hamburger and leafy greens have a similar problem when processing these products. A small amount can be contaminated and then it is all mixed together with other hamburger meat or leafy greens and then the entire batch is now contaminated.
Pre-packaged leafy greens should have a warning label on the package just like raw milk and juice. If people really knew the danger, they would buy a head of lettuce or a bunch of spinach and take the time to wash and cut it. So much safer.
For the record, I don’t eat pre-packaged leafy greens or hamburger meat. Just not worth it. Coming from a person that knows first hand the horrific damage this pathogen can do to the human body. Remember, pathogenic E.coli didn’t show up in our food supply until the 1980’s. Regardless of how and why it got here, it doesn’t matter. It is here to stay. This pathogen is a game changer for our food supply. This is why raw milk can be so dangerous and it is the youngest of children who suffer the consequences. Our sweet babies suffer because of ignorance about this pathogen.
In the IAFP Raw Milk Debate in 2016 I made the argument that leafy greens are several times more risky than drinking raw milk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sin8xrMRHXE
One of the reasons I made that an issue is because in the Harvard Raw Milk Debate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRdihFi6gw
the veterinarian pointed out the anatomy of the cow. I think she was trying say that the position of the anus and udder on the cow was a problem for milk safety.
Since I studied plant anatomy in college, I further made a point in the IAFP Raw Milk Debate of saying that there is no anus on a lettuce plant yet raw leafy greens are at the top of the list of most risky food.
What don’t you understand about an animals shitting on plants to contaminate them? I think you should talk to some of your colleagues who are educated in microbiology. Maybe they can explain it to you. You are as pathetic as Ted Beals. Hard to believe you have a Dr. In front of your name. What an embarrassment. Did you buy you PhD from some online school?
To Dr. MMM:
What don’t you understand about birds shitting on your lettuce and tomato plants? Does that mean we should outlaw pesticide free home gardens? Yeah that will work. You go ahead and eat strictly regimented insect free sterile hydroponic if you want, but it’s out of bounds to try and restrict it for those of us that would like to have a choice.
Another thought… we have chickens and you know where the eggs come out, it’s likely they were exposed to ecoli so why don’t you start an anti-egg campaign? Who finances your endeavours anyways
Mary,
As I pointed out in my reaction to Joseph Heckman’s linked article regarding the “Multistate Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 Infections Linked to Chopped Romaine Lettuce” in David’s previous post, is that the outbreak occurred “despite all of (the systems) meticulous and rigidly enforced post harvest food handling safety guidelines!!!”
Animal shit is not the problem you make it out be…
Leafy greens are considerably more “contaminated” then milk, but not with animal shit as you tend to focus on, but rather with chemicals… chemical sanitizers chemical fungicides, chemical pesticides and chemical herbicides etc. and this I suggest is the root of the problem in regards to the high incidence of food born illnesses related to leafy greens; not the microbes that are in the soil and in animal, human, bird and insect shit. The microbes are merely responding to the above assault on their environment and their role is secondary at best…
As this study states, “Only now are we beginning to appreciate the involvement of microbes in animal communication and behavioral systems,” Indeed, and our screwing around with that process via this foolish focus on eradicating microbes is causing more harm then good!
https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/44728/title/Gut-Bugs-Affect-Cockroach-Poop-ularity/
In this Smithsonian magazine article, “How Insect Poop Could Solve All Our Problems”… I definitely agree with these two statements, “Poop is healthy and nutritious”… “Reports say antimicrobial resistance will kill 300 million people and cost the global economy of US$100 trillion by 2050. Perhaps a little defecation could help?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-insect-poop-could-solve-problems-180964527/
the day you come with a proper, genuinely-scientific analysis of the risk of harm from consuming raw milk – produced by an independent actuarial – is the day we take you seriously, ma’am. ’til then, you’re all-too-obviously suffering from Post Traumatic Disorder after your son’s experience, obsessed with minutae. You’re wasting your breath here.
A handy illustration of what goes on in commerce of foodstuffs: in Germany a few years ago, 22 people died after consuming raw alfalfa sprouts, because that batch was contaminated with E. Coli. Yet such sprouts are on the market there, today. Because the govt. policy is = the risk of harm to the public health is manageable. Same with nearly all the states in the US of A vis-a-vis raw milk.
Or, the best one of all for comic relief … nearly 400 people in Canada were sickened from eating raw oysters, last year. And that’s just the ones the govt. agencies know about! The response of the BC govt. is : ‘to assist the oyster farmers to learn how to handle their product better’ ! Contrast that to our raw milk cowshare in Chilliwack, where we provided REAL MILK to over 500 households, for nigh-on a decade, with no illnesses. Yet the judge in his eminent wisdom, sentenced us to 90 days in gaol, for distributing the best food in the world. Make sense?
You are extremely rude Mary!!
mary have you tried eating a leaf or two with cow dung on it to see if YOU GET SICK.I MEAN THIS WITH RESPECT NOT SACASIM.AS I FIND SOMETIMES WE HAVE to test it for ourselves to see if its true.have you tried?
dr heckman
i have been thinking about this lettuce and listeria…is it safer to buy lettuce that is loose so air is drying it?
does listeria happen because packages are closed and water is kept inside to breed pathogens? i always see loose leaf lettuce by the pound drier.and i buy this kind.also can you answer this how can a farmers milk test positive for listeria and i have not been sick from drinking it or eating the yoghurt? is it because its a low level form of listeria. not one fever or sniffle or anything ….think this is a bit odd? or no?
Listeria like Salmonella are load dependent. You need a load of them to trigger illness. One listeria does not cause illness in normal people. Second… the host must be susceptible. If the host is strong or immune to the bad bug… no illness. Ecoli pathogens unfortunately, require an extremely small load to trigger illness in a susceptible host.
The interesting thing about listeria is that it thrives in pasteurized milk and does not life well in raw milk. Pasteurized milk is filled with dead food and lacks competition. It’s also cold and listeria loves cold places with plenty of food and no competition. That’s why the cdc database has very few incidents of raw milk causing illness with listeria being the pathogen. Pasteurized milk is associated with 82 deaths in the last 35 years. Mostly from listeria and weak immune systems.
Each bad bug has its own pathogenicity story.
Mary…..lets be civil. Dr Joe Heckman is a great guy.
You still have it wrong. No HUS with regards to what you are reporting. I know each and every reported case and there was no HUS. None. You also know that what you are reporting is false and in error. There were illnesses but not the number you are claiming. You really need to get back into your seat and buckle up. An initial report is not a final report. The final report discounted and excused a majority of illnesses because they were not related to raw milk and could not be related to raw milk.
There is “a reason that birth canals and rectums are located right next to each other”. Mammalian evolution and a million years of selective pressures created this optimally engineered anatomy. It is not bad anatomy….it is essential to transfer the biome from generation to generation during birth. If fecal exposure was dangerous….guess what, all babies would die!! It is the transfer of fecal bacteria that assures strong immunity and life itself. That’s exactly why C-Sections are now frowned upon!! And the best doctors go out of their way to assure that fluids from the peri-anal and birth canal areas are spread to the newborn if they are C-Section.
You have a Masters degree. You know better.
Human genomics research and IMGC PhDs teach this…this is true. Very true. In fact the farther we get from fecal and soils based bacterial exposures, the more immune depressed and susceptible to infection we become.
Relax…its ok to miss the target. Its not ok to use facts that are optional or alternative. Facts are facts. Don’t villianize our immune systems or the foundations of sound science. There is a reason why fecal transplants save lives. That does not mean that pathogens don’t exist, but it does mean that pathogens should not be disease causing with properly functioning immune systems. That’s what we are trying to do with sound whole food nutrition. Mankind s over zealous use of antibiotics then created superbugs. That is the rest of the bad news story…
Mark, did you read the final outbreak report for the 2016 OPDC E.coli raw milk outbreak. I will post it again since you are so gifted the spinning the facts. Everyone can read it Mark. There were 10 illness, 6 were confirmed purchasing OPDC milk and the place they purchased it is listed. 2 families bought the milk at your farm. The other 4 had the matching fingerprint of E.coli 0157:H7, but are not raw milk drinkers. That doesn’t mean they didn’t drink raw milk in someone’s home without knowing about it or were exposed to someone who was infected and developed a secondary infection. Let’s not forget the small fact that they found the matching E.coli 0157:H7 to the children who became ill all over your farm.
Also, I am confused about you not knowing there were cases of HUS in this outbreak. If you read the report, 2 are listed. And you know of one of them because you called me on the phone begging me to ask Bill Marler not to sue you. Remember? You can’t spin your way out of this as masterful as you are at lying.
https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DFDCS/CDPH%20Document%20Library/FDB/FoodSafetyProgram/EnvInvReports/SignOff_OPDC%20FinalReport101116_Redacted.pdf
For thousands of years it was animal manure that was considered essential to plant life and soil fertility.
Now we are killing ourselves. The FDA making farmers certify their vegetable fields by testing so many leaves per acre with pathogen tests.
Sterile environments will not sustain life!!! What part of that idea don’t you get. Vital soils require wild and diverse micro biological activity. This comes from manure….stop making manure some kind of earthly enemy.
Mark, they are checking for pathogens from animal shit just like you do at OPDC.
A good book on what Mark McAfee is talking about:
Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues 1st Edition
by Martin J. Blaser MD (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Microbes-Overuse-Antibiotics-Fueling/dp/0805098100
Sex-dependent impact of Roundup on the rat gut microbiome
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214750017301129
A growing body of research suggests that dysbiosis of the gut microbiota induced by environmental pollutants, such as pesticides, could have a role in the development of metabolic disorders. We have examined the long-term effects of 3 doses of the Roundup(R) herbicide (made of glyphosate and formulants) on the gut microbiota in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. A total of 141 bacteria families were identified by a 16S sequencing analysis approach. An OPLS-DA analysis revealed an increased Bacteroidetes family S24-7 and a decreased Lactobacillaceae in 8 out of the 9 females treated with 3 different doses of R (n = 3, for each dose). These effects were confirmed by repetitive sequence-based PCR fingerprinting showing a clustering of treated females. A culture-based method showed that R had a direct effect on rat gut microbiota. Cultivable species showed different sensitivities to R, including the presence of a high tolerant or resistant strain identified as Escherichia coli by 16S rRNA sequencing. The high tolerance of this E. Coli strain was explained by the absence of the EPSPS gene (coding glyphosate target enzyme) as shown by DNA amplification. Overall, these gut microbiome disturbances showed a substantial overlap with those associated with liver dysfunction in other studies. In conclusion, we revealed that an environmental concentration of R (0.1 ppb) and other two concentrations (400 ppm and 5,000 ppm) have a sex-dependent impact on rat gut microbiome composition and thus warrants further investigation.
Another example of sanity in EU. I’ve never been a fan of hydroponics, that’s no secret, so I was happy to see this article.
https://www.cornucopia.org/2018/04/eu-bans-organic-hydroponic-imports/