One of the things I envy my daughter, Laura, is that she lives in a place where she can just head out to a local merchant and purchase raw milk. She lives in Philadelphia, and most Saturdays, she goes to the Reading Terminal Market, a sprawling indoor market in the downtown area, and buys a half gallon of raw cow’s or goat’s milk.
On those occasional weekends I’m visiting, I make the trip with her, just to marvel at the sight of the plastic jugs of milk set out in refrigerated shelves, with labels, like any other milk product.
The reason she’s able to exercise this freedom denied in most parts of the country is that Pennsylvania, along with California, has one of the most liberal approaches to raw milk in the country. It actually licenses dairies to sell raw milk to retailers, and conducts quarterly inspections of dairies that produce the stuff.
So I’ve been curious to see two reports over the last few weeks of Pennsylvania raw milk dairies that have been shut down—one because several people became ill from salmonella and another because listeria was discovered in the milk by Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspectors (though no one became sick). I tried to call the two dairies, but one, Stump Acres, didn’t return my calls. I couldn’t track down the other, Fisher’s Dairy.
At the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, I spoke with Mike Hydock, chief of the laboratory division and acting chief of milk sanitation, and asked if anything unusual was going on for the two dairies to have gotten into trouble. He said he didn’t think so—that there are 69 Pennsylvania dairies licensed to sell raw milk and, of those, four were cited for contamination last year, and two so far this year. In order to be able to return to the market, the dairies are advised to have health tests done of their herds, prior to state agriculture officials returning to the farms to test multiple milk samples for contamination and platelet counts, and to inspect and test the farm equipment for proper sanitation practices. The whole process of being re-approved typically takes a month or two.
“Raw milk requires a unique way of farming,” Hydock said. “Everything has to be done right.” He noted that the state requires the raw milk to have bacteria counts (known as the Standard Plate Count, SPC, and sometimes referred to as the Plate Loop Count) of less than 20,000 per million, versus a ceiling of 100,000 for milk destined for pasteurization. “You can be a little sloppier with pasteurized milk, or maybe I should say that you have to be more cautious when you are producing raw milk.”
An official with the Weston A. Price Foundation said he thought Pennsylvania had become stricter in the last few months, but overall, the state is “one of the more lenient” in overseeing raw milk sales.
Assuming that what the agriculture official says about it being business as usual is true, it sounds as if Pennsylvania has a sensible approach. It allows raw milk sales at retail, and carefully monitors dairies to ensure everyone toes the line on sanitation and contamination. Consumers may not know the farmer directly, as they do in states where they have to buy direct from the farm, but they know the milk is locally produced (Pennsylvania raw milk can’t be sold outside the state). And more farmers have an opportunity to sell more milk at higher prices than they would otherwise. It may not be perfect, but it’s a lot better than what we’re accustomed to.
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