I hesitated momentarily in reporting the suspicions last week of Weston A. Price Foundation attorney Pete Kennedy that the Food and Drug Administration and state regulators monitor the realmilk.org site for the names of dairies selling raw milk. I didn’t want to give away inappropriate information.
Then I realized that even if Pete wasn’t entirely correct, these regulators almost certainly don’t need me to tell them about the site. Better they should know that we know that they know…you get my drift.
A few people picked up on the mention of the realmilk.org situation, and suggested that farmers were best off not being listed on the site. “What farmer in their right mind would post themselves as a source of raw milk online?” asked elderberryjam. “My best friend is sheepish about even admitting to me that she buys raw milk, and never gives me a name of the seller. This is my best friend, for godsakes.”
The idea of raw milk providers moving underground makes a lot of sense, on one level, at least. If the cops are persecuting you, well, then, you get out of their way. Operate incognito.
Unfortunately, the image that pops into my mind is of “the onion cellar” at the chateau in France where my aunt, Inge Joseph, hid out as a teen to escape the Holocaust. As a response to roundups of Jews, the 30 or so teenagers at the chateau built a hidden entryway—a sliding door made to look like a wall of bookshelves–into the chateau’s attic. Whenever French gendarmes approached, someone rang the kitchen bell, and the children scampered into the attic until trouble passed. It worked.
Why not do the same thing on farms here—hide the milk and butter, maybe even the cows and farmers as well, until the inspectors move on?
But that begs the question: once you go underground, aren’t you not only giving up on the system, but also succumbing to fear and, in a sense, admitting that you are doing something illegal?
As a journalist, I seek out transparency, and become suspicious when it’s missing. Conduct your business openly, and legally. If the authorities have a problem with that, challenge them to back off from their assorted forms of harassment. Of course, it’s easy for me to encourage dairy farmers to place themselves out there, and subject themselves to both the stresses and high costs of confronting the ag police.
The degree to which raw milk producers should resist is so heavily loaded, it’s creating dissension in California among the most ardent proponents. Aajonus Vonderplatz, the raw foods proponent who has been advocating on behalf of raw milk since the 1970s, argues that Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. may not be tough enough. In trying to negotiate with the authorities, he says in an email to supporters, Mark “may be burying himself…Health department employees are not his friends and want him to lose his business.”
In a lengthy commentary following my previous posting, Mark holds out hope that the regulators will finally see reason, but seems prepared to move beyond discussions, saying “an immediate injunction will be requested to stop AB 1735 in its tracks prior to January 1, 2008.”
The choices are daunting. Run and hide? Or stand up and challenge the authorities every step of the way? I’m inclined toward the latter, partly on principal, but partly because the stakes are so very high. If buying milk becomes like buying marijuana, it’s going to be tough for many people to experience raw milk’s benefits.
Speaking of farmers willing to resist, Barbara Smith, the New York dairy farmer distributing raw milk via a limited liability company, decided not to partake in an Oct. 23 hearing by the N.Y. Department of Agriculture and Markets on whether 260 pounds of confiscated yogurt and buttermilk should be disposed. She and her lawyer determined it was less costly to sacrifice the product than participate in a lengthy hearing. She continues to make product available to her shareholders. This situation is far from resolved.
The voice of a few is but a small squeak against the voice of many.
If they outlaw raw milk, it will go underground, thus increasing the risk of contamination. Putting dyes in it to make it unpleasing, isnt going to stop people from drinking it, over regulating it wont stop them either. Should the voices of many, across the US be heard by the powers that be, I would think that would give credence to a more positive outcome for raw milk drinkers.
Are cow shares legal in CA? Maybe, I will be in the market for a Jersey.
In addition to making daily visual checks of all meat processing operations, the USDA tests between 10,000 and 12,000 samples of ground beef each year for E. coli contamination.
But this year, more than 30 million pounds of ground beef enough to make 120 million quarter-pound burgers has been pulled off the market in 18 recalls because of possible E. coli contamination.
The CDC tracks food-borne illnesses in 10 states as a barometer for the nation, and found that the rate of confirmed food-borne illness cases fell about 28 percent from 1996 to 2006, when there were 38.4 cases per 100,000 people.
Of all the ground beef that is produced, they only test between 10000 & 12000 samples? I can see why contaminated beef slides by. I wonder which 10 states and how they pick the subjects. What is the criteria?
http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/health?type=healthNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B8kvecPa11hc9lKHEnu7ZUN&src=blogBurst_healthNews&bbPostId=BEuHJeQwPeXbBzgFbJ6mhuuCCzAgmShncsnfSBzj0pMEF1GoF&bbParentWidgetId=B8kvecPa11hc9lKHEnu7ZUN
Anothers opinion.
Those that say I may not be tough enough do not know me or my roots very well. They also do not know my father Rodger McAfee (killed tragically in 2006) very well. I come from a long line of freedom fighters all the way back to Scotland where we were kings guards with broad swards and lived on a windswept north sea Island named Colonsay. Trust me I have been there and we McAfees are as tough as the north sea and the fermented cods heads and oats we ate for breakfast.
Most importantly, I have something to fight for.I stand for the prevention of illness with whole complete foods. I survived 15,000 EMS calls and multiple 24 hour shifts in row. I have survived police brutality when defending my injured patients against further police attack.
Yes, I have stood between SWAT teams and innocent people when I was a paramedic to save innocent lives from adrenal charged hell bent crazed police officers, when some of best friends are police officers. I have deescalated violence and brought reason and peace.
I am not sure what being tough is supposed to mean.tough to me is also grace and peace when others want war immediately.
We have a plan A which gives opportunity to work together in good faith.
We have a plan B ( with a deadline ) which STOPS AB 1735 dead in its tracks.
It is one thing to be tough it is another thing to be tough but smart and politically savvy.
I must work with these CDFA people for many years to come. If I do not allow cooperation to be attempted then there is no basis for a lawsuit.
A lawsuit prior to trying cooperation, negotiations and deliberation is like going to guns before yelling stop.
We have ethics and morals. It does not matter what our opposition does or says we will always have these at our core.
All the best,
Mark McAfee
Haggis is wonderful! I ate it fixed three different delicious ways at three different places during my first two days in Scotland two years ago. But for the life of me, I can’t understand the "vegetarian haggis" I saw in the grocery stores. That concept is truly scary!
"For pasteurized milk the milk is pasteurized and then not tested for pathogens."
Ron, thank you for the detailed information. I think it was Mark, who mentioned testing the pasteurized milk and posting the results on his web site. I think it would be interesting to see and inform the public of the bacteria in the pasteurized milk products. People assume that it is bacteria free. Knowledge is power. I believe you have many backing your and all the other raw dairies in this fight.
I think it is wonderful that some choose to be transparent, and I will support them. I come from a Quaker background, and am no stranger historically speaking from the antislavery movement, nor the Holocaust. Both involved a LOT of underground activity, much on the part of Quakers. That is becoming necessary again in this country, like it or not, and I support both ends of the resistance to imperialism that removes our ability to feed ourselves and others. I just hope that it doesn’t lead to a war this time.
Gwen Giffen