I hate to cast the assault on Organic Pastures Dairy Co. and nutritional rights in California in terms of warfare. But what else can you do? You have to assume that the authorities did advance planning about their decision to go after the largest seller of raw milk, in the largest consuming state, with the most liberal distribution rules. In warfare, it might be said they decided to “cut off the head” of the enemy.
But Mark McAfee definitely won’t go quietly. That meeting referred to by the California Assembly staff person in yesterday’s posting is due to take place on Monday afternoon in Sacramento. (And, of course, there is tomorrow’s press conference at the Fresno Farmer’s Market.)
The Monday session will be attended by Mark and colleagues, representatives of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, several assemblymen, and a few scientists. Mark says he plans to make his case that dairy standards should exclude the coliform standard.
He will present evidence that coliforms are beneficial. He’ll also argue that testing separately for pathogens is a more reliable safeguard than limiting the coliform count. He will point out that the coliform count isn’t necessarily an indication of the state of sanitation for cows or around the milking. “Sometimes your coliform count will go from ten to twenty just by bottling the milk,” he says. “Moving the milk breaks up their links, and the count goes up.”
But will anyone be listening? Will the same people who made a careful decision to sneak through the coliform standard with the sole purpose of crippling raw milk production be inclined to truly listen to the guy they were trying to take out, and change their opinion?
I wouldn’t want to bet on it.
And what will happen if the lawmakers and regulators don’t buy into Mark’s argument? “There will be a war,” says Mark.
How will the war play out? “We’re going to put $10,000 into testing pasteurized milk for pathogens. We’re going to buy commercial brands, test them, and post the results on our web site.”
The results will likely be revealing, he says. Pateurized milk isn’t currently tested, but we know from U.S. Centers for Disease Control data that people regularly get sick from pasteurized milk. (Sylvia’s links 2, 3, and 4 following my previous posting show research studies that examine contamination from pasteurized milk.) It can contain salmonella, listeria monocytogenes and spore forms of bacillus, among other pathogens, he points out.
Attending the meeting with Mark will be his brother, Eric, a California venture capitalist. According to the Organic Pastures web site, he is a part of the dairy’s “staff,” and, “The aggregate value of the companies Eric has founded have high market capitalizations in excess of $4 billion.” Mark says that Eric’s wife “has asthma, and doesn’t want to lose her raw milk.”
The war will also involve consumers protesting to their legislators and the governor about the assault on raw milk.
“I’ve always wanted peace,” says Mark. “I’ve always felt that raw milk and pasteurized milk can co-exist in the marketplace.”
On Monday, “We’ll make peace or we’ll have a serious war.”
Actually, Im curious about what other people think also.
This tactic sounds like it’d be a direct hit. I don’t see the factory diaries cleaning up thier act. <snickering here> I bet it’ll really tick em off. Bad publicity. (sp) And it would bring more internet traffic to OP.
Aren’t there studies that show or elude that E-coli 0157:H7 evolved in the 1970s or 1980s? Seemingly from factory farming. Microbes like anything thing else, advance through survival of the strongest. The conditions of the animals environment, the feed they are fed and the processing technology only contribute to the increase in the microbes evolution. I dont believe it is just one issue, I think it is a combination of factors that have brought forth this particular strain. (and probably many more strains of microbes)
I’ve said many times before, I am very picky about where my raw milk comes from, also any other food that I eat. If you sterilize food, wouldn’t that kill all the vitamines, make them nutritionally worthless?
The spinach contamination last year showed that sanitary conditions are lacking. Was it the comtaminated manure run offs;Or the processing plants;Or both;that caused or contributed to the spinach contamination? I grow veggies in my garden, and use manure. I’ve never had a problem.
What caused the laws to force the almond pasturization? If it is the processing technique that is contributing, then change that, don’t contaminate my food with chemicals. There was a study in, I think the early 80s that showed the growth hormone that is injected into dairy cows, contributes to breast cancer and other hormonal anomolies. Breast cancer has increased about 40% in the last 60 yrs in the US. As had osteoporosis increased- pasturized milk has 20-30% less calcium than raw milk.
I don’t know about the Dee Creek incident, like many people, it didn’t affect me. If that farmer was negligent or careless then he should be accountable.
I want to believe that most small farmers are honest and strive to maintain sanitary conditions, after all, they don’t want to be put out of buisness. They don’t have the money for lawsuits nor huge govt fines. I believe there is something to the saying "know your food source".
I don’t have a problem with basic standards being set.Those standards should be obtainable by all, and if there are those who wish to move beyond those basic standards then more power to them. I do have a problem when not everyone is required to adhere to them or when they are put in affect to oust another. I also have a problem with being dictated as to what I can legally eat/drink. I don’t want to milk any cows, at my age it is not something I wish to do. I have no problem paying another to milk a cow for me. If raw milk is outlawed, then why not other raw foods? And if it does become outlawed, I’ll be in the market for a little Jersey.
I think the count is a good indicator of the herd’s living environment and milking practices.
Tricia Smith
Carlisle Farmstead Cheese
Carlisle MA
I don’t think the fact that under 10 coliforms per millileter is easy to achieve is the issue.
From a broader perspective, the powers that be continue to harass raw-milk producers for endpoints that have no bearing on the safety of the product.
This particular piece of legislation may not affect you now, but if they succeed this time, you may find the next one down the line has a negative impact on your business.
I totally agree, the 10 coliform count isn’t the real issue: but it is easy for a lot of producers to meet. Steve’s observation about large producers is interesting — I believe there must be a point where you just can’t scale up raw milk for retail without affecting quality unacceptably. Does anyone have a sense of what safe bacteriological standards are?
I would like to produce and sell raw milk products (cheese) aged under 60 days. I believe that there’s such a program in PA that the Amish community put together? (I always feel strange pasteurizing milk that tests raw with a SPC of 1,000.) Last month my dairy inspector said that MA was going to crack down on raw milk — couldn’t quite pry out on what front, but I think they may be aiming at non-licensed producers.
I want to push the state towards allowing more raw milk products. How can you be persuasive in this push unless you have some standards for what’s a healthy herd and what’s good raw milk quality? Advocating relaxed bacteriological standards isn’t going to help this cause unless there’s some strong backing science.
I think we need to hire some raw milk advocates into our regulatory departments.
Mary, it did not bother me. The farm is a good one and I occasionally get pastured beef from them. The last results I know of was that the official testing found ecoli, their own testing did not. I trusted their integrity then and I still do now. I have had numerous exchange with Summer, one of the farmers and have no reason to not trust her. They are now a licensed facility, by the way. Not sure why they went that route. I should ask.
Should farming and food be regulated this way? I don’t know. I tend to be a black sheep, birthing unassisted and eating raw meat, so I say leave me be to make my own choices.
Raw milk in Oregon is largely a share system of unlicensed small dairies, I think. I don’t like the share system though, too much ‘stuff’ around getting milk. I just buy my milk from the farm. I think a share system provides farmers with a loop in the law if they need one? It didn’t help in WA however. I think they want to make cow share licensing a law, but this will be fought in court.
This sums it all nicely http://realmilk.com/washington-lessons-learned.html
Speaking of small farms, with one to 3 cows, I don’t see how licensing would make a difference to ecoli. It is food, raw food, things happen. If everyone was as healthy as they should be then we could handle pathogens better.Any time I put food in my mouth I could potentially get sick, but nevertheless what I put in my mouth and that of my family should be my choice to make. I wouldn’t feel reassured if a dairy were licensed or not I don’t think. Contamination can happen. I need to make sure I know and trust the farmer.
Does this answer your question?
It’s absolutely insane to me that standards for raw milk can be so much more stringent than for pasteurized milk – Ruth Ann’s number of 10 vs. 20,000 just boggles my mind. And pasteurized milk is devoid of anything beneficial that might combat the 20,000, while I feel quite sure that raw milk has plenty of beneficial bacteria to fight off the 10!
I’ve read elsewhere that CA is sort of a beacon of hope for raw milk advocates in other states, and I’ve been proud and grateful to live here. AB 1735 puts my freedom of choice in serious jeopardy, and frankly it pisses me off! For the first time in a long time, I’ve been moved to take action – letters went out yesterday to the governor and all members of the CA Assembly Agriculture Committee. And if I can be present on Monday as an angry constituent, I want to be there for sure.
Anyway you can find his page on line. I say write him.
I mention it in my new post, but the Monday session in Sacramento is essentially a private meeting. Mark says he wanted it held in an auditorium holding 250 people, but that idea was vetoed. He’s limited to coming with a party of four. But there will be other ways to demonstrate your opposition, I am certain.
I’ve had kefir come out much differently, based on my raw milk source. I suspect that one dairy’s milk tends to have more butterfat, which likely helps the kefir quality, though I’m not certain. I think different breeds have different levels of fat. May have to do with milk freshness as well.