8 Comments for this entry

• 

  Shirley
  May 20th, 2010 on 2:18 pm

  It is in devotion to food that causes the aggravation with making it illegal to buy raw milk. I’m a novice cheese maker and would like to be able to obtain safe raw milk. It is the sale of unsafe raw milk that needs to be made illegal, like the raw milk of large dairy agribusinesses, who do all those nasty things to their dairy herds and milk to ensure mass production that makes it unfit and unsafe in it’s raw state.
  There is a push here in Ohio to grow the community of real milk consumers through herd share. Hopefully the Ohio Dept of Agriculture will start working for the people of the state of Ohio rather than soley the interests of big business. It would seems there room for both processed and raw milk.
• 

  Peter
  May 20th, 2010 on 5:23 pm

  I agree, there is room for both, but it is we, the consumers, who should make that decision for ourselves, not the government. And you are right about questioning how safe raw milk would be from those large factory farms. I know I wouldn’t drink raw milk that came from one of those places, but I’d definitely purchase raw milk from a small farmer that treats his cows well, and doesn’t load them up with hormones and antibiotics. That is if the government would let me make that decision for myself.
• 

  Linda's Yummies
  May 21st, 2010 on 10:32 pm

  Personally, I think consumers should be able to buy raw milk. There might be less of the unsafe raw milk if consumers were allowed to buy from local farms that are licensed instead of being forced buy some Joe Schmoe on the side of the road. Here in Massachusetts I’ve seen farmers label their milk as “raw” and “unpasteurized.” The majority of us know that there is always a risk (like eating raw beef or fish) that unpasteurized milk has organisms that may be harmful to their health. Just my two cents… going back to reading, gazing about food now
• 

  Mark
  May 26th, 2010 on 12:39 pm

  See barfblog and read about people who are sickened (and die) by raw milk. Get yourself a cow if you want to suck right off the ***** teat.
• 

  Peter
  May 26th, 2010 on 4:46 pm

  Sorry if you disagree Mark, but man you really need to chill. You seem rather upset that I believe that I should be able to make the decision for myself as to whether or not to drink raw milk and not let the government make that decision for me. I guess I should stop eating over easy eggs, medium hamburgers, beef carpaccio, etc. Heck seeing the number of foodborne illness outbreaks on things like spinach and strawberries, I probably shouldn’t eat raw salads either. The point is people should be allowed to make these decisions for themselves. It is not the job of the government to baby sit us. Next time, instead of some juvenile, vulgar rant, comment with something important, or at least factual, to say.
• 

  Mark
  May 27th, 2010 on 11:13 am

  chill this

  http://www.barfblog.com/blog/142304/10/05/26/e-coli-illnesses-traced-raw-milk-minnesota-farm
  Minnesota Department of Health types have linked three cases of E. coli O157:H7 illness with raw milk from a dairy farm in Gibbon, Minn and are urging anyone who may have recently purchased milk from the Hartmann Dairy Farm, also known as M.O.M.’s, to discard the product and not consume it.
  The milk may be labeled organic and consumers may be unaware that the milk has not been pasteurized. In addition, consumers should not eat cheese, ice cream or other dairy products from the farm, which also may have been made from raw, unpasteurized milk.
  The Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture are continuing to investigate a cluster of four E. coli O157:H7 illnesses that all have the same “pulsed field gel electrophoresis” (PFGE) patterns, or DNA fingerprint. Three of the four cases report a link to milk from Hartmann Farm; the fourth case is under investigation. Three of the four people were hospitalized as a result of their illness; one case has developed HUS.
  Fox9 reports that Wisconsin nearly passed a bill that would have loosened the restrictions on the sale of raw milk, but Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the bill, stating,
  “I recognize that there are strong feelings on both sides of this matter, but on balance, I must side with the interests of public health and the safety of the dairy industry.”
  http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2010/ecoli052610.html
  http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/raw-milk-ecoli-hartmann-dairy-farm-mn-may-26-2010
• 

  Peter
  May 27th, 2010 on 4:30 pm

  Mark, I don’t doubt that somewhere along the line people have gotten sick from raw milk. No food is 100% safe. Just look at a few of these outbreaks concerning pasteurized milk:
  -In 1985 Salmonella in milk from the Hillfarm Dairy in Melrose Park, Ill. (a suburb of Chicago) causes 16,284 confirmed, and possibly as many as 200,000 cases of food poisoning in six Midwest states. The tainted milk was responsible for two deaths and may have been related to the death of 4 or 5 others with some counts being as high as 12. It is considered the worst outbreak of Salmonella food poisoning in U.S. history
  -On December 27 2007, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health warned not to drink milk or milk related products from Whittier Farms in Shrewsbury, MA due to a listeria bacteria contamination that resulted in two deaths.
  - In 2000, 93 cases of Salmonella Typhimurium were linked to pasteurized milk in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
  - In 2006, pasteurized milk was linked to gastrointestinal illness in 1,300 inmates and 14 employees at 11 California state prisons.

  I am not advocating a “free for all.” I believe that all dairy farms whether selling raw milk locally or to large companies that pasteurize the milk should be inspected and held to a certain standard of cleanliness. Have you ever been to a large factory farm and seen the conditions that the cows live in? I certainly wouldn’t be drinking unpasteurized milk from those places. Nor am I advocating that we do away with pasteurized milk. Let the consumer make the choice as to what they want to buy.

  I openedly stated that there is a risk involved with buying raw milk, but nowadays it seems there is risk with just about every food we purchase and eat. No foodstuff it seems is exempt from the risks of foodborne illness.

  I’m glad that you have made it clear that you wouldn’t consume raw milk if it was offered, but I still don’t see why you are against allowing people to make their own decision regarding this issue. And I’m still guessing that you believe that the government shouldn’t allow us to eat sushi, medium rare hamburgers and over easy eggs.
• 

  Aaliyah
  June 23rd, 2010 on 8:40 am

  Personally, I think consumers should be able to buy raw milk. There might be less of the unsafe raw milk if consumers were allowed to buy from local farms that are licensed instead of being forced buy some Joe Schmoe on the side of the road. Here in Massachusetts I’ve seen farmers label their milk as “raw” and “unpasteurized.” The majority of us know that there is always a risk (like eating raw beef or fish) that unpasteurized milk has organisms that may be harmful to their health. Just my two cents… going back to reading, gazing about food now