The outbreak of raw-milk-linked illnesses at Foundation Farm in Oregon has the potential to be a watershed event–an event that changes people’s fundamental views on raw milk safety and production.
By any measure, it’s a serious situation. The Oregon Health Authority reports that 19 people have been sickened, 15 of them young people (under 19 years of age). Four children have been hospitalized with kidney failure.
Moreover, E.coli O157:H7 uncovered at the farm, and in one sample of milk, has been matched to eight of the individuals who were sickened. It seems clear that the farm’s milk made people very sick.
The reverberations will likely be significant, both in terms of potential long-term ill effects for the children, and serious personal-injury lawsuits for the farm owners.
The episode has given pause to many raw milk drinkers, first and foremost, members of the Foundation Farm herdshare. One member of the 48-family herdshare, who wasn’t sickened and doesn’t want to be named, explained to me in an email:
“I was sickened once by raw milk and left that farm. It took me a while to find another dairy that wasn’t making those same mistakes and Foundation Farm passed muster. I asked lots of questions about philosophy, food safety processes, animal husbandry, and observed their milking process. No matter how diligent you are shopping as a customer, in the end you have to trust that what you see when you inspect is what occurs every day. The (owners) use contemporary small scale farm food safety precautions in milking, handling raw milk, cleaning udders and milking equipment. They are conscientious and care passionately about providing safe, healthful, and nutritionally dense food.
“Obviously something went very wrong or wasn’t done right in their milking process, or the milk contamination and e.coli infections never would have happened. Even one mistake can lead to disaster, and this time disaster struck hard. They’re reassessing every single step in their milking and handling process to do every thing they can to make sure this never happens again with milk from their farm. My own responsibility is to study up so that when those new procedures are in place and the farm re-opens, I can evaluate and hopefully know where I stand on a raw milk pathogen exposure risk scale and if I’m confident those new processes provide enough safe guards.”
Among raw milk drinkers having no association with the herdshare, there is unease, even resentment, as well. On the OregonLive web site, which has been reporting on the outbreak, one reader stated: “It really is too bad these bozos have to give the entire raw milk movement a black eye with their unsanitary conditions. If people only took the time to educate themselves and know how healthy raw milk can be.”
Said another: “The named Wilsonville farm gives a black eye to raw milk. Overall, raw milk is safe. Lots of great cheeses are made from it. If you have your cows stand in mud, crap, and splash their udders, you’re going to cause disaster to unwitting milk buyers.”
The unease has spread among producers as well. I am told the Oregon outbreak has convinced at least some herdshares in California to shift their positions on raw milk standards. Herdshare representatives have been negotiating a possible compromise with the California Department of Food and Agriculture over the state’s role in regulating the operations. The negotiations had stalled over the insistence by herdshares that there be minimal sanitation and safety guidelines for the herdshares. Now, herdshares seem more receptive to the state’s approach, which includes voluntary standards for coliform, standard plate count, and other measurable items.
The shift would seem to open up an opportunity for the Raw Milk Institute to act as a representative of herdshares in California, and perhaps in other places, like Oregon. When RAWMI was first announced last year, there was widespread opposition to RAWMI among smaller dairies, especially those with herdshare and food club arrangements. They saw RAWMI as serving in the role of substitute regulator.
Now, in the new atmosphere, RAWMI may stand to benefit from something of the attitude, “The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.”
Certainly many opponents of raw milk are taking satisfaction in what is going on in Oregon. A dairy industry publication has an article repeating the old industry adage that raw milk illnesses give the entire dairy industry “a bad name.” The industry doesn’t want to acknowledge that raw milk illnesses merely give its competition (raw milk) a bad name…because the industry doesn’t want to acknowledge how much it fears the competition.
For raw milk supporters, it’s tempting to resort to similar sound bites–that people get just as sick from other foods, that the zero-tolerance expectations for raw milk are unrealistic, and so forth.
No, it’s time for the raw milk community to begin accepting the reality that, for better or worse, raw milk, and raw dairy in general, is by its very nature a lightning rod. Illnesses attract attention that are way out of scale compared to other foods.
It’s a situation comparable in certain respects to airliner disasters. We know that, statistically, auto travel kills many more people in a year than airliner crashes, even in their worst years. Yet even a single airliner crash attracts massive media attention–how could this have happened, why aren’t there better safeguards, the grieving relatives, the story of the guy or gal who happened to miss the doomed flight.
The reason we ignore the statistical realities when an airliner crashes is that the event is inherently much more spectacular than any car crash…indeed, than any ten or twenty car crashes. Maybe because those in a passenger jet have no control over what happens, while in a car, there is some measure of perceived control. Whatever, there is an emotional component to airliner crashes that renders data nearly irrelevant.
Raw milk illnesses like what happened in Oregon are similar in the sense that there is an emotional component that renders the larger database nearly irrelevant. The emotional component is that children seem likelier to be sickened in raw milk outbreaks than with other food illnesses. So even while illnesses from raw milk only account for one-half of one percent of all reported illnesses each year, they get public attention far outweighing their statistical impact.
Like the phenomenon or hate it, blame it on Big Dairy or the lawyers, that’s reality. That means the tolerance levels for raw milk illnesses are much lower than for other foods. Producers and consumers are going to need to accept that reality, and adjust accordingly. Denial and burying heads in the sand aren’t going to cut it much longer. Producers need to figure out how to keep improving their processes, and guard against tragic letdowns.
**
The Raw Milk Freedom Riders will be putting on a two-day event May 13-14 in Minnesota in connection with the upcoming trial of Alvin Schlangen on charges of selling raw milk and other foods without proper permits. There will be a repeat of the “Know Your Rights Workshop” that was such a big hit in Wisconsin earlier this year, and a demonstration outside the courthouse where Schlangen faces a trial expected to last three days.
The farm has three that are lactating cows. They’ve been producing milk for over a year and all of the sudden something went wrong. Will the govt help find out what went wrong? Or will they get on their soap box about playing “Russian Roulette” ? The lawyers are circling like scavenger sharks.
“Lake Oswego: Raw sewage may have leaked into Tryon Creek, and officials are urging caution for anyone entering the area.”
Yummy raw sewage….
Naturally RAWMI would like to take this opportunity to expand their empire. Devils are devils; sometimes they like to play good cop bad cop.
We in the raw milk movement need our own experts at the scene to research these outbreaks so we can learn from them what went wrong and what changes need to be made. I think this is the type of thing the Raw Milk Institute could and should do. Who pays for it and who does the field work I don’t know. There are obviously breakdowns in systems on these farms we need to understand. We are missing big opportunities to understand what is going wrong. Obviously, the authorities are not going to do any of this because they don’t see it as part of their job.
Lola, if I wanted to disrupt, confuse and corrupt the raw milk community I would spread conspiracy rumors (oh yea and use a pseudonym) and get everybody upset so no one trusts anybody. Your doing a great job so far!!!
Wayne Craig
Did not exactly leave me with a great heart felt feeling. What is it about Cow Shares verses retail approved raw milk?
My response…who will step up and lead RAWMI and who will pay for RAWMI if OPDC and I take a back seat and fade away?????
A dull silence…..ignorance and bliss in a world of rainbows and tulips.
There is definitely a rejection of large when you are small. This type of niave perspective weakens raw milk and divides raw milk.
The analogy of airplanes really sits well with me. When I was communicating on the radio and flying through the very complex sectors in the LA area this last week, I was doing something called “VFR Flight Following”. It is an FAA radar air traffic control system that allows for Air Traffic Control and collision avoidance using a combination of onboard transponders and ground radar and ATC.
The entire system keeps large aircraft from coliding with small aircraft and keeps everyone safe. The voices and professionalism of all the pilots and all the FAA ATC is superb and flows with grace. Flying is ultimate freedom only to the extent that it is done safely.
This is an example of how training, standards, professional conduct, technology and Governement and Private sectors all work together professionally and as a direct result…. freedom and safety all flourish.
There is hardly never a time when a pilot gets mouthy or an ATC controller is unprofessional….
Take this analogy to the Raw Milk Food Safety arena and there is no Government and private sector professional cooperation to deliver freedom or safety. Instead raw milk is a world of agendas and secrecy and unprofesionalism…by untrained, ill equiped people that think they have freedom….when all they have is ignorance and blind utopia. Oregon is a very telling water shed event.
I wish that RAWMI had the time and funds to investigate. But…I am not sure they would be welcomed. When a jet crashes….the NTSB, FAA, the aircraft manufacturer, the prop and engine maker all professionally arrive to look at the causes and design measures to prevent future tragedies.
When raw milk crashes…the farmer hides, the consumers cry, the lawyers circle, dead milk industry gloats, the FDA pushes all raw milk into one ugly dirty scene….
Some day….we will have a little more FAA in our FDA and the pilots that fly little raw milk planes and big raw milk planes will all get training, will all create better flight plans, do some checklists, and work together professionally and think of the government as a critical and respected part of facilitation of freedom and safety.
There is an old saying….there are old pilots and bold pilots…but no old bold pilots. I say that raw milk is much like flying. Checklists, careful planning, deep respect for nature, respectful, professional and mature relationships with our goverment and other pilots regardless of size of aircraft.
Some day….
Mark
Mark, do you really not understand that it is a CONFLICT OF INTEREST for you to head both OPDC and RAWMI, especially in regards to California raw milk regulation? OPDC has a financial interest in making the barriers to market entry as strict as possible, and the herdshare leadership knows this. Is this concept really so elusive to you?
Sylvia, my understanding is that this dairy was producing raw milk for a couple of years before it organized a herdshare a little over a year ago. It apparently didn’t need permit because it had three or fewer cows.
Will the regulators help find out what went wrong? Good question. I wish they would, but I doubt they will. In most states, they want raw milk producers to go away. Maybe someone knows what might happen in Oregon?
Small is beuatiful, sure, but there’s nothing wrong with thinking big. Would you rather have a magical Mac at your fingertips, or would you prefer the 2 Steves – Jobs and Wozniak – were still tinkering-away in their garage ?
s
Conflict of interest? Your personal/professional interests appear to be at odds with the best interests of the the smaller dairies. You’ve maligned the small dairy farmers on this blog. There appears to be a low confidence level directed towards you.
“There is hardly never a time when a pilot gets mouthy”
My daughter is an ATC in the navy and I’ve heard some stories….mouthy? Yup, silly? yup, You Tube has some really funny ATC/pilots conversations.
I have not maligned small dairies at this blog. I have maligned ignorance, secrecy and denial on this blog. I am more committed now than ever that RAWMI is desparately needed and I support “Good Well Operated Cow Shares in CA” more than ever. In the Cow Share working group there are terrific people that are open and ready for an NGO to assist them and they want to do well….there are also some of the greatest idiots I have ever had the missfortune of meeting in this group. These idiots would throw away a life vest… if they were drowning.
I have no Conflict of Interest. I have run out of raw milk at OPDC and have several stores per week asking to be put on routes…our trucks are full. We need more responsibly produced raw milk in CA. I know that some of the Cow Share operators are perfectly suited to provide raw milk to the public. But…they are held back by their lack of GUTS to control their internal politics. You can only help those that want help.
In the world of raw milk…ignorance is not bliss. We need all the help we can get. We need research on the best rations to control ecoli STEC in cows. We need confirmation of GMP’s, SSOP’s and CCP’s. We need seasonal testing of herds manure to confirm the change of pathogen load through the year. Anyone that denies that we need assistance to get to higher ground is in deep denial.
I will be working with CA Department of Public Health and CDFA to do a study of OPDC fecal samples this year as part of a joint effort to better understand ecoli 0157H7. That is the kind of thing that is needed….try and get a cow share to sign off on that.
Who should lead RAWMI ?? I am open for any ideas. Mike Schmidt resigned from Cow Share Canada last year when he realized that he was not going to be the best thing for CSC and it was not good for him. I am not going to resign from RAWMI until we get some serious progress made and someone that is as determined as I am can take over.
RAWMI is not for everyone. I would certainly not want RAWMI to List a farmer that does not care or will not commit to RAMP and appropriate testing etc….those farmers are dangerous. That is why we need an NGO to help all raw milk dairymen to get their act together. Tough words…but true words.
The conversations taking place today about raw milk safety protocol, dirty milk (aka, poop in the milk), ignorant raw milk dairy farmers, proper nutrition for the cows, etc should have taken place 6 years ago. Unfortunately, back then everyone was focused on blaming the victims immune system, claiming some other food source caused the illness, or creating a conspiracy theory. Anything but looking at the truthraw milk was contaminated and caused renal failure in children.
Mark, one thing I do know is that you have a new found respect for the damage E.coli 0157:H7 can do to all involved in a raw milk outbreak.
I do hope lessons can be learned from this current tragedy.
” I’m not sure what’s going on here, whether it’s a clash of communication and lobbying styles or a serious disagreement over substance. Or maybe a combination. The locals in both states are feeling shut out of RAWMI’s lobbying campaign. But part of what concerns the locals is that RAWMI appears to be pushing for “safety” rules that the locals consider “burdensome.” “All of which prompted Mastrocola of Wisconsin to wonder in his email if WAPF was inadvertently sabotaging long-term local efforts…”
Tactics such as this only serves to further divide people. This whole thread speaks volumes.
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/article/2010/june/2/if-farmers-and-consumers-back-improved-raw-milk-safety-why-wont-regulators-join
The divisions on this blog alone show that there is still no communication between the farmers and consumers. RAWMI will have to earn trust from the farmers. There doesn’t appear to be any trust between the farmers and the govt. So far the govt has not shown any desire to work with the farmers. If things stay on the current track, it may come to either get your own cow or drink mass produced raw/pasteurized milk products or avoid milk products.
Licensor and regulation presumes that government is god and that milking a cow and selling her milk is a government granted privilege. That concept violates our God given rights and completely flips upside down our system of government where THE PEOPLE hold the power and grant to the government certain limited privileges.
Again this all comes back to the basics; this isn’t about safety, its about keeping the farmers enslaved to the processors and regulators. That is why when Michael Schmidt won is case the response from the conventional dairy association was, if it going to be legal it must be regulated. And that is why we see controlled oppositions popping up and all these calls for regulation of raw milk.
After reading your post, I have one question for you – what do you think or want this raw milk movement to look like??? It’s been almost 5 years for some, longer for others with farmshares here in Wisconsin, in your opinion have things gotten any better??? Things have gotten considerably worse with very little hope in sight.
If you can remember back in the seventies, when the news media was reporting that Big Ag was planning on owning everything from the seed to the table, the old tymers back then said that will never happen, no way can that ever happen. Well, here we are 40+ years later and their dream has ALMOST came true. We all know about GMOs, artificial insemination, fertilizers, chemicals etc…Those of us who are actively involved in agriculture are the last of the last, THEY have manipulated everything – prices, rules and regulations, laws, you name it, it has been manipulated.
Those of us who are curious enough to ask questions, like why are things the way they are and why are they affecting us the way they do, why are things getting worse instead of getting better? Our elected officials have promised things will get better and they’re not. We are called CONSPIRACY THEORISTS because we find the answers we don’t want to hear. We tell others what we found and they don’t want to hear it or believe it. They laugh at us, make fun of us and ridicule us as fools, idiots etc.. when in reality the real fools are the folks who don’t care enough, or want to know enough to ask the hard questions of why things are the way they are.
And when you think of us as fools, or worse, we see you the same way and think you’re being too narrow minded to be willing to consider the possibilities.
Wayne, I sincerely hope that someday you will be able to see the forest for the trees!!!
The new definition of the term CONSPIRACY THEORIST is INFORMED INDIVIDUAL and there is getting to be more of us everyday!!!!
Of course you can be like Joel Salatin who looked diectly in my eyes last weekend and said: “You are going to argue data, and I am going to argue philosophy.”
Of course the CDC is out to screw all raw milk proponents and farmers, but it does put out some data that is interesting:
“A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control found that the rate of illnesses caused by raw milk and the products made from it was 150 times greater than illness linked to pasteurized milk. The FDA attributes 85 food-borne illness outbreaks over a 10-year period (1,614 people sick, 187 hospitalizations, two deaths) to consumption of unpasteurized milk, even though only a small percentage of the population drinks raw milk.
The raw milk advocates at the debate compared pictures of shriveled, pasteurized-milk drinking mice with robust, raw-milk mice, and offered lots of anecdotes and case studies. But dramatic pictures dont mean good science, and case studies cannot be the basis of public policy. Pasteurization does reduce certain vitamins and probiotics, but they are available in other foods.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/17/2752387/pasteurization-proponents-prevail.html#storylink=cpy
The COW SHARE is an Ultra Light Aircraft that flies with virtually NO regulation or required pilot training. All passengers climb on board and sit right next to the pilot….the passenger thinks he knows the pilot and as the Ultralight crashes…he learns that he knew very little. Those rusty bolts holding on the cloth covered wing had not been checked or changed in years!!
It is wake up time for Cow Shares. Even Colorado recognized this and has a mandatory safety program in RMAC and it works very well . Those that want complete secrecy and freedom will get neither.
Raw Milk is to much like flying.
RAWMI is a resource for all pilots of raw milk airplanes big or small. It has been recognized that the EAA ( Experimental Aircraft Association ) has enhanced Ultra Light and small aircraft safety tremendously by supplying training, education, mentoring and standards to the wild west of small mostly unregulated aircraft.
Sounds like RAWMI to me…
In politics, inevitably, you make friends and you make enemies … it just comes with the territory.
I could care less about the crap they pasteurize and try to pawn off as milk.
I dont want regulations to interfere with my access and I dont want greed or ignorance to taint my raw milk.
So stop arguing and come up with some practical solutions. Lets solve this!
It doesn’t actually impact anyone but those consuming the milk. It only seems impacts everyone because the state wants to use them as excuses to destroy and/or regulate them. To say it impacts everyone is an exercise in foregone conclusions.
P.S. OPDC and Claravale are still small dairies compared to the big conventional pasteurized dairies. Last I heard, OPDC had under 500 head and Claravale under 100 head.
your posting is very suspicious … particularly, use of the word “poisoning” … what a troll would say, to poison the discourse, rather than someone who sympathizes with the Campaign for REAL MILK.
if you think you’re going to walk on to my property and dictate to me how you prefer me to do dairying, you’d better think again. A trade association of artisanal dairy producers is where this is all headed … do-able and voluntary
Wayne Craig
The “family cow” is 100% exempt if “no raw milk is sold to the public” and all the milk goes to the family. If one drop of raw milk is sold to the public ( enters commerce ), then a “self-certification” and basic standards come into effect. The basic standards “do not include inspections or a registration” with the State. The standards would require the family cow operation to certify themselves as to the practices and adhere to some basic safety standards. Thefamily cow is defined as an operation with 3 or fewer cows ( 15 goats ) in lactation for human consumption.
This makes sense and the regulators support the general concept and the family cow operations in CA also seem to be supporting it as well.
Next…we work on possible ideas for “Cow Share” in CA with numbers of cows being larger and owned by the consumers. There is a very cooperative attitude at these meetings and things are getting done. RAWMI submitted the proposed standards as one of the proposed options and CDFA and the Health Department liked it very much. Now…RAWMI is working with the Cow Shares to draft a final version of this proposal.
Does this sound like RAWMI is horrible? Does this sound like RAWMI is lining OPDC’s pockets?
Does this sound like RAWMI is protecting the OPDC raw milk markets?
The answer is yes….RAWMI is helping to protect against another Oregon in CA and that means protecting everyone that consumes raw milk and also produces raw milk and that includes OPDC and Claravale and every man woman and child that drinks raw milk.
If this is self serving…so be it…..I am guilty as charged. I could care less. In fact… it makes me kinda proud.
I want safe raw milk for all people that choose to consume it. I want safe raw milk for producers that work hard to produce it. Words are cheap…producing consistantly safe raw milk is not easy or cheap. Nothing of value in life is easy.
The truth is a group of California herd share farmers and owners put together a Family Cow Safe Milking Protocol. It was a simple clean document that the group came to a consensus on.
Mark was sent an email with a copy of the finished document.
In the eleventh hour right before the working group meeting with the CDFA was to take place, Mark submits his own protocol loaded with restrictions to the surprise of the group. The CDFA looked at both documents and said we like Mark’s. Well, of course they do it is loaded with constraints. Keep in mind this is the “Family Cow” category not a Micro-dairy.
Mark promised the group that he was just going to attend the meeting and not voice his opinions.
So much for empty promises.
Calling California farmer “idiots” is divisive at a time we need unity. You called yourself or RAWMI
“the voice of responsible leadership for the growing raw milk market.”
Making analogies about rusted out ultra-lights benefit no one but the bureaucrats that want to close down small family farms. We are in this together and if you truly want the support of California herd share farmers you are going to have to stop cutting our cinches.
We all want safe milk Mark. My young children drink the same milk my herd share owners drink.
Read what I was responding to for context. Although I have no doubt you understood and are just playing games to stir the pot.
If we look at the vaccine industry which aught to be one of the most regulated in the country what are your thoughts with respect to Congress and the Supreme Court granting vaccine makers immunity from liability and why would they pull such a stunt? Well, for the greater good of course! Which is indeed the philosophy they are using in order to satisfy their desire to control and placate greedy vaccine makers who are clearly aware that their product is dangerous.
http://www.naturalnews.com/031453_Supreme_Court_vaccinations.html
If government is willing to go to this extent to protect the vaccine makers at the taxpayer and victims expense then there is no limit as to what they are capable of doing. I am beginning to think more and more that Michael Schmitts comment from a while back is indeed not that far off the mark when he suggests that, health authorities are currently creating statistic evidence to make their case.
I would suggest caution before you make a deal with the devil.
Ken
This behavior doesn’t encourage trust nor transparency. I’d be spreading the word of what happened.
Your recall of what happened is far from accurate. I never agreed to stay quiet about anything.
Instead of airing dirty laundry here…I am going to respect the requests of the State Vet ( that runs the Working group ) and hold these discussions in trust and keep them private for now.
This will all come out later…. those that attend know the truth of it all.
Mark
Please try to get the California raw milk producers to get involved and as VOCAL as possible. Those who support RAWMI need to know what their leader is doing behind the scenes.
Mark, did you “submits his own protocol loaded with restrictions to the surprise of the group”?
You’re playing fast and loose with both logic and facts in agitating for regulated raw dairies. To start, raw milk is legal in ‘most’ states (35-39 depending on if you want to count pet sales), not illegal in most as you claim.
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/raw_milk_map.htm
Second, you presume one dairy having a problem necessarily taints all of them. That is a violation of logic and is only true if you are trying to maintain the proposition that all milk everywhere is perfectly safe. People are more sophisticated than that, which is why many are picky about what dairy they get their milk from. This is not a raw milk perspective but a regulator and industry perspective (the former claiming pasteurization makes milk safe and the later that raw milk outbreaks taint the reputation of milk everywhere).
Third, you are using circular logic to come to a foregone conclusion: Regulators want raw milk to be regulated so they agitage against raw milk dairies, using supposed sicknesses as an excuse therefore in order for us to have raw milk we must regulate them to prevent sickness. In truth, there will be outbreaks, regulation or not. Nothing will change with regulation w.r.t. people getting sick.
The problem here isn’t that people are getting sick from raw milk or that raw milk dairies are unregulated, but that regulators are trying to expand their power. So how about instead of trying to enslave raw milk producers to satisfy your supposed desire to access raw milk, you take up your complaints with the governments who are unconstitutionally coming between you and your God given right to the food of your choice.
As much as it is disturbing that these outbreaks are happening, as disturbing is the self-destruction of possible alternatives how to deal with thjs situation.
Davids assessment is right. Because of the intentional polarization of this movement it is almost impossible to analyze objectively what happened and what should be done to minimize risk of raw milk, like any other food.
At the Raw milk conference in Praque last spring I was able to discuss with the head of the certified raw milk organization in Germany the history, standards, certification and testing of farmers.
They have been in existence for about 100 years and never had one outbreak like the one currently in Oregon.
Freedom cannot be regulated, but responsibility and due dilligence should be demonstrated.
If for example we can in fact establish a credible process of certification and can demonstrate that this will result in less or no outbreaks than we are on the right track.
If we only discuss hypothetical safety measures and standards without the ability to back up the claim of food safety, then it will always be hard to convince freedom loving farmers and consumers to voluntarily adopt these standards.
I keep pushing the issue of wholistic food safety at our Cow Share College, which starts with the soil, the cows, the feed and yes also with a protocol about hygiene.
Identifying the shortcomings, and use that as part of gaining an understanding of food safety as it pertains to raw milk is most important.
Tim Wightman continues to stress for many years the complexity of food safety which does not start when you bottle the milk. I starts at the moment you wake up in morning as part of your life, your management, your sense of responsibility, and your recognition that emerging pathogens are part of a threat to our daily work as farmers and consumers.
We have the freedom to take measures to prevent disasters and to prove that guidelines and standards are helping to distinguish those who do want to understand the complexity of food safety.
Currently it appears that we do support Marler in his mission to prove that raw milk should be banned.
Not because it is more dangerous but because we are more divided on the philosophical approach to freedom than united on the issue o understanding the current climate of food safety.
No money available for that, some might say.
Guess how much money needs to be spent involuntarily when an outbreak occurs?????
A hell of a lot more than take the bull by the horns and be in control of your own destiny.
Lets not lose site of the fact that the industrial food complex is in bed with all 3 (legislative, judicial, executive) branches of OUR government. We have to acknowledge that when a society is able to rely on government for their basic needs and feels safe they become complacent, and lose self-reliance, after a while they become dependent on the government for their very existence, and are then very easily manipulated by a government whose goal is to perpetuate itself.
Those in power have declared war on raw milk, heritage pigs, food co-ops, etc. because of what they represent; independence (not to be confused with anti-social consciousness). The family farm stands as one of the last barriers between the people and those who want to control the people. Until the conversation shifts to personal accountability, the obligation we all have to make our own basic survival decisions, to stand up and defy over emboldened agencies & bureaucrats, and reign in destructive corporate power this debate will stay right here in cyberspace and be the intellectual playground for those who fancy themselves smarter and better informed than those they disagree with.
“Three years ago in Lower Saxony, more than 30 elementary school students ingested the bacteria when they drank raw milk during a field trip to a local farm.”
Outbreaks happen whether from raw milk or other foods. It is a shame that the US govt doesn’t appear to work with the farmers to prevent further outbreaks. 50 head of cows is a large farm, they generally require more land than 10 or less cows. 500 head can be right up there next to the cafos.
It appears that many small heard shares don’t want certification. So far the state of Ca has told a heard share that she would need to spend over $100000 of improvements to her farm. These huge costs would only succeed in shutting them down and leaving only Claravale and OP selling raw milk in Ca.
So far we haven’t seen the supposed ‘standards’ that RAWMI was proposing or is that a secret, or is there a charge to get a copy of the ‘standards’? The spinach growers, food establishments, cafos etc all have standards, protocols and guidelines that they are suppose to follow, yet they still have outbreaks and cause illness and deaths. I haven’t seen on this blob where there is support for Marlar et al other than Mary, and MW.
No one wants to produce contaminated milk. Many farmers differ on what the best way to raise and milk their cows. Many have been caring for and milking their cows the same way for many years without issues. Why would anyone expect them to change? Why would they want to pay for certifications/costly improvements when they have no issues? So far I haven’t heard any reasons for them to change. Trust RAWMI? At this point, it is unlikely.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2012/04/24/mad-cow-disease-surfaced-in-dairy-cow-in-california/
Guess the cows aren’t so happy in California.
On your link, I count only ten states that allow retail sales of raw milk. This means than most of the general public is never exposed to the option of raw milk. This helps to perpetuate the idea that it is dangerous.
In California, the state I was born and raised in, raw milk is constantly under threat of over-regulation, sabotage, negative media assaults and midnight legislative actions that attempt to take raw milk off the store shelves under the name of public safety. I have personally been involved in demonstrations, hearings and letter writing campaigns that have helped to reverse over-regulation in LA County and state-wide. Ive bought, drunk from and visited dairies in California, Oregon, Arizona and Milwaukee and bought raw milk from Pennsylvania, New York and Florida as well. Ive seen several dairies go bankrupt fighting unjust regulations and trying to find loopholes like labeling it for pets to no avail.
But California still has the highest milk cleanliness standards in the nation, and they should being the largest producers of milk in the country.
There is a war raging against raw milk. The fact that it is not available on the shelf next to the pasteurized milk is evidence the public does not know the difference in the health benefits that clean raw milk has to offer. The fact that California raw milk has to carry a threatening Government Warning on its label is evidence that the people are not fighting hard enough to change that image.
The pasteurized milk producers dont want raw to be legal, or respected it is a threat to their 100 billion dollar industry.
We, the people need to demand legalization of clean raw milk in every state in order to validate the nutrition of natures most perfect food itself. Milk is the cornerstone of nutrition and the health food movement. If we let the legislature dictate that we are not allowed direct access to it; they will soon fuck up every food sold at the market by mandating safety measures like pasteurizing juices or eggs in the shell, irradiating all our fruits and vegetables, etc. Oh wait its already happening.
If we are only able to get real foods direct from the farm, how many of us will be poisoned. The Food Safety Modernization Act already allows the government to prevent you from growing your own home garden.
We are already being over-regulated. Running away and hiding on our farms or in our houses and pretending we have rights is not the way to take back our country. The way to take it back is to get involved in the legislative process and gridlock the State Capitals every time they dont pass the laws we want. And that means educating our neighbors and turning them on to the benefits of raw milk so that the media wont be able to sway them with negative publicity.
Right now, raw milk is running for president as a third party candidate and every little outbreak from every little dirty dairy is an indiscretion of the worst kind and reflects badly on the whole movement mainly to those who dont understand what clean raw milk is all about. This is a public image war and we need to start changing the argument to clean vs dirty not raw vs pasteurized.
re. Pete and ckroftruth’s comments above: I would like to see a collaborative statement that you two would both sign-off on. I see the big-picture being taken into account more by ckroftruth but the most important foundational elements do have tremendous power and must not be overlooked. Sometimes the big-picture stuff comes tumbling down quickly.
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
n.b. (actually, no, but anyway…) I see in the news this afternoon: a slaughtered “mad cow” in California. ref. http://usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2012/04/0132.xml
Release No. 0132.12 from the USDA Newsroom
Mark, the content of your proposal is not my full discontent.
It was the way you went about it. No transparency. Eleventh hour proposal without vetting it with the California herd share farmers working group. Our safe practices were shared with you way before the meeting not the night before.
Timeline:
This is from the CDFA on 4/3
ACTION 1: (our volunteer) will work with a small sub-group of herd owners to come up with a list of very basic best sanitation and animal health practices that a herd owner of three or fewer lactating cows (or animal equivalents) can and should meet if they want to sell their excess milk to their community directly from the farm.
Timeline:
4/7
California working group farmers send out a copy of Family Cow Milking Guidelines. Mark was included in the email and was sent our guidelines.
4/12 at 5PM
Our group received and email with Mark’s proposal. Remember the CDFA asked for a very basic draft of milking guidelines. This again is for “The Family Cow Category”. It is my understanding that everyone was blind sided by this eleventh hour proposal.
4/12 10AM
Working group meeting with the CDFA takes place. Our group is told that they prefer Mark’s proposal and they wanted to table our proposal. The group was told Mark’s proposal is more in line with what they were thinking.
Our “guidelines” now morphed into “regulations”.
I went through my old emails and our group was assured you would be silent until we need you to speak on our behalf. The working group was organized for small family producers not someone who milks over 450 cows.
I have been told by many a dairyman that the safest milk they ever produced was when they machine milked into a stainless steel bucket. Herd share farmers milk into buckets and there are fewer places for bacteria to hide. No bulk tanks, no pipelines, no chillers, no tanker trucks, etc.
Most of us milk our own cows and know every cow in our herd by name and any issues they may have. We taste their milk from all four quarters when we milk. We inspect our filters after we milk and most of us test our milk at labs.
“…there are also some of the greatest idiots I have ever had the missfortune of meeting in this group. These idiots would throw away a life vest… if they were drowning.”
As far as airing dirty laundry, calling California herd share farmers “idiots” and insinuating that our practices are not safe, like a rusty ultra-light flying irresponsibly in the sky with a passengers.
“The COW SHARE is an Ultra Light Aircraft that flies with virtually NO regulation or required pilot training. All passengers climb on board and sit right next to the pilot….the passenger thinks he knows the pilot and as the Ultralight crashes…he learns that he knew very little. Those rusty bolts holding on the cloth covered wing had not been checked or changed in years!!”
Again Mark, Lay down your sword. California herd share farmers are not your enemy. This of all times should be a time of trust, unity, and transparency within our movement.
Your friends with Michael Schmidt….. he is the kind of raw milk spokesperson you should be emulating.
4/13 10AM
Working group meeting with the CDFA takes place. Our group is told that they prefer Mark’s proposal and they wanted to table our proposal. The group was told Mark’s proposal is more in line with what they were thinking.
Our “guidelines” now morphed into “regulations”.
our argument is that the powers that be are straining at a gnat, while swallowing the whole camel.
I believe our winning strategy is to go on the offensive : teach, teach teach about a ] – the adulteration of “homo milk” = it’s not what it was 60 years ago. And b] – that “homo milk” IS the cause of the epidemic of diabetes, as well as Crohne’s disease.
If RAWMI wants to have farmers’ trust, they need to act in a trustworthy manner. So far, they seem to be 0 for 2.
Following the comments on this excellent article is disturbing to say the least.
The only focus right now should and has to be the forming of a task force to look into these outbreaks to find out what went wrong.
Government tactics aside.
Marler’s business instinct aside.
Philosophy aside.
Freedom aside.
Rights aside.
Unless we begin to put money into a task force to investigate the circumstances and inform ALL involved, we will hand control over to those who are on the “RAW MILK BAN WAGON”.
In my Cow Share College courses I spent 75% percent of my time to drive home the importance that raw milk safety does NOT start at the teat.
It starts with a wholistic management approach, soil fertility, balanced rations, proper breeding, proper testing, proper husbandry and as the icing on the cake common sense hygiene procedures.
If anybody thinks that there is no money to pay for these outbreak reviews then wait until you will pay the bills after an outbreak which could have been prevented, then for sure you have lost your freedom yo opened the door for Bill Marler and he will be grateful to have another Mary story.
Who wants to be part to investigate, and who is willing to support the costs???
We are on crash course of self destruction or we can take a crash course in constuctive analysis of an outbreak and develop guidelines for you to use.
A quality seal fo raw milk is not a license, it is an AWARD FOR QUALITY based on the complexity of food safety in the ever growing world of new emerging pathogens and hungry sharks.
http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/what-does-it-profit-a-man-farmer-michael-schmidt-on-our-culture-of-profiting-from-death-and-destruction/
“is the first new case of the disease in the U.S. since 2006 and the fact that the discovery was made at all was a stroke of luck.”
Since they ONLY test @ 40000 head of cows, then yes, it was a “stroke of luck” to fine. A horrible shame they won’t allow that one, was it a processor?, in Kansas, to test each cow like he wanted to. He would then get all the sales.
http://sfist.com/2012/02/09/two_cases_of_mad-cow_disease_one_al.php
Mad cow disease may not show symptoms for @ 15 yrs, There is the potential these people contracted it in the mid 90s. Since each cow isn’t tested, we’ll never know..
“The risk of CJD increases with age, and in persons aged over 50 years of age, the annual rate is approximately 3.4 cases per million. In the most recent five year period, the United States has reported between 279 and 352 cases a year.”
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd
I also want to get to the bottom of this for personal reason. His situation sound much like my family farm. Milking a few Jerseys, father of a young family of two young children, feeds his chickens soy-free feed, and has a variety of animals on his farm.
Who dropped the ball?
Or is it just our weakened human state?
Perhaps someone in our pool that is in Oregon could investigate.
I would be willing to contribute to a fund.
From the Land of Milk and Honey
Health and agricultural officials with the aid of the drug, chemical and biopharmaceutical industries give the erroneous impression that we cant do without their interventions. Their contempt for the laws of nature and human rights is evident in their continual violation of those same laws and in how they treat individuals who oppose their thinking.
With respect to TSEs such as scrapie, mad cow and variant CreutzfeldtJakob diseases bureaucrats have opted for a simplistic solution to a complex disorder.
Hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep etc., are being needlessly slaughtered around the world at the hands federal officials who are making rules in the dark. It is unfortunate yet understandable when lay individuals latch onto a theory based on rhetoric and establishes it as fact. Its a travesty of justice when government ignore the facts and do likewise.
Anyone who believes, that mad cow can be transmitted via consumption of a deformed protein have been fooled by mad bureaucrats.
Ken Conrad