# Got Raw Milk? Be Very Quiet



## cornbread (Jul 4, 2005)

Got Raw Milk? Be Very Quiet

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1598525,00.html


Yes, milk. Raw, unpasteurized milk. To supply a small but growing market among health-conscious city and suburban dwellers for milk taken straight from the udder, Hebron was dealing the stuff on behalf of a farming cooperative he runs in southwestern Michigan. An undercover agricultural investigator had infiltrated the co-op as part of a sting operation that resulted in the seizure of $7,000 worth of fresh-food items, including 35 lbs. of raw butter, 29 qt. of cream and all those gallons of the suspicious white liquid. Although Hebron's home office was searched and his computer seized, no charges have been filed. "When they tested the milk, they couldn't find any problems with it," says Hebron. "It seems like they're just looking for some way to shut us down." 

People have been drinking raw milk for a long time, of course â at least since sheep and goats were domesticated in the 8th or 9th century B.C. Raw milk is rich in protein and fat, and milk from cows became a staple of the American diet in colonial times. When milk leaves the animal, however, it can also contain any number of pathogens, which is why most doctors consider pasteurization â subjecting milk to a short burst of heat followed by rapid cooling â one of the great public-health success stories of the 20th century. By eliminating most of the pathogens that cause disease, including E. coli, salmonella and listeria, they say, pasteurization has helped lower infectious-disease rates in the U.S. more than 90% over the past century. 

Raw-milk enthusiasts have a different perspective. They insist that along with the bad pathogens, heat-treating milk destroys beneficial bacteria, proteins and enzymes that aid in digestion. Some people with a history of digestive-tract problems, such as Crohn's disease, swear by the curative powers of unpasteurized milk. Others praise its nutritional value and its ability to strengthen the immune system. "I have seen so many of my patients recover their health with raw milk that I perceive this as one of the most profoundly healthy foods you can consume," says Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician and author who rails against the medical establishment on his website, mercola.com. 

You might think raw milk would be a tough sell after the Taco Bell and bagged-spinach E. coli scares. After all, even the healthiest grass-fed cows tromp around in mud and fecal matter and carry all manner of bacteria with them into the milking parlor. Between 1990 and 2004, U.S. health authorities traced 168 disease outbreaks to dairy products; nearly a third were linked to unpasteurized items, according to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. But in fact, demand for raw milk seems to be rising faster than cream in an unhomogenized gallon jug. Hebron's dairy co-op has no shortage of customers willing to pay a premium for milk that hasn't been processed. A California dairy producer estimates that 100,000 Californians drink raw milk every week. 

All of which has created a simmering problem for health officials. While the U.S. has no laws against gulping milk straight from cows, the government's stance on controlling the sale of raw milk is far murkier. The Food and Drug Administration, which recently determined that it's safe to drink the milk of cloned cows, takes a tougher stand on unprocessed milk. It banned interstate sales of raw milk 20 years ago but left it up to individual states to decide what to do about commerce within their borders. The result is a hodgepodge of conflicting rules and loopholes big enough to drive a milk truck through. While 23 states, including Michigan, officially prohibit raw-milk sales for human consumption, the rest allow money to exchange hands under certain conditions. In California, raw dairy products are available in grocery stores, while Illinois consumers can buy them directly from farms if they bring their own containers. An increasingly popular arrangement designed to circumvent state restrictions is a so-called herd-sharing program, like Hebron's, which requires members to, in effect, lease a portion of a cow â for $20 a year, in his case â and sign an agreement opposing "all governmental standards for food, preparation, storage and safety." The $6.25-per-gal. Charge is technically not a sale but compensation to cover board and transport costs. 

Some raw advocates believe it's the emergence of these cow-sharing schemes in the past few years that has prompted state agriculture officials to crack down. Columbus, Ohio, attorney David G. Cox says he has represented six raw-dairy producers over the past year for alleged illegal sales, some of whom have been in business for decades without incident. "There seems to be an orchestrated effort to dry up the supply," he says. "I suspect that conventional dairy producers are concerned that if [raw milk] were widely available and people got sick, all milk would get a bad name and the whole industry would suffer." 

What raw milk fans most resent is stepped-up efforts to crack down on a personal choice that wasn't doing anyone else any harm. "There are 65,000 child-porn websites," asks indignant co-op member Nancy Sanders, a pediatric nurse and mother of five from Des Plaines, Ill. "Why doesn't the government go after those?" 

Meanwhile, farmer Hebron says he won't be spooked by Michigan authorities. Back in business a week after his goods were seized, he's become a cause celebre of the raw movement. After an Ann Arbor retailer he worked with was served a cease-and-desist order, a co-op member offered her nearby home as a new pickup site. Meanwhile, some of Hebron's clients in Michigan and Illinois have been flooding the fax machines of state agriculture officials to protest the treatment of the mild-mannered dairyman. In February, the Amish farmer who supplies Hebron's co-op with raw milk received a warning letter from the FDA about potential interstate commerce violations. Hebron met with federal officials in Detroit on March 6th to defend the legality of herd-sharing arrangements, and is adamant about continuing his milk runs. 

Recently, Hebron parked his truck in front of a North Side Chicago health-food store and began carrying crates filled with brown eggs and pasture-raised beef and pork into the shop for co-op members. He had to distribute the milk, however, out of the back of his truck â a rule the store's owner, Paula Campanio, reluctantly imposed after the raid. "I'm trying to be discreet," she says. "When I see a police car go by, I'm convinced they're coming for me." Demand from her customers for the milk is strong enough that she's willing to take the risk, but she's hoping that keeping the stuff out of her premises will make her a tad less culpable. Got raw milk? Shhhhh.


----------



## sugarbush (Jul 15, 2007)

Raw milk can make a person who hasn't ever had it really sick.....I grew up on raw milk, both cow and goat, (15 goats and near 200 dairy cows) but we had a friend come over once who had never had raw milk and he became painfully sick off of it. My family sold out the farm 10 or more years ago and now I am a city dweller, but I would not assume the responsibility of providing raw milk to anybody, not these days anyway.


----------



## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

It's not really about being quiet it's about not being stupid. These folks did not sell illegal raw milk or cheese from their farm, or sell raw milk and cheese at thier local farmers market. They cooped the milk from surrounding farms and manufactured cheese. Then sold it to resturants and markets around the state. Of course they got caught! Without a manufacturing liscense you are simply going to get caught making your milk into anything, especially considering most listerosis cases in food is found in cheese. You can push the milk regs only so far, you can't push manufacturing liscense through the health department. Vicki


----------



## Westwood (May 13, 2002)

Just have to obey state laws. Luckily in Arkansas you can sell 200 gallons of raw GOAT milk per month, as long as you don't advertise, customers bring their own containers, and they come to your dairy to purchase. 

I miss my goats!


----------



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

> Recently, Hebron parked his truck in front of a North Side Chicago health-food store and began carrying crates filled with brown eggs and pasture-raised beef and pork into the shop for co-op members. He had to distribute the milk, however, out of the back of his truck â


Not only that Vicki, he took the raw milk over state lines - a federal offense.

Like Arkansas, it is already LEGAL in IL to sell raw milk at the farm, with customers bringing their own containers and pouring the milk from our containers into theirs. And no advertising of raw milk sales.

Guys like Hebron raises my hackles because he is making it possible for IL gov't to make raw milk sales illegal in IL.

We have folks from the Chicago land area call us wanting us to bring milk into the city. We won't. If they want it, they can drive 2 hours out in the country - or they can drive 10 miles (in one hour) in the city to pick up illegal milk.


----------



## adamtheha (Mar 14, 2007)

I completely agree that consumers should have a choice about what they drink, here in Canada, no one has that choice except the owner of the cow. At the same time, when you sell your produce on the public market, charging paper money, you accept that the government has the right to regulate and control those sales, charge taxes, and prohibit whatever they want. I think everyone who wants to drink raw milk should be allowed to have a cow, or should drink from the neighbors without paying money (Now, you could pay something else....) No licenses, no business, just individuals conducting business or using their private property. That's my plan, anyhow.


----------



## JulieLou42 (Mar 28, 2005)

Way to go if you can't use FRN's to make your exchanges...barter it out with them.


----------

