CFIA image of recalled product via CTV news. Click image to go to the CTV story.

CTV, Global News, Yahoo and Canadian Press are reporting that Saputo dairy has recalled a type of milk product sold in both Ontario and Quebec because it may have been contaminated with a cleaning agent. Apparently you can be too clean.

Yahoo reports that “Milk containing this cleaning solution may not look or smell spoiled, but drinking it may cause symptoms such as nausea, upset stomach or vomiting.”

The product being recalled is Neilson Trutaste 2% in four litre bags. Apparently the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) says there has been one reported reaction to the product.

More on Global News.

“There are any number of reasons why the negotiations over herdshares taking place in California—between owners of small dairies and the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture– over the last few months should not work.

Many tiny dairies dispensing raw goat’s or cow’s milk through such operations feel as a matter of principle that they shouldn’t have to negotiate a right that is already theirs—the right to contract with neighbors and friends for milk and other dairy and food products.

Even if they aren’t so principled, many shy away from making their presence known to the CDFA. They figure that no matter what comes out of these discussions—even the least onerous regulatory structure—they’d rather not be on any more government agency lists than are necessary. Assuming the CDFA never gives them trouble, who knows what other authorities the agency may send their way.

Those that are open to negotiation and regulation worry that it’s nearly impossible for the regulators to be fair. So against raw milk are most of the regulators, in this view, there is no way they will negotiate in good faith.

Dr. Annette Whiteford of the California Department of Food and AgricultureDespite all these obstacles, CDFA’s chief veterinarian and director of animal health and food safety services, Annette Whiteford, is optimistic a workable solution can be found to the issue—an issue that only became an issue when the CDFA began issuing cease-and-desist orders last year against small dairies operating herdshares….”

Read it all on The Complete Patient blog.

From Bill Marler’s Food Safety News:

“A Massachusetts resident who first tested positive for brucellosis has now been confirmed to not have the infection, according to an email from the assistant commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR).

Urban gardening book co-author Willow Rosenthal. Photo via the Civil Eats blog.

“After Novella Carpenter’s critically acclaimed memoir Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer came out, she and friend Willow Rosenthal, the founder of West Oakland gardening nonprofit City Slicker Farms, started talking about compiling a manual on urban gardening. “We always got these random emails like, ‘My chickens aren’t laying anymore!’” says Carpenter. So she and Rosenthal joked that they should write a book so they could reply: “Buy the book!”

Three years later, they can. Their new book, The Essential Urban Farmer, is a 500-page nuts-and-bolts guide to farming in the city–complete with sample garden designs, detailed illustrations, and photos of rabbit genitalia. Rosenthal, who is also a Waldorf School teacher and runs a small CSA in Berkeley, wrote the first two sections of the book: “Designing Your Urban Farm” and “Raising City Vegetables and Fruits.” Carpenter wrote the section called “Raising City Animals.” With advice on how to fix a chicken’s prolapsed “vent,” and a detailed how-to on eviscerating a chicken, it’s not for the squeamish. But then, neither is raising livestock.

I talked to Carpenter and Rosenthal recently about the guide, and got some tips about  how to create a thriving urban farm.

Carpenter: We were both trial-and-error urban farmers. We would’ve loved to have had a guidebook that showed us best practices. So this is the book that we wished we’d had when we were starting out.

In the intro, you write that the average urban backyard can grow all the fruit and veggies for one person in 25 x 40 feet, and that it makes economic sense to garden if you have more time than money. Is this book geared, in part, towards low-income readers?  

Carpenter: Yeah, definitely. I’m low-income, Willow is probably low-income, too. People are like, “You should eat organic food,” but when you go to Whole Foods or the farmers’ market, it’s so expensive. So this was our DIY way to eat organic, healthy food. If you do it right, it can be cost effective.

Rosenthal: I wouldn’t say that it’s only geared towards low-income people, but toward people who are interested in making their own solutions. It’s not going to be as useful for people who want to purchase everything at the garden store or hire other people to do work in the garden. To make an impact on the way that the food system is structured for environmental good, it’s necessary for people of all walks of life to grow food in the city….”

Read it all on Civil Eats.

Raw milk vending machine in an urban setting in eastern Europe.

The Bovine:  When I was in Poland in 2007, one could drive along the highway from Warsaw to Bialystock and see people milking cows into buckets out in the field. Also one would sometimes pass horse-drawn hay wagons on the smaller roads. Is there a strong feeling among Poles that smalll farming is something that should be encouraged, that it’s here to stay and not on the way out like it is in so many other parts of the world?

Konrad: I think that we can divide Polish farmers on three groups. First group are big farmers with lot of land, farm animals. They are focused on big production and earning money. I think they are very similar to other big farmers in any country in Europe. Big machines, newest technology, newest chemistry, big efficiency, big money.

Second group are farmers which decide on organic/ ecological farming. Some of them additionally decided on agro tourist as an additional source of money. You can go there and spend some days manually milking cows, horseback riding. You will mainly  eat there products produced on those farms.

Third group of farmers are mainly old people which doesn’t want to change their way of live. They haven’t got agricultural machines. They’ve got very less land, animals. Time stops there 50 Years ago. That’s why You can still see people people milking cows into buckets out in the field and horse-drawn hay wagons on the smaller roads.

Polish made raw milk vending machines in a shopping mall in Europe.

The Bovine: Tell me a bit about your business with raw milk dispensing machines.

Konrad: Our company produce raw milk vending machine. Our machines are dedicated for this product in all aspects: milk dispenser, empty bottles dispenser etc. Our machines follows all UE and hygienic standards. We produce our machines in many versions to be most suitable for our customers. We all the time develop our product. Our newest idea is an additional module where is possible selling of fresh eggs, cottage cheese, sausages etc.

The Bovine: How did you personally get started in this business?

Konrad: We started with two machines where we sell milk. We have seen that there was a lot of problems with those machines: stacking bottles, not proper amount of milk dosed etc. We decided to built our own vending machine and eliminate all this problems. So our idea was born. After first machines was ready and proper functioning we decide to go with our product to other customers.

At this moment we focused only on production raw milk vending machines.

The Bovine: What countries do you mainly export to?

Konrad: Most of our machines we sold on Polish market. Now we produce one machine to Estonia. We negotiate with our customers from Ukraine, USA, Kenya. We see that this subject is getting more and more popular all over the world.

Another style of raw milk vending machine, installed outdoors.

The Bovine: Over here in North America, raw milk has been the subject of huge controversy, with health authorities claiming it’s a hazard. While in Europe, it seems to be not such a big deal, just an accepted fact that some people like raw milk and it’s ok for them to drink it. And yet we’ve heard of recent initiatives in Ireland, for instance, to ban raw milk. And there have been stories from France about how certain types of traditional cheeses have to be made from raw milk to get the taste right, and that there have been efforts by big corporations to replace those types of cheeses with ones made from pasteurized milk. What’s your perception of the state of raw milk in Europe? Is there growing interest in it like there is in North America? What sort of regulatory backlash, if any, are you aware of?

Konrad: I’m not really deep in government regulation all over the Europe. I know that raw milk is not denied in many of European countries. I know that raw milk is very popular in Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Poland of course.

I think that in European countries there is big knowledge about raw milk. People know what products they can make out of this milk. They know how to produce house cheese, sour milk, butter. This knowledge is bigger in countries from Eastern Europe where before 1989 was easier to do it by yourself than to buy in market.

Especially this knowledge is bigger between people more than 40 Years old. In my opinion interest in it will grow all over the world. Especially that we are more aware of this what we eat.

.

The Bovine: Have you had any interest from outside of Europe in your raw milk dispensing machines?

Konrad: Yes, for example. from Kenya, USA, Hong Kong. We see that our website is visited by people from Canada, South America, Australia, Asia.

The Bovine: What other countries have you exported to?

Konrad: At this moment we are building first machine to Estonia

The Bovine: Any interest from North America?

Konrad: Yes, We are in constant contact with one customer. We know that at this moment he is waiting on some approvals  from Milk Sanitarian Supervisor. If everything will be OK I hope we’ll take next steps.

The Bovine: Do you personally drink raw milk?

Konrad: Yes I like it very much. I drink raw milk without boiling. I know how to make cheese, butter, sour milk.

The Bovine: How are raw milk sales handled in Poland?

Konrad: It’s very easy. You have to report Your willingness for raw milk selling to sanitary or veterinary inspector. After they acceptance they can visit Your point to check if all sanitary aspects are fullfilled. When we started our raw milk selling it took us not more than one week.

Raw milk automat next to a store in Poland.

The Bovine: Is there a quality certification program there for raw milk producers?

Konrad: All of those aspects are regulated by EU. Milk producers are controlled by veterinary inspectors. There are limits and rules which has to be checked each time milk is produced.

The Bovine: What else would you like to add that I haven’t asked about?

Konrad: In my opinion popularity of raw milk will grow each day more and more. In Poland first vending machine was installed 1,5 Year ago. At this moment here are 150 machines. Our market is etimated on approx. 1,000 machines. This is really a lot and this is only Poland. Day by day we receive more request from countries all over the world.

This way of selling milk is perfect for both sides milk comsumers and milk producers. Milk comsumers can buy raw milk. This was really hard to buy before raw milk dispenser was installed. Raw milk was only available on farms. Vending machines allows to buy it even in big cities.

Milk producers can earn even three times more from milk selling. We calculate that reimbursement should be after 5-6 months after machine instalation (calculated with avarage milk sell on 120 – 150 ltr/ day)

This is really good bussines for both sides.

The Bovine: Thank you Konrad for taking the time to answer all these questions and for sending us the great photos. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have raw milk vending machines like those made by Konrad’s company all across North America? Someday!

Splash page from the company's website

Pozdrawiam / Best regards

Konrad Pszowski

MILKMAT S.C.

42-674 Laryszów

Ul. Wolności 38

mob. +48 600 831 210

e-mail: konrad.pszowski@milkmat.pl

NIP 645-252-16-40

Regon 241866827

www. milkmat.pl

www.rzekaswiezegomleka.pl

Trish Tervit holds Pippi, one of her pet hens. Tervit got into backyard chicken farmng as a fun educational exercise for her daughters, and loves the fresh eggs. ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE/TORONTO STAR. Click image to go to the Toronto Star story.

“Trish Tervit is a friendly mom, an executive with a buzzing iPhone and an outlaw urban farmer collecting eggs on borrowed time.

Her hens — Pippi, Mabel and Elli — peer through a sliding-glass door, schnauzer-like, into Tervit’s Upper Beach semi-detached home.

“I blame my daughter’s Grade 6 teacher,” who brought cute chicks to class, triggering the inevitable “Can we get chickens?” plea from both of Tervit’s daughters.

She had refused other pets, citing allergies, but couldn’t think of a reason to say no to hens. Research, which included buying a used copy of Raising Chickens for Dummies for $5 on eBay, told her chickens are banned by the city. Toronto’s growing urban agriculture community is pressing for change.

“I realized that if I waited for the city to make a decision on it, my kids would be in university by then. So I thought, I’m just going to see what happens, and it was going tickety-boo fine for a year and a half.”

A friend built a secure wooden coop with “Fresh Eggs” on the wall and a heat lamp inside. Tervit’s raised-from-chick “girls” get all the corn they can peck. She gets coop-to-pan omelettes.

“We have a lot of fun,” she said. “People think it’s pretty hilarious, but it’s teaching kids a little about where their food comes from, that there are ways to sustain yourself, and that chickens can walk around and eat grass and be chickens, as opposed to other ways egg production takes place.”

But, in October, Tervit got a city notice saying a neighbour had made an unspecified complaint. (She says she notices no smell, and the hens make less noise than neighbourhood dogs.) Her city councillor, Mary-Margaret McMahon, advised her to hold tight….”

Read it all on TheStar.ca

Will organic folks be "left behind" in the coming transgenic rapture? Image via Call of the Land

“When Stewart Brand spoke at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in mid-January, he broadcast a vision of a Genetically Modified (GM) future toward which he felt we should all be charging with bright-eyed enthusiasm. “Get out there where it’s getting weird,” he exhorted, “and get weird with it.”

As I sat and listened to Brand talk of the future, I was carried in reverie not forward but backward to 1964. That’s the year my mom took my brothers and me to the New York City World’s Fair where we made a pilgrimage through the most celebrated exhibit of all, Futurama. Sponsored by another GM (General Motors), the exhibit offered a glimpse into what life would be like in the future — as GM engineers wanted to conceive of it. Of course, the future materialized its own way, not in accordance with immaculately engineered visions.

Likewise, Stewart Brand’s exhilarating vision of a corporately-owned, genetically-modified World of Tomorrow — a world subsisting on a diet of what he calls ‘Green Ag BioTech’ — seems to me unlikely and ill advised.

Founder of the famously countercultural “Whole Earth Catalog” back in 1968, Brand now styles himself as an “ecopragmatist.” He said that three global dynamics – climate change, urbanization and biotechnology – are causing people like himself to reverse long-held opinions and to embrace nuclear power and genetically modified food.

Brand is vivid and likeable on the stage, and his talk was expansive and entertaining. Because he is such a prominent convert to biotech, his philosophical reincarnation as an ecopragmatist advocate for nuclear power and GMO food might well have a measure of influence. But not with me.

His talk left me unconvinced and unraptured by the whole vast global laboratory experiment on nature and our food that is currently being executed with slam-bam systemic speed. I just don’t hear the call of the land as a plea for more industrially created, corporately owned genes and the petrochemicals necessary to sustain them. What I hear instead is a full-throated call for natural respect. Same as it ever was….”

Read it all on “The Call of the Land”.

Photo of a Portland farmers market by Steve Minor, via Travel and Liesure blog. Click image above to go there.

PORTLAND — Customers at the city’s farmers markets may soon be able to buy unpasteurized local milk, hard cider, beer and wine to go with their fresh vegetables, meats and baked goods.

City Councilors John Anton and Cheryl Leeman are sponsoring an amendment to the city’s rules that would allow licensed market vendors to add fermented beverages, raw milk and raw milk products, such as cheese, to their wares.

“This is something that was initiated by citizen requests,” Anton said.

State laws that regulate farmers markets allow vendors to sell unpasteurized milk as long as it is clearly labeled. The proposed amendment to the Portland rules would also require vendors to have a laminated placard prominently displayed at their stands that explains the risks of consuming unpasteurized milk.

According the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who drink raw milk are at a higher risk of food-borne illnesses because pathogens that could be living in the milk are not killed during processing.

But raw milk advocates say drinking unpasteurized milk has positive health effects, and that the pasteurization process destroys some of milk’s health benefits.

Anton said he opposes the placard requirement and that he plans to offer an amendment eliminating it at the next City Council meeting on Feb. 6.

He said it isn’t that he is disregarding the health risks, but that requiring market vendors to display the placard is unfair as long as other businesses that sell raw milk are not required to do so.

“The state law does require that it be clearly labeled as unpasteurized,” Anton said. “I’m comfortable that is sufficient consumer protection.”…”

Read it all on The Forecaster.

From the Lyme Disease Sentinel blog:

“Narcissists, sociopaths, or psychopaths come from all walks of life, they come in all shapes and sizes and they can be either a man or a woman. These personality disorders can vary from each other but many of the traits overlap. These personalities tend to cluster in positions where they can feel important, garner attention and have power over others…like the medical system, politics,psychiatrists, some religious leaders…etc.

When it comes to conspiracies…in the world of lyme disease and throughout society, many people often disbelieve the goals and plots of some of these people because they cannot fathom their mindset. Something in their brains is not working right so they lack empathy, compassion, love and they often do not realize the consequences of their actions…in that… in the long run they don’t even realize that their negative actions will often end up harming themselves…”

Read it all on the Lyme Disease Sentinel.

“Here is article which shows why a toxicologist won’t eat microwavable popcorn or why a farmer will not eat non organic potatoes or why a fishery expert stays away from farmed salmon. Read on to learn why, as well as other foods you should stay away from.

~Health Freedoms

Food scientists are shedding light on items loaded with toxins and chemicals–and simple swaps for a cleaner diet and supersized health.

Clean eating means choosing fruits, vegetables, and meats that are raised, grown, and sold with minimal processing. Often they’re organic, and rarely (if ever) should they contain additives. But in some cases, the methods of today’s food producers are neither clean nor sustainable. The result is damage to our health, the environment, or both. So we decided to take a fresh look at food through the eyes of the people who spend their lives uncovering what’s safe–or not–to eat. We asked them a simple question: “What foods do you avoid?” Their answers don’t necessarily make up a “banned foods” list. But reaching for the suggested alternatives might bring you better health–and peace of mind….”

“….6. The Cancer Researcher Won’t Drink: Milk Produced With Artificial Hormones

Rick North is project director of the Campaign for Safe Food at the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility and former CEO of the Oregon division of the American Cancer Society.

The problem: Milk producers treat their dairy cattle with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST, as it is also known) to boost milk production. But rBGH also increases udder infections and even pus in the milk. It also leads to higher levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor in milk. In people, high levels of IGF-1 may contribute to breast, prostate, and colon cancers. “When the government approved rBGH, it was thought that IGF-1 from milk would be broken down in the human digestive tract,” says North. As it turns out, the casein in milk protects most of it, according to several independent studies. “There’s not 100 percent proof that this is increasing cancer in humans,” admits North. “However, it’s banned in most industrialized countries.”

The solution: Check labels for rBGH-free, rBST-free, produced without artificial hormones, or organic milk. These phrases indicate rBGH-free products….”

Read it all on Health Freedom Alliance.