Here’s a fascinating story from Ann Monroe of MSN Lifestyle news titled “Trafficking in raw milk” and subtitled “After illegal drugs, raw milk — milk that’s unpasteurized and unhomogenized, just as it comes out of the cow — may be the most briskly traded underground commodity in America.” David E. Gumpert, from whose “The Complete Patient” blog we learned about this story, has this to say about it: “You squeeze legitimate producers enough, and they go underground. Doesn’t that theoretically increase the danger? After all, the underground sources presumably aren’t being tested or otherwise monitored by regulators. Dairy czar John Sheehan of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and his minions in state ag and public health agencies should consider the implications: If this growing volume of unregulated raw milk doesn’t create an uptick in food-borne illness, might not ever more consumers ask themselves a dangerous question: What’s the big deal about raw milk?”
“It’s early Saturday morning, and the Brooklyn street is almost empty. Except at one half-open store, where about 30 people are lined up in the narrow aisle clutching empty backpacks, shopping bags and suitcases. At the door, a man checks each entrant, asking “Are you here for the…pickup?”
Someone shouts “The van’s coming!” and the place burst into action. People run into the street and come back hauling heavy cartons and cooler chests. Then the store empties as quickly as it filled, as everyone lugs their contraband purchase home. Continue reading
The Bovine 