Food safety questions: can readers help

A reader who prefers not to be identified is asking The Bovine community whether anyone can answer the following questions regarding food safety:

1. If pathogens exist in a particular batch of raw milk (for instance, salmonella, campylobacter or e-coli O157:H7), and those pathogens are then killed by pasteurization , what effect (if any) do the dead bacteria have on consumers who later drink that milk?
2. In particular, if e-coli O157:H7 is liable to release “shiga-like toxins” is there some possibility that killing the e-coli via pasteurization might precipitate the release of such toxins into the pasteurized milk?
3. Does anyone have information on the use of activated charcoal or bentonite clay as a remedy (and in particular, a handy home remedy) for any of the pathogens that might be found in raw milk?

Walmart’s donation to Growing Power

From Andy Fisher on Civil Eats blog:

“Everyone hates fundraising. I am one of those rare souls who actually likes it, but I know how time-consuming, disheartening, and frustrating it can be. Having been the main fundraiser for the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) for 14 years, I am intimately familiar with the realities of non-profit fundraising. So, the recent news that Growing Power was accepting a million dollar donation from Wal-Mart was not so surprising. A million clams is, as they say in D.C., “real money.”

WI farmer Vernon Herschberger “not getting sucked into the [DATCP] game”; he says Michael Schmidt inspired him

The latest from David E. Gumpert on the Complete Patient blog:

Farmer Vernon Herschberger. Photo from David E. Gumpert at The Complete Patient blog.

“I wanted to meet Hershberger in person, because I admire his courage in challenging the Wisconsin authorities in their campaign to deny people access to healthful foods. He said at that time he was fine with me writing about him, which I hadn’t yet done by the time Judge Fiedler made his decision. Since the decision came out, I checked in to make sure he wasn’t afraid to be quoted in light of the harsh decision.

Being the humble man that he is, Hershberger told me it was okay, “But I don’t want to be boastful. I only want to encourage the consumers and farmers.” He didn’t say it, but fear seems not to be part of his makeup.

Slow Food promoting raw milk cheese

From the 3 Wheeled Cheese blog:

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“Slow Food has been fighting for the rights of consumers to buy raw milk and the rights of cheesemakers to make cheese from raw milk for almost two decades, and its biennial event, Cheese, has long been a forum for publicizing the issue. This year Cheese 2011 sees the launch of a new Slow Food campaign site for raw milk, www.slowfood.com/rawmilk. As part of the campaign, an international panel of cheesemakers, experts and cheesemongers came together today to share their experiences and describe the situation in their own countries.