Raw milk is the topic on America’s Test Kitchen radio show

“This time on America’s Test Kitchen, we delve into the heated debate surrounding raw milk. Is it safe to drink? Should you have the right to buy it in the first place?…”

Listen here

Genetic purity for Michigan pork?

From David E. Gumpert, on the Complete Patient blog:

“…Big Ag’s Michigan Pork Producers Association similarly denies it is trying to stamp out small producers:

“Since the DNR began enforcement, opponents of the ISO have stepped up their efforts and rhetoric by embarking on a vicious misinformation campaign alleging that MPPA and ‘Big Ag’ have conspired with the DNR to put small, niche pork producers raising hogs outdoors out of business.  We cannot stress enough that this is utter nonsense and absolutely untrue.  Neither MPPA nor the DNR have any interest in deterring niche producers from continuing to operate as usual, unless the producer is using the breeds or types of hogs prohibited by the ISO, or crossing those prohibited breeds with domestic breeds to circumvent the ISO.”

Rawsome founder responds to the New Yorker article on raw milk and the Rawsome raids

Thanks to Marilyn Gang for the news tip. From Aajonus Vonderplanitz’ “We Want to Live” blog:

“The New Yorker magazines RAW DEAL article was so far more favorable to our right to have the foods we want in a major magazine, including raw milk but the details of the article are not so favorable. Everyone continues to argue bacteria.
(http://www.thecompletepatient.com/article/2012/april/25/new-yorker-profile-rawesome-highlights-stresses-raw-milk-producers-spotlight#comment-19638)
Bacteria is not the problem.

I do not understand why the New Yorker author reiterated the fraudulent disease-“statistics” from CDC, health department, university and processed-food employees and investors as if the statistics were based on science and fact, especially since they possess such a superstitious prejudice against raw milk. I gave her research that proved calling bacteria the food problem is an intentional misdirection and a way for government/industry to gain control of our food….”

Read it all on “We Want to Live”.

North Carolina threatens to shut down blogger over “practicing nutrition without a license”

Just another entry in the annals of state follies? A blogger who was too much “in their face”? Nevertheless, it’s disquieting that the coercive power of the state would be deployed to enforce dogmas around nutritional advice. I wonder if there are ANY serious health researchers out there (who have not been bought and sold into compliance) who have any respect for the official government nutritional recommendations. I mean really, just for example, are governments going to tell you to not eat GMOs? Maybe for a while longer in Poland, but good luck if you’re living in North America. From Sara Burrows, at Carolina Journal Online:

“CHARLOTTE — The North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition is threatening to send a blogger to jail for recounting publicly his battle against diabetes and encouraging others to follow his lifestyle.

Chapter 90, Article 25 of the North Carolina General Statutes makes it a misdemeanor to “practice dietetics or nutrition” without a license. According to the law, “practicing” nutrition includes “assessing the nutritional needs of individuals and groups” and “providing nutrition counseling.”

CFIA returns, posts armed guards at Montana Jones’ farm last night, on “death watch” for pregnant ewes

Posted last night on Montana Jones’ “Save Our Shrops — Shropshire Sheep Facebook page:

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CFIA RAID on WHOLEARTH FARM!—Suddenly, at 7:15 PM tonight, four Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) officials arrived at Montana Jones farm with an Order of Destruction for 9 VRQ genotyped sheep.

CFIA claim that the obex of a sheep submitted tested positive for scrapie. We do not believe them. These are the sheep CFIA claimed were low risk for scrapie. We asked for the DNA report to have it retested by a third party with DNA kept from the same sheep, to avoid another CFIA possible “mistake”.

Farmer Wendell Berry tells it like it is

Wendell Berry, from Chronicle of Higher Education, via Grist.org, speaking at the National Endowment of Humanities:

Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry. Photo via Grist.org

“…“The two great aims of industrialism — replacement of people by technology and concentration of wealth into the hands of a small plutocracy — seem close to fulfillment,” Berry told the crowd at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “At the same time, the failures of industrialism have become too great and too dangerous to deny. Corporate industrialism itself has exposed the falsehood that it ever was inevitable or that it ever has given precedence to the common good.”

The Jefferson Lecture “is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities,” according to the NEH, which sponsors it every year.

Before the speech, Berry wryly commended the NEH’s courage in inviting him without first reading his remarks. At the end of the event, NEH Chair Jim Leach humorously added: “The views of the speaker do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States government.”

GMOs covered in Vogue magazine

Proving once again that food issues are not just for farmers and foodies, here we have a crucial contemporary food concern (GMOs) given serious coverage in a mainstream, perhaps THE most mainstream fashion magazine of them all, Vogue. Does that mean the GMO issue is “in vogue”. Well, for all our sakes, let’s hope so.

From The Non-GMO Project:

Movie star Scarlett Johansson -- the sort of thing you'd expect from Vogue. A serious story on GMOs, not so much.

“The current issue of Vogue magazine (May 2012) features an excellent article on GMOs. A well-researched piece by Eve Conant, “Lab to Table” covers the latest research on the technology as well as the burgeoning resistance movement. The article concludes with great info about the solutions offered by the Non-GMO Project, and ends with this quote from Non-GMO Project Executive Director Megan Westgate:

I asked Westgate if she felt certain GMOs were dangerous. “What evidence do we have that they are safe? This is an experimental technology, and if people don’t want to experiment on themselves or their children, they need to have a choice. And that’s what we’re providing.”…”

“What does it profit a man?” — farmer Michael Schmidt — on our culture of profiting from death and destruction

By Michael Schmidt, special to The Bovine:

Profits paving the way to a bright future in rural Ontario? Photo by Michael Schmidt.

Health Canada, CFIA and the local health departments across Canada are on the loose to chase the wrong goose.

First of all please read the following excerpt based on official data from the US.

Since Government is  relying a lot on the research data from the US, I will assume that I can do the same thing.

Shepherd still seeking lost sheep — Montana Jones files for judicial review of kill order for rare Shropshire herd

From the Canadian Constitution Foundation:

Ewes vs Them: Shepherd Montana Jones with lamb. Photo via Shropshiresheep.org

HASTINGS, ON: The owner of a rare heritage Shropshire sheep flock that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has ordered destroyed has filed a federal court application for judicial review of the order.

Shepherd Montana Jones’ farm has been under quarantine for two years. In March, 2012 the CFIA issued an Order of Destruction to kill the sheep so that it could test their brain tissue for suspected scrapie. Jones had asked the CFIA to consider various alternative proposals to live test and monitor the flock without killing the rare breed, but the CFIA refused. The flock has already tested negative for scrapie in a live biopsy test and has shown no visible symptoms of the disease. Scrapie is not a human health risk.

Raw milk in “The New Yorker”

From Dana Goodyear, at the Culture Desk at The New Yorker:

“…In Barber’s experience, though, whether or not milk is pasteurized is secondary to what the cow—in his view, a “vector for the grass”—eats: not only are pasture-fed ruminants eating food they evolved to digest, but also their milk reflects the subtle, seasonal changes in the field.

“Grain-feeding is a little like pasteurization,” he said. “It’s a dumbing down, an evening out of the flavors.” In the battle over raw milk, which I write about in the magazine this week, Barber sees a more important point being lost. “The picture is not just about pasteurization,” he said. “It’s part of a much larger question about how you’re raising the cattle and what quality of milk you’re trying to produce.