Of course Canada’s not mentioned here. Still, David E. Gumpert reports some fascinating news from the wider raw milk world. From his “The Complete Patient” blog:
“A few weeks ago, the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency came out with an eye-opening report on raw milk. This agency, the UK’s equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, acknowledged and accepted, at least on a minimal basis, the reality of raw milk, including the following:
* The FSA sought out the opinions of more than 100 raw milk consumers via “an innovative consultation event” on “options for controls for RDM (raw drinking milk).” “The overarching conclusion from the event is that there is an appetite among producers and current RDM consumers for increased consumer access to RDM…”
* The FSA said it was open to allowing raw milk vending machines in the UK. “Vending machines for RDM are used across many countries in the EU and producers and consumers have suggested that more flexible rules to allow vending machines placed in retail outlets would allow wider, but still controlled access to RDM.”
* It concluded that consumers and producers hold “a strong view….that there should be wider accessibility to RDM but this should still be managed and controlled.”
The FSA report, coming on the heels of renewed openness to raw milk by New Zealand (including an online survey of raw milk consumers) has prompted Mark McAfee, the founder and director of the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI), to try to capitalize on the international warming trend (as it were) on raw milk. In a letter to John Sheehan, the FDA’s dairy regulation head, he proposed, “a meeting to create and establish an ‘investigational pilot project’ that would narrowly permit interstate commerce of raw milk for human consumption under FDA supervision, specific standards, testing and control.” …”
The Bovine 