LA County food police attempt to confiscate raw milk from homes

From Mike Adams on Natural News.com

(NaturalNews) In a bombshell revelation of the depth of the food police state that now exists in LA County, California, NaturalNews has learned that the LA County health department has unleashed door-to-door raw milk confiscation teams to threaten and intimidate raw dairy customers into surrendering raw milk products they legally purchased and own.

According to Mark McAfee (see quotes below), both LA County and San Diego county have attempted to acquire customer names and addresses from Organic Pastures (www.OrganicPastures.com) for the sole purpose of sending “food confiscation teams” to customers’ homes to remove the raw milk from customers’ refrigerators. Using both phone calls and home visits, these teams intimidate customers and try to force them to give up their milk.

These revelations have surfaced in a recorded NaturalNews interview with Mark McAfee, the founder of Organic Pastures and a food rights advocate. Here’s what he told us:

More e.coli controversy around Organic Pastures dairy and raw milk products

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

“Controversy seems to be lurking in the supposed manner in which two of the children became ill from E.coli O157:H7 in OPDC milk. In a comment following my previous post, McAfee stated, “We do know that at least two of the most sickened children did not drink raw milk,….but drank OPDC after it had been ‘fermented and cultured with store bought Kefir cultures ‘ ” There is nothing in the CDPH report letter that details the circumstances of how the milk was consumed by the sickened children.

But in an email today to Stephen Beam, head of the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s dairy division, McAfee requested that publicity coming out of that agency explain his understanding about how the milk was used by a customer. “In all fairness, it is crucial that your department and CDPH both include in your press releases, that two of the hospitalized and most sickened children, did not drink raw milk at all. They instead drank a homemade brew of cultured raw milk with added cultures in their own containers and the end product contained millions of bacteria per ml. They also ate cultured vegetables that were soaked in raw whey collected from this cultured Kefir.

Dr. Mercola on “this scary drink”

From Dr. Mercola:

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have long claimed that between 1998 and 2008, there were two deaths from raw milk.

This number is often used in media reporting about raw milk.

But those illnesses actually appear to have come from a form of cheese that isn’t legal under current FDA regulations, called queso fresco.

Was it 2006 all over again at OPDC?

From David E. Gumpert at the Complete Patient blog:

“Back in the fall of 2006, the California Department of Food and Agriculture shut down Organic Pastures Dairy Co. after the state identified six children it said were sickened by E.coli O157:H7. Inspectors invaded the dairy and carried out hundreds of manure and environmental tests. The dairy was only allowed to resume productionsome two weeks later, after its owner, Mark McAfee, called a press conference to protest that the CDFA was dragging its heels in lifting its quarantine–he threatened legal action and consumer protests.

Five years later, and the story has unfolded in amazingly similar fashion. The CDFA shuttered Organic Pastures four weeks ago, after California health authorities connected the dairy with five illnesses from E.coli O157:H7 scattered around the state. Extensive testing of manure samples and the OPDC facilities was carried out.

Organic Pastures raw milk now cleared for sale after a month waiting in limbo

From re:Nourishment.org:

Organic Pastures -- outstanding in their field? Photo via re:Nourishment.org

“After a month of testing, frustration and waiting, Organic Pastures Dairy filed an emergency injunctive relief petition with the Fresno County Superior Court, along with all of the test results supporting the petition. Three hours later, the ban was finally lifted from Organic Pastures products!

Modern milk war and food freedom

From Top Secret Writers.com:

Picture via the internet.

“Currently sold legally in 30 states (1), raw milk is the subject of tremendous controversy and is one of the only foods that cannot be legally sold across state lines.

Recent news of E.coli being found in raw milk from dairies in California and Washington seem to reinforce the argument that the sale of raw milk should be illegal in all states.

However, before such a tremendous hit to freedoms is allowed, it’s important to take a closer look at raw milk, E.coli and our freedom to choose what we eat.

15 things pasteurization kills in milk

by Mark McAfee, CEO, Organic Pastures Dairy, from Health Impact News Daily:

There are two raw milks in America: one for “people” and one for the “pasteurizer.” Raw milk meant for people is clean, pure, comes from cows on green pastures, and is regulated on a state-by-state basis. Raw milk for the pasteurizer is regulated by the FDA under the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) and can be filled with pathogenic bacteria. Raw milk intended for pasteurization is commingled from many confinement dairies and is never tested for pathogens. Pasteurization does not create clean milk; it just kills filthy milk.

The FDA sits at the very top of the PMO food chain system and reigns as the military dictator over the rules and regulations of the PMO. Yes, they wear military uniforms, and yes, they are the absolute last word at the NCIMS (National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, the organization that runs the PMO). So I do not exaggerate when I use the term “military dictatorship.” No one moves or breathes or thinks a thought without FDA approval when it comes to pasteurized milk and its regulation.

Marijuana is OK but raw milk is NOT OK — in Humboldt County California

David E. Gumpert of The Complete Patient blog writes for Grist.org:

“Humboldt County in northern California has long been known as a mellow place, thanks in large measure to all the marijuana that’s grown there, legally and illegally.

But while Humboldt County may be the marijuana capital of America, it has no intention of becoming a mecca for another controversial natural product: raw milk.

Indeed, Humboldt County is having a very difficult time deciding whether to even allow the sale of unpasteurized milk, though decision time is rapidly approaching. On Tuesday evening, Jan. 11, the county’s Board of Supervisors is due to take up the issue — and it’s not at all clear what it will do.

New study on lactose intolerance finds raw milk is not necessarily a solution

David E. Gumpert, writing for Grist.org:

“For many years, raw-milk advocates have claimed that unpasteurized milk counters lactose intolerance — the upset stomach many people feel after consuming dairy products. There have been loads of anecdotal claims, and an unpublished study of raw milk drinkers in Michigan in 2007 showed that more than 80 percent of 155 individuals who said they had been diagnosed with lactose intolerance could handle raw milk without problems.

But opponents of raw milk, prime among them the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have always been adamant that there’s no difference between raw and pasteurized milk for individuals who are lactose intolerant.

YES to raw milk in Humboldt County

Here’s an excerpt from the story in yesterday’s Times-Standard:

“The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will hear a presentation on letting local dairymen sell raw milk products to Humboldt consumers on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Citizens are requesting Ordinance 512.4 be rescinded. Please attend this meeting to show your support.

This ordinance does not stop anyone from consuming raw milk. The Public Health Department can do nothing about it. Anyone who owns a cow or is part owner can consume the milk from that animal under a legal contractual arrangement allowed in all 50 States. The disadvantage of a cow share program is the milk isn’t inspected.

Under current California law, raw milk is legal if the dairy is licensed and regularly inspected. Only two dairies meet these guidelines, Organic Pastures in Fresno and Claraville Farm in Paicines. Organic Pastures tests each batch of raw milk and no human pathogens have been found in 10 years. Claravale Dairy has been producing and selling raw milk since 1927 and not one test has shown a pathogen in 87 years.