Reducing the danger of raw milk

From Marsha Johnston, on The Modern Farmer:

Erwin Shank, of The Family Cow, in his bottling plant

“Since establishing a risk assessment management plan and an on-farm raw milk hygiene testing lab after a campylobacter outbreak in early 2012, raw milk from The Family Cow in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, is cleaner than pasteurized, says owner Edwin Shank. “We are doing what I call test and hold. We test every lot of bottles and hold them in the cooler until the test results are finished. Pasteurized milk has no regulation that requires you to hold it back until the test result is in. As raw milk producers, we are considered guilty until proved innocent, so we have to go over and beyond what is expected,” he says, adding that it is quite normal for his coliform counts to be zero or 1 per milliliter.

Udder hysteria over raw milk dangers?

From the Hanover Evening Sun:

“As we sat down here to write, we were all ready to pour ourselves a nice tall, cold one. A big glass of raw milk. Surely, something that nutritious and natural couldn’t really be harmful.

Then, our research led us to the websites of the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration.

Whew. It’s a wonder we’re even around to have this discussion.

Considering all the dangers associated with raw milk, and considering that pasteurization didn’t become widespread until the 1950s, it’s a miracle that our parents and grandparents ever survived childhood.

More raw milk farmers being harassed

From Cultured Mama.com:

“Mary and Bart Hill own M & B Fairview Farm in Hamburg, PA.  For the last five years, they have provided delicious, nutritious raw milk from their gentle, friendly Jerseys and  Milking Devons and subsequent crosses, as well as from their herd of a variety of breeds of dairy goats.  I can personally attest to their goat’s milk being the best I have ever tasted; fresh, creamy and sweet without that typical “gamey” flavor commonly associated with goat’s milk.

They also provide grass-fed and pastured meats of beef as well as goat and chicken, along with truly pastured eggs.  In fact, if you wanted to buy a live chicken from them, the website advises that you set an appointment and give plenty of warning so that they have time to go out and catch one of their free-ranging birds.  Local upscale restaurants carry their meats and dairy, and they are a staple at many farm markets around the region.

16 sick with Yersina after drinking pasteurized milk from a PA dairy

Photo via Barfblog

From Doug Powell, via Barfblog:

“The number of people sickened with yersina from pasteurized milk sold by a Pennsylvania dairy has risen to 16 from five at the end of July, and now
state and county health officials are telling consumers to discard any ice cream purchased from the Brunton Dairy farm after an unopened container tested positive for Yersinia enterocolitica.

Christine Cronkright, state health department spokeswoman, said 16 cases of Yersinia enterocolitica have been reported to date as a result of the outbreak − nine from Beaver County and seven from Allegheny County….”

Read more on Barfblog

Yet another news story about raw milk kingpin, aka Amish farmer, Dan Allgyer

From Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer, via The Cornucopia Institute:

PHILADELPHIA — In the predawn fog of an April morning last year, armed federal agents fanned out across darkened Lancaster County, Pa., pastures in search of contraband.

Months of investigation had led to this point. Strong evidence suggested that Rainbow Acres — a small Amish farm just outside Kinzers — served as the hub of a large-scale smuggling operation responsible for shipping hundreds of gallons of illicit product across state lines.

After sweeping past dozing cattle and roosters waiting to crow, the agents finally found what they had come for: dozens of coolers filled with unpasteurized milk.

Don’t “have a cow” over raw milk

An editorial from Philly.com

Quoting the initimable Bart Simpson. -- from the Simpsons, via the Interwebs

“About a year ago, after months of investigation complete with undercover purchases, a posse of federal agents made a predawn move on a Pennsylvania farm and discovered a sizable stash of pure, unadulterated . . . milk.

The government’s pursuit of Daniel Allgyer, an Amish dairy farmer in Lancaster County, continued last month with a federal complaint seeking to stop his hustling of unpasteurized milk, which has long been popular among the crunchy set but illegal to sell across state lines. A lawyer for some of Allgyer’s eager customers told The Inquirer, “He is being treated as if he were a drug lord.”

San Francisco Chronicle weighs in on the case of the FDA vs Pennsylvania Amish raw milk farmer Dan Allgyer

From Carolyn Lochhead, SF Chronicle Washington bureau:

Screen grab from SF Gate website

“(05-22) 04:00 PDT Washington — Pennsylvania Amish farmer Dan Allgyer has become a cause celebre for raw milk drinkers as the target of a Food and Drug Administration campaign – using sting operations and guns-drawn raids usually reserved for terrorists and drug lords – to eliminate unpasteurized milk.

Such milk, also known as raw or fresh milk, is legal in California and considered essential to Europe’s finest cheeses, creams and butters.

But under the authority of a 1987 FDA regulation banning interstate commerce in raw milk, government agents have conducted a sting operation on a raw milk producer in Fresno, made three raids on a boutique goat cheese maker in Ventura County and descended with guns drawn on a raw milk buying club in Venice (Los Angeles County).

Public backlash against raw milk raid

Baylen J. Linnikin in The Washington Times:

“Federal agents watched the home closely for a year, gathering evidence. Then, in a pre-dawn raid, armed members from three agencies swooped in.

No, this is not a retelling of the lightning U.S. commando attack in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Rather, the target of the raid late last month by U.S. marshals, a state police trooper and inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) was Amish farmer Dan Allgyer of Kinzers, Pa. His so-called “crime” involved nothing more than providing unpasteurized, or raw, dairy milk to eager consumers here in the Washington area.

FDA agents infiltrate membership of Amish raw milk farmer in Pennslyvania

From Stephan Dinan in the Washington Times:

Photo via Bloomberg News The FDA headquarters stand in Silver Spring, Maryland.

“A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.

Trafficking Amish raw milk in New York

Jordan Heller, writing for “The Daily”, a “newspaper” for the ipad:

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“Wearing a black-brimmed country hat, suspenders and an Amish beard, “Samuel” unloaded his contraband from an unmarked white truck on a busy block in Manhattan. He was at the tail end of a long smuggling run that had begun before dawn at his Pennsylvania farm.