Raw milk story

[Country Doc]

Raw milk story I though you may find interesting.


http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...598525,00.html

[southerngurl]

It's stuff like this that makes you wish you could go somewhere else and start up a free country with small government .. oh wait.

[Deb862]

????? Wow. I just don't know what to say. I am just shocked and appalled that something like this would happen.

"There are 65,000 child-porn websites," asks indignant co-op member Nancy Sanders, a pediatric nurse and mother of five from Des Plaines, Ill. "Why doesn't the government go after those?"

I feel the same way.

[palani]

A contract would be a necessary thing to have in this instance.

Section. 10. U.S. Constitution

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

[willow_girl]

When milk leaves the animal, however, it can also contain any number of pathogens, which is why most doctors consider pasteurization — subjecting milk to a short burst of heat followed by rapid cooling — one of the great public-health success stories of the 20th century. By eliminating most of the pathogens that cause disease, including E. coli, salmonella and listeria, they say, pasteurization has helped lower infectious-disease rates in the U.S. more than 90% over the past century.

Therein lies the REAL story, AFAIC ...

I wonder how many of the folks drinking raw milk have ever seen the filter that comes out of the pipeline in a milking system at the end of a shift?

I have seen hundreds, from dozens of farms, and you couldn't pay me to drink raw milk from the bulk tank in a commercial dairy. 'Nuff said!!!

[reluctantpatriot]

Considering that the store bought "safe" milk literally makes me sick not long after I drink it, but the raw goat milk I obtain from my herd does not, I will go with the raw milkers on this one.

As for what the milk filters look like at the end of a shift, have you even thought about what that gunk on the udders and teats does to the product even before it is pasteurized? If manure gets into the milk lines during a milking shift it doesn't matter how much you sterilized or disinfected the system before or after, the product is going to be tainted.

It would also be ironic if dairy tankers had to run in convoys with armed escorts in this country, just because someone doesn't like it that some customers want to purchase and consume a food product, of their own volition, that hasn't had to jump through all the hoops of state and federal department of agriculture (insults to) food safety inspections.

[Country Doc]

Most laws, even the bad ones come from some problem in the past. If they completely dropped the laws of pasteurization, it would be a matter of time before some big dairy made a bunch of people sick and the law returns. There should be some middle ground for small farms.

[Lizza]

Honestly, it wouldn't even be possible to do large scale raw milk sales. I'm sure that is part of the problem, it can't really be "factory farmed". The laws that lead to pasteurization came from the horrible conditions that the cows were kept in the large cities (distillery dairies). The cows were sick and kept in unsanitary conditions, the handlers had horrible sanitary practices and were possibly sick, the cows were fed distillery waste. Instead of cleaning up the dairy's they started pasteurizing. On top of this was the fact that milk just didn't "keep" raw and needed to be pasteurized to have a long shelf life (a lot of people were moving into the cities and no longer had their own family cows). Raw milk doesn't travel well. Not that it goes "bad" but starts turning into the many other dairy products we all so love (sour cream, butter) but it won't necessarily be a gallon of milk anymore (like most people think of it, enriched with Vit. D, pasteurized, and homologized).

Anyways, if anyone is really interested in learning about raw milk and its many benefits I would suggest: The Untold Story of Milk and Keeping a Family Cow. The first book pretty much takes you through the ENTIRE story of milk, how/why we farm it, how pasteurization came to be, and why we should drink raw milk. The second book tells you a bit about those things but mostly tells you how to get good clean raw milk for your family from your family cow.

We drink raw goat milk, sell raw goat milk (yes it is legal in Oregon as long as you have fewer than 9 dairy goats and sell on farm). We also have drunk raw cow milk from another farm and plan on getting our own Jersey so we can have raw cow milk regularly and also sell that as well. The two farms that sell it around here have a huge waiting list of customers. You can only have 3 milking cows to legally sell it.

And, no, I wouldn't want to drink out of a commercial dairies bulk tank but I will drink my own fresh milk that I know is clean and safe.

Originally Posted by Country Doc

Most laws, even the bad ones come from some problem in the past. If they completely dropped the laws of pasteurization, it would be a matter of time before some big diary made a bunch of people sick and the law returns. There should be some middle ground for small farms.

[okgoatgal2]

the need for pasturization came about from large bulk farms, not small family enterprises. but whatever. i'll continue to drink the milk from my healthy goats, thanks very much. we're all much better off in my family.

Originally Posted by southerngurl

It's stuff like this that makes you wish you could go somewhere else and start up a free country with small government .. oh wait.

Do you ever wonder if this is why most 3rd world countries don't want americans around for fear of our laws on what you can and can't do. Just too much government!

[southerngurl]

Originally Posted by willow_girl

Therein lies the REAL story, AFAIC ...

I wonder how many of the folks drinking raw milk have ever seen the filter that comes out of the pipeline in a milking system at the end of a shift?

I have seen hundreds, from dozens of farms, and you couldn't pay me to drink raw milk from the bulk tank in a commercial dairy. 'Nuff said!!!

I don't want you to. I don't know that I would want to drink raw milk that is being produced that way.

But I do know that I am not a child, and I can make my own decisions. If you think that something is bad for you, I don't care if you don't want to eat it, but don't you dare tell me I can't (speaking to the government here really, not so much you), you have no place.

[DJ in WA]

By eliminating most of the pathogens that cause disease, including E. coli, salmonella and listeria, they say, pasteurization has helped lower infectious-disease rates in the U.S. more than 90% over the past century.

I’m not sure how to read this, but if it’s claiming that pasteurization is the major reason for disease reduction, untrue. How about vaccination. And TB was reduced when housing conditions improved – less crowding, etc. How about sanitation. How about controlling mosquitoes and other vectors. How about testing and eradication with antibiotics, etc.

The dangers of raw milk have been exaggerated. Read this link:

http://thefutureisorganic.net/dairy/Chapter15.htm

As far as milk filters, you could argue that pasteurization encourages such dirty milk, as you count on cooking the milk later. But a dirty filter doesn’t bother me that much if hundreds or thousands of gallons of milk went through it. The bacterial concentration in the milk should be very low. Do we expect all of our food to be sterile?

I don’t think you want to know what all is in your food, but most of those things don’t hurt us, and are probably protective by providing some immunity. In our obsession with sterilizing, Americans are becoming immunologically naïve, setting ourselves up for serious illness whenever we are exposed to pathogens.

With E. coli, it’s our modern production practices of high grain diets and dirty conditions that cause the problem. Because these methods make for cheaper milk, we need pasteurization to cover ourselves. Cheap high volume production by big farms, who have big clout with lawmakers.

[willow_girl]

But I do know that I am not a child, and I can make my own decisions. If you think that something is bad for you, I don't care if you don't want to eat it, but don't you dare tell me I can't (speaking to the government here really, not so much you), you have no place.

Shame on the government, then, for wanting to protect you from the natural consequences of your own foolishness!

Actually, it might be useful to allow the herd to be thinned in such a manner ... what say we repeal the seatbelt laws while we're at it?

Actually, I agree with you, to a point. If you want to milk your own cows or goats, and drink the milk, that's fine with me. After all, I drink my cows' milk, too, although I pasteurize it first.

Where the rules change is where COMMERCE -- the selling of milk -- enters the picture. Guess what? The government can and does regulate COMMERCE. So, you're right, the government has no business telling you that you can't consume potentially tainted milk ... but it DOES have the authority to prevent someone from selling it to you.