Claravale Farm has voluntarily suspended milk production for a second week, in response to reports of additional illnesses from campylobacter (as noted in my previous post).
At least three children who drank Claravale Farm milk were identified by Pediatric Alternatives, a suburban San Francisco practice, as having become ill in recent weeks. That is on top of six who became ill during February.
A Bay Area food club that distributes Claravale milk said in a letter to customers that Claravale, based in Paicines, CA, decided not to release milk for sale this week.
“They have NOT been shut down by the CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) and NONE of their products have been recalled. However, they have again received a handful of calls from customers who have been diagnosed with Campylobacter, and they have therefore decided to voluntarily shut down the dairy again to make sure that it is not the milk causing this.”
The food club manager noted that tests from both the CDFA, along with an independent lab, have come back negative for campylobacter and any other pathogens. The food club noted some frustration by the owners of Claravale, Ron Garthwaite and Collette Cassidy.
“They have also scrubbed and cleaned their whole facility from top to bottom, been extra diligent about cleaning their cows udders, and been overall overly cautious in their milking practices. They are confident that their milk does not have pathogens in it, but they do not want to be shut down by the CDFA, and so have taken the reports seriously and proactively stopped selling their milk…”
The frustration is understandable. Claravale has been in business since the 1920s, without a single illness. The dairy continues its low profile, choosing only to speak to its distributors and the regulators.
Food Safety News reported that an epidemiological investigation into the possible illnesses from Claravale milk is continuing.
As we all know, the dairy isn’t likely to receive any help from regulators, who wish the dairy would disappear. Claravale is the third major raw dairy in recent months to experience illnesses likely from their raw milk, following on problems at Organic Pastures Dairy Co. and The Family Cow in Pennsylvania. This would seem to be the perfect situation for the fledgling Raw Milk Institute to get involved, and provide expertise to Claravale to help isolate possible problems…or rule them out as a source of illness. But RAWMI seems to have gotten stuck as a result of all the controversy about its role.
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A new Executive Order potentially gives President Obama the authority to take over America’s transportation, health care…and agriculture in the event of a national emergency.
The language is a bit opaque, but the “Executive Order” for “National Defense Resources Preparedness” that was issued last week by President Obama gives the President authority to “be prepared, in the event of a potential threat to the security of the United States, to take actions necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability, including services and critical technology, for national defense requirements…”
I don’t think we are quite at point Natural News has it, that Obama “seizes control” over all farms and food. But certainly the order could be used as an excuse to do that in the event of a “national emergency” or some such excuse. Such declarations are a favorite tactic of budding dictatorships.
Most likely nothing happening here immediately. Just a nice little legal document to have in the drawer…when the time is right.
http://m.vcstar.com/news/2012/mar/20/expert-testifies-on-sales-pitch-given-farm/
This is from the Alabama dept of health, starting in 2008, a weekly span of various bacteria infections.
Guess all those people didn’t wash their hands or foods or boil their milk…… (said with sarcasm)
After this round of comments is collected, then the comments will be integrated into a draft for broad distribution to all farmers nationally that have voiced interest inn RAWMI listing.
I have called Claravale in the last few weeks and there is no answer. I have offered any assistance that would be welcomed. RAWMI and OPDC has always been supportive of Claravale. RAWMI gets calls every week from farmers seeking help and it is given openly. Just this week RAWMI assisted a new start-up raw milk dairy in CA to access Raw Milk insurance.
However, the OPDC team does not appreciate the highly inflamatory video that was developed to hurt OPDC. This video sits on Claravales home page.
Instead of working together, it is unfortunate that Claravale has made other choices.
We are very supportive of Claravale and wish them the very best in their process of investigating the origins of their pathogen challenge.
Production of raw milk is no longer a simple or easy task. It is now a political, economic, biologic, regulatory, pathogen challenge. To make it even tougher,….the consumer is wanting to rebuild their broken immune systems and when that fails they sue you for pathogens created at a CAFO where antibiotic abuse is rampant.
Raw Milk is dirt cheap at $7.50 per half gallon….
Mark
Education is the key. Teaching people how their current foods are processed, etc will cause the masses to push for change on so many levels.
An example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wshlnRWnf30 From Jaime Oliver is where I first I heard of pink slime, last year.
http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2012/03/21/safeway-to-stop-selling-pink-slime/ It has taken about a year for the masses to open their eyes…
now would be a good time to further teach the masses about other foods…. what is in that grocery store milk? What did the cows eat/ What were they injected with? How is it processed? What makes each gallon taste exactly the same? etc.
That is more than we pay for a gallon.
OPDC almost shut down Claravale for good via James Stewart by lying to the markets that Claravale had closed and that they should carry OPDC milk. I heard it’s a story in Gumpert’s book. Last time I mentioned it someone quoted the page number. What a bunch of hypocrites…
Why on earth would Claravale trust you in the midst of what is probably its darkest hour. You of all people should know how stressful an outbreak is. Admonishing them for not accepting your advice just shows how you feel about your own self importance, Mark. I also think Gumpert would know this history and why even mention RAWMI in this situation???
Doesn’t take an MBA to perceive the relationship between the price of some thing, and its availability. Pittance farmers who believe they’re ‘being nice to their customers’, are out of touch with the market-place in everything else. … just a matter of time ’til they put themselves out of business. Producers who get paid properly are motivated to keep the supply system working.
When we started the Home on the Range cowshare in 2007, silver was $8 per ounce : our milk came in to town then at $12 per gallon … 100 miles from Chilliwack to the farthest delivery point. Today silver is ~$33. Farmland here in the lower Fraser Valley is the most expensive in the world … driven by speculators betting against the gathering hyper-inflation gathers. Save yourself
“I heard it’s a story in Gumpert’s book.”
Kristen, if you are going to be the “Farm Muckraker,” you’ll have to actually check your sources. That isn’t what I said.
David
If you think you can do it cheaper or better,…please join in, we need more producers. Please call me and share with me your secret… would love to know what it is.
Claravale has my 100% support. Anything negative that may have been said was said 10 years ago and is far behind both of us.
Think again, the price of raw milk at the store or farmers market at $6-8 per half gallon…very very reasonable.
Quality raw milk at the farmers market that is tested and inspected…very cheap.
It isn’t a matter of the price being ‘reasonable’. It is a matter of being able to have the money to buy it.
The average family cannot afford that on a regular basis. When my kids were young, they went through 3-4 gal per week. $60 per week for milk alone would have killed my food budget.
The average gross income is less that $50000/yr Subtract state/federal taxes, rent/mortgage, insurance, car payments, medical bills, school projects, gas, utilities, phone,etc. And food, I have no idea what a family of 4 pays on average for food now-a days. Since I currently don’t have a garden, i spend a lot per week, I eat well and now I can afford all organic and $8/gal for raw milk if I choose to buy it. I couldn’t when my kids were young, our income would not have allowed it.
At the same time they are not located in CA which, I would guess has something to do with the cost of the milk.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=187920,00.html
On $50000 annual pay filing married
Weekly Gross Pay $961.54
Federal Withholding $104.13
Social Security $40.38
Medicare $13.94
California $21.35
SDI $9.62
Net Pay $772.12 weekly or $3345 per month take home
>1000sqft house rent $1000 monthly at this price it isn’t in the best of neighborhoods either.
>car insurance $84 monthly on one car
>renters insurance $25 monthly
>electric $75 monthly this is no AC in summer
>water $75 monthly
>sewage/garbage $75 monthly
>gas $125 winter $60 summer
>Health insurance? When I worked for the state, had I bought theirs, for me alone it was @ $350/month(and that wasn’t the best offered) add a spouse and kids? I’ll round it to $400 monthly (not counting deductibles and copays, nor dental insurance)
>Car payments? Most people don’t own their car, they can’t afford to pay cash for it. many aren’t close enough to ride a bike to work. I don’t know what the average car payment is on a used car? $200monthly?
>gas for car $40/week =$173/month
> parking fees? It was @$175/month for me to park downtown when I worked for the state, my job did not pay for it and that is with a discount.
$2410 monthly expenses leaving $935/month or @$215 per week for food, clothes,car repairs, copays if someone gets sick, or needs glasses or braces, or heaven forbid someone requires a special diet or daily medications. Not to forget any school activities, they all cost money.
All that money sounds like a lot, but when broken down it goes fast.
I challenge you to go out within 100 miles of you, and do the same fiscal breakdown of a family attempting to make a living, farming. You – and about 1oo million others = the producers, on whose backs the parasite class is riding – have a far bigger, systemic problem than the price of raw milk. George Gordon says ‘people who drink raw milk are living at the top of the food chain’.
Start your personal reformation program by thanking God that you have access to REAL MILK, at all. As hyper-inflation kicks in, you’ll be hard-pressed to come by even that much. Apres the 2nd Tuesday in November = le deluge
Where did I say “farmers are supposed to work for pittance? ” Please do site where I said that…… You cannot, as I did NOT say that.
Where did I “grumble about paying the people who feed you what they’re worth” ? Where? Do site it.
Where are you reading this???
Please re-read what I wrote, you will then see that I was NOT talking about farmers earnings, I was talking about the average person who buys food and their income. As for paying taxes, I don’t see that I have a choice, jail is not where I’d want to be. I also don’t see where I have a choice regarding insurance, again the alternative is jail. can’t drive a car without it.
the real problem is that the money system has done exactly what – in 1913 – its critics predicted it would do, and McFadden spelled out in Congress, 70 years ago = driven the nation into serf-dom. Get yourself ready to be driving out to the farms who still have something to sell, with something of value to barter with them. It’s going to be that bad … soon. $7.50 per half gallon will seem like a bargain, when there’s none to be had
“compare the income of a farm family to yours” And the purpose would be, what?
“by chiding producers of REAL MILK, to back down in our prices, ” Really? Where did I state this?
“you relegate farmers to lower incomes. ” Again, where do I state this?
I spent years trying to help people in various political / religious activist causes. Not a waste of time, but I conclued : one can only help people who are ready to be helped. You strike me as, stuck in the confused stage., knowing something’s seriously wrong, yet without a good remedy.
You can’t right all the wrongs for everyone else … but you have the duty to take care of your own household. How? – each of us has to reach down and limber up the American value of self-reliance … go out and generate some real wealth, with which to trade with others. It’s imperative to keep that wealth away from the predators and parasites .. the socialists who will pilfer your $$ to pay for their pipedreams.
You don’t begrudge someone getting what the market will bear. You go to your strengths, and minimize your weaknesses.
Save yourself from the wrath to come
California officials announce recall of raw milk products from San Benito County dairy
By Jessica M. Pasko
jpasko@santacruzsentinel.com
Posted: 03/24/2012 06:39:00 AM PDT
Updated: 03/24/2012 06:39:21 AM PDT
SACRAMENTO — State officials have issued a recall notice for raw milk and raw cream produced by Claravale Farms of San Benito County.
A recall and quarantine order was issued after a state veterinarian confirmed the presence of a bacteria called campylobacter in raw cream. The dairy voluntarily ceased distribution of its products after the discovery. The stoppage of distribution also included goat milk.
Consumers are urged to dispose of any Claravale raw product in the refrigerator with code dates of “MAR 27” and earlier, and retailers are to pull those products immediately from their shelves.
No illnesses have been definitely linked to Claravale products at this time but state health officials are conducting an investigation into reported clusters of campylobacter illness.
Symptoms of campylobacteriosis include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. Illness typically occurs two to five days after exposure to the bacteria and lasts about a week, although state health officials say some people never completely recover. Though it’s usually mild, those with compromised immune systems are at risk for a serious, life-threatening infection that can result from the bacteria.
Christine Lewis