Government scientists have examined an outbreak of 148 illnesses from campylobacter last year at The Family Cow dairy in Pennsylvania, and concluded its impossible to produce raw milk safely.
This supposedly scientific report, by scientists of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and various state public health departments, concludes that because the illnesses occurred at a dairy that was paying attention to safety, and was being inspected by Pennsylvania regulators, there is no way to safely produce raw milk on a consistent basis.
The study, in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, states that while it might be possible to reduce the risks associated with unpasteurized milk consumption with further testing, consumers can never be assured that certified unpasteurized milk is pathogen-free, even when from a seemingly well-functioning dairy. The only way to prevent unpasteurized milk-associated disease outbreaks is for consumers to refrain from consuming unpasteurized milk. This outbreak demonstrates the importance of pasteurization and the ongoing need for consumer education to specifically highlight the risk of serious illness from unpasteurized dairy products and the need to avoid these products. This is especially important for consumers at high risk for complications from infections (eg, pregnant women, immunocompromised persons, and young children).
(I obtained the above quote, and its amazing deductive reasoning, from various online publications that quoted from it–I chose not to access the actual paper, from the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, because it charges $40 for one-day access by ordinary peons, and Im not about to add insult to injury by rewarding this outfit financially for its politically biased science.)
So heres another assessment, from your truly, of its primary conclusion, that consumers can never be assured that certified unpasteurized milk is pathogen-free, even when from a seemingly well-functioning dairy.
The study seems not to address the reality that consumers can never be assured that other food staples, like ground beef and chicken in particular, are pathogen-free, since these foods are the cause of repeated outbreaks of illness, often from the same producers. They seem not to get singled out for special scientific attention, despite the fact that repeated surveys, especially of chicken, show the majority of what is sold publicly is tainted by pathogens.
Theres another thing about this latest raw milk study that is curious–an important factor that is by the studys own admission glossed over.
In a retrospective immediately after the illnesses occurred, the dairys owner, Ed Shank, determined that the water his dairy was using to clean equipment wasnt as hot as it should have been. Yet the studys authors conclude this deficiency was minimal and thus not a major reason his dairys milk might have been susceptible to contamination.
Of course, to have concluded that the water temperature was a major problem would have messed with the pre-determined conclusion the authors began the study with: that there is nothing raw dairies can reasonably do to significantly reduce risk from illnesses.
The big problem here is that the government representatives (regulators, scientists, etc.) are locked into a rigid ideology, which preaches that because raw milk led to terrible outbreaks 100 years ago and more, it will always lead to terrible outbreaks. The fact that it no longer leads to terrible outbreaks–in fact, only on a very occasional basis leads to mostly mild outbreaks of the type that occurred at The Family Cow, is of no consequence. When you are locked into a rigid ideology, every example that even slightly reaffirms your hypothesis is taken as further proof that the ideology still holds.
As a result, the ideologues are unable to bend even slightly in the face of important new realities. As just one example, they are unable to acknowledge that Ed Shank, like many of todays raw milk producers, hasnt been at raw milk production all that long. He spent many years as a producer of conventional milk, until he decided less than a decade ago to shift toward organic pasture-based production. He and other dairy owners are gradually gaining the knowledge necessary to produce consistently safe raw milk…even while government types sit in the background rooting for illnesses so they can condemn raw milk.
There is a final irony to the study. The authors say at one point that their findings demonstrate the ongoing need for consumer education to specifically highlight the risk of serious illness from unpasteurized dairy products and the need to avoid these products. If Im not mistaken, the governments scientists and regulators have been hammering this point home ad nauseum for many years.
The result? Well, the study does make one important real-life observation on this matter: It points out that the number of dairies in Pennsylvania with permits to sell unpasteurized milk has exploded by a factor of six since 2002, from 26 to 153, thanks to growing consumer demand.
The education the study authors encourage is already happening. Lots of consumers have educated themselves, and made the decision that the slight risk of illness from raw milk is worth taking to gain access to the healing effects of raw dairy–the reduced incidence of asthma, allergies, and other illnesses in their children and themselves. Yes, lots of consumers are being educated, and they are voting with their feet.
**
The reverberations over the Maine courts rejection of Dan Browns unregulated farm stand and his towns Food Sovereignty ordinance, reported in my previous post, continue.
Supporters of Food Sovereignty are pushing for state legislation that would do much of what the ordinances passed by nine towns in the state have accomplished–legitimize private sales from farmers and other food producers directly to consumers.
Hearings are being held Tuesday in Augusta on two other bills that would expand private food sales. One would exempt from regulation dairies selling small quantities of raw milk and another would exempt face-to-face food transactions from regulation.
Dan Brown has told the Bangor Daily News that he plans to appeal the states judges ruling in late April that his tiny dairy is subject to regulation. Moreover, he said the ruling will likely put him out of business, and in the ranks of the unemployed in search of a job.
I would trust Ed Shank’s milk over what tptb deem “healthy and/or safe”. After all, it was pasteurized milk that killed those 3 or 4 people recently, and that dairy is still in business.
Indeed, people are educating themselves on so many levels. That is contributing to the push for changes. Organic was supposedly a “fad” It’s bigger than it was 10-20 yrs ago.
Ora, is right, keeping it under the table is safer for now. How many dairy farmers have a wish to be as large as OP? Or even Claravale?
I bet the US powers that be, don’t want the Americans noticing that Europe or other countries produce raw dairy without all the accused problems the US govt blathers about.
There’s another way to raise the issue you and letseatrealstuff are raising: Why is it that the U.S. alone in the world (along with Canada) is focused as a matter of policy on using propaganda (disguised as science) and force to deny people food they have determined is nourishing?
I have a feeling it’s a lot deeper than just “safety” or bacteria counts or pathogen storms. I have a feeling it’s a LOT deeper than that. I think this is more about bigdairy producers being jealous of a bit of competition and about consumers finally wising up to the health benefits of raw milk and wanting it more and more – and that effects bigdairy and bigmed and a few others in their poker game.
But I would be very much interested in reading how the EU produces their milk vs how we do it here and what regulations they’re following over there that we don’t seem to be able to grasp over here. It shouldn’t be about pleasing a gang of corrupt thug regulators, but since that seems to be what we’re stuck with we need to find out why they can’t seem to get off dead center and help dairy farmers instead of branding them as kooks, etc. Isn’t it part of a regulators job to help fix a problem when they find one?? Or are they just masquerading as workers who actually know what they’re doing?
I’m just sayin’ . . .
I just reviewed the CDC study that was performed on Ed’s farm. Interesting stuff. I learn so much from this kind of inquiry and it really speaks volumes to why the RAWMI Common Standards work so well. One of the most “critical controls” under the RAWMI RAMP plan is water quality and CIP temperatures. Ed found this out the hard way and his response was humble moral and damn near perfect!! I also have found this out the hard way myself many years ago. When you are a raw milk dairyman…no one helps….not even the government that is always here to help us…( nauseating thought, wish it was true, but I will say that our CDFA inspectors have become more and more helpful in the last few years! a very good thing ).
Perhaps the greatest tribute to be acknowledged about this entire 2012 event is this:
Consumer dollar voting has made its voice and choice ….extremely clear and loud! We love raw milk and we will buy double the amount than last year ( even after the Campy challenges). That is right….Ed’s sales have more than doubled in the last 15 months.
The common theme among the best raw milk producers is this…when there is a problem they adjust, they overcome and get better and keep on going. Never giving up…( perhaps a little in fear of being attacked by a hoard of desparate raw milk moms seeking their raw milk!! ) There are too many benefits from raw milk. It would be tantamount to a Physician or Paramedic/ Nurse -“Patient Abandonment” to stop raw milk sales and retreat. Just like in CA, Ed has patients that depend on raw milk so they do not have to take asthma inhalers. Ed has patients that CAN NOT DRINK Pasteurized milk becuase it will kill them. Remember that “CDC and FDA guaranteed safe pasteurized milk” has killed at least 8 kids since 1998 from anaphylactic allergic reactions….death from properly pasteurized milk!!!….study that —Corrupt Cubi Scientists at CDC…and FDA. Pasteurized milk is listed as the most allergenic food in America at the CDC and FDA. CDC data also has data that shows at least 70 people have died from pasteurized milk since 1972 including the Jalisco cheese incident in 1985 that killed 49 all at once. Zero deaths from RAWMIILK since 1972!! NO DEATHS from raw milk.
The FDA fails to acknowledge the tremendous benefits that raw milk brings to pregnant moms and their babies ( PASTURE Cohort ) and they fail to acknowledge the huge benefits that raw milk brings to asthma sufferers and allergies ( PARSIFAL, GABRIELA, AMISH and other huge EU peer reviewed and published studies ). This is food fascism at its worse!! Corrupted data and twisted science is a CDC/FDA speciality!! Think FDA approved Avandia and 150,000 dead Americans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Think FDA approved Celebrex and tens of thousands more dead Americans!!!!! All at the feet of the FDA and CDC.
In the minds of the FDA and CDC….”Sicken one American and you are tragic dangerous raw milk dairyman….kill thousands and you are a shining star and a corporate chieftan with a stock labened golden parachute.”
Sick bastards!!
This is not the America that I love, but this is the America that I will help educate, feed and change.. so it is the way it should be. Our future generations depend on it. With the autism curve now at 1 in 54 births ( and getting worse every year )…GUT health and immune status is time critical. We will die as a species on earth if we follow the FDA and CDC.
Eds moms know this…they are not stupid!!!
Consumer dollar voting tells it all….”moms are a hell of a lot smarter than CDC Scientists”. The CDC is acting more like the disinformation arm of the FDA Food Inc agency than any morally adjusted and centered scientist.
So what is the best strategy to deal with corrupt CDC and FDA dis-information stooges…ignore them! Give them no attention. Ed has it right…he is soon to be LISTED by RAWMI and he will set a track record to be envied just like other RAWMI LISTED dairymen.
We must all remeber that the CDC is corrupt. There are at least 1.5 million cases of campy every year ( CDC ). 80% of all chicken that enters our kitchens are covered with campy…once you have campy you are immune for life. This story is never told. This entire CDC disinformation campaign distracts Americans from what we should be directly viewing…the truth and our best scientists studies. When the CDC and the FDA suppresses the UC Davis Splash Newsletters and does not allow the public to see the best raw milk investigations and studies…you know that there is corruption and criminal collusion.
So…dollar vote like crazy. Join RAWMI and plan your safety. If they have no target….they have nothing to shoot at. RAWMI is the CDC and FDA target removal organization.
What mom can be blamed if she feeds her family raw milk??? immunity for life from campy and also…no more allergies and that includes asthma??? Asthma kills 4000 Americans every year when properly treated with FDA drugs.
Raw milk consumption is a life saving choice. It is too bad that the CDC and FDA can not find it inside themselves to help fund RAWMI and expand food safety efforts for raw milk in America. Instead they throw GMO tomatos and claim perfection for pasteurized milk when it is a killer allergen and non digestible.
Enough said….back to work.
Education, market building and food safety.
Do not listen to the back ground noise.
Teach, teach, teach!!
Remember Sister Noella Marcellino (the cheese nun)? Hers is a long story that bears reading, but for now, know that she is a PhD microbiologist and cheese maker who, among many other useful things, did a very interesting experiment to help prove to food inspectors that wooden cheese forms (so unsanitary!) were better than the sterile stainless steel ones. She placed raw milk in two containers, one stainless steel, the other a wooden barrel, and inoculated the milk with E. Coli bacteria. In short order the milk in the stainless was ripping full of E. Coli, while the milk in the barrel was nearly void of it. Why? There was a helpful colony of lactobacillus contained in the wooden barrel that handily disposed of the E. Coli. (Sister Noella, I guess, didn’t know that her experiment was unnecessary since you can easily wipe out all bacteria by simply heating your stainless utensils and every other sterilizable thing that touches your always E. Coli-free milk.)
Back in the days of real food, before science took hold of it and improved it, human/bacterial sysmbiosis was all the rage. We fed our barrel bacteria and our gut bacteria and everything in between, without a microscope or a scientist anywhere to tell us the hows and whys, and enjoyed the results. No, I take that back. There were scientists everywhere–grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, neighbors, farmers, you name it–who knew and passed on the wisdom and methods of their forebears. Never thought to call themselves scientists, but in many ways they were more scientific than our modern white-coats, because they trusted Nature and history, and trusted what they saw with their own eyes.
Is it possible that Nature has already given us the tools to control escessive growth of E. Coli in our own guts like in Sister Noella’s barrel??? Is it possible that being surrounded by, and containing within us, a vigorous and diverse bacterial biome makes us stronger and more resistant to exposures of all sorts (bacterial and mineral)? Is it possible that attempts to manipulate natural systems is weakening us? Is it possible that simple gross cleanliness, sunlight, and faith, are long-term health’s key ingredients? Most of us will never know, because our government/scientific safety systems won’t allow us the chance.
“Issues
Can Congress regulate the production of wheat intended for personal use and not placed in interstate commerce?
Can Congress regulate trivial local, intrastate activities that have an aggregate effect on interstate commerce via the commerce power?
Holding and Rule (Jackson)
Yes. Congress can regulate the production of wheat intended for personal use and not placed in interstate commerce.
Yes. Congress can regulate trivial local, intrastate activities that have an aggregate effect on interstate commerce via the commerce power, even if the effect is indirect.”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0317_0111_ZS.html
http://www.lawnix.com/cases/wickard-filburn.html
Can not wait until a senator grows some balls and speaks truth to pharma and drags the FDA into a formal hearing and sends the corruption to the gallows. It will happen…trust me. When our medical system hits 35% GNP. ( it is now at about 25% GNP ) the pain and the obvious will be clear. The FDA emperor will be seen for what it is…naked, greedy, corrupt and ugly as hell.
passes off as an out break of
foodborne illness:
1. Illness; only diarrhea and not cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, lactose intolerance etc. etc. etc.
2. Food; only agricultural commodities and not canned food, cakes, cookies, candy, soda, chocolate milk etc. etc. etc.
3. Outbreak; 73 cases in 3 months, while the nearly 300 million other cases of diarrhea are not even acknowledged.
4. Association; cucumbers, because 67% of the 45 ill interviewed ate cucumbers while only 44% of the well people surveyed ate cucumbers and not because of any actual Salmonella contamination found.
5. Blame; 2 Mexican producers because 6 of the 45 ill interviewed eat their cucumbers and not because of any actual Salmonella contamination found.
Posted April 25, 2013 12:30 PM ET
http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/saintpaul-04-13/index.html
The goal of consumer protection laws is to place consumers, who are average citizens engaging in business deals such as buying goods or borrowing money, on an even par with companies or citizens who regularly engage in business. Historically, consumer transactionspurchases of goods or services for personal, family, or household usewere presumed fair because it was assumed that buyers and sellers bargained from equal positions. Starting in the 1960s, legislatures began to respond to complaints by consumer advocates that consumers were inherently disadvantaged, particularly when bargaining with large corporations and industries. Several types of agencies and statutes, both state and federal, now work to protect consumers.
Making its boardroom available for such treatment, the Vancouver Sun has signaled that REAL MILK has reached the “top of the pile” of political issues here … just when the British Columbia provincial election is coming down to the wire. No small co-incidence, either, that yesterday on its Letters to the Editor page, the Sun printed a large photo of our demo. at the Legislature, along with 2 supportive letters. In the media game = “when you’re hot, you’re hot!”
http://vancouversunpodcasts.com/green-man/the-health-benefits-and-risks-of-raw-milk/#comment-435