{"id":793,"date":"2011-08-30T19:07:08","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T00:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realfoodhouston.com\/?p=793"},"modified":"2011-09-14T16:41:12","modified_gmt":"2011-09-14T21:41:12","slug":"i-want-to-drink-raw-milk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/2011\/08\/30\/i-want-to-drink-raw-milk\/","title":{"rendered":"I Want to Drink Raw Milk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Some people, especially those in government agencies like the FDA, say that I don’t have a right to choose and eat any particular food, even if\u00a0I believe it\u00a0is good for me, even if all the evidence points to a health benefit to me and my family.\u00a0\u00a0Here’s\u00a0what they’re doing about it:\u00a0 there was\u00a0a raid on a private club distributing raw milk<\/a> in California (no one had ever complained or gotten sick from the raw milk or other products sold there) and\u00a0a year-long sting\u00a0on an Amish farmer, Dan Allgyer<\/a>, in Pennsylvania, (again, no one had complained or gotten sick from the raw milk).\u00a0 What is going on?\u00a0 The claim from the local and federal government agencies who instigate these raids\u00a0is that they are only interested in our safety.\u00a0 If that were really true, wouldn’t they first\u00a0target producers and farmers who are making a lot of people sick, like maybe Cargill<\/a>,\u00a0where 36 million (yes, million!) pounds of turkey were recalled after salmonella in the turkey killed<\/em> at least one person and sickened 76 others in 26 states<\/em>?\u00a0Now that’s a\u00a0safety issue!\u00a0 But the recall was voluntary, the FDA did not raid or close down\u00a0the Cargill plant where the contaminated turkey was processed.\u00a0 Why then\u00a0is safety\u00a0the FDA’s justification for armed raids and year-long sting operations targeting raw milk that has never made anyone sick?\u00a0\u00a0When they tested\u00a0Dan Allgyer’s milk, they did not find any pathogens and had to fall back on the charge of interstate commerce.\u00a0 People in Maryland wanted the milk but couldn’t buy it locally.\u00a0 There was nothing wrong with Dan Allgyer’s\u00a0milk.\u00a0 The only problem was the\u00a0ban on selling milk across state lines, a ban for which\u00a0there has never been\u00a0a good reason.<\/p>\n

I’ve\u00a0been drinking raw cow and goat milk for about 7 years.\u00a0 I also eat raw milk cheese, sour cream, butter, and kefir and\u00a0eat homemade foods made from raw milk products,\u00a0such as\u00a0ice cream and salad dressing.\u00a0\u00a0Raw sour cream makes great salad dressing, much better (and healthier)\u00a0than\u00a0store-bought dressing made with soy oil, preservatives,\u00a0and msg.\u00a0 I think it is\u00a0important that I know my raw milk dairy farmers and have visited their farms.\u00a0 I feel comfortable about drinking their milk.<\/p>\n

There are\u00a0people who say that raw milk may\u00a0be safe to drink, but only\u00a0for those who were raised drinking it and have developed a kind of affinity for the organisms,\u00a0like\u00a0those who grew up on a farm.\u00a0 However, I\u00a0was raised in the suburbs (as were my husband and children)\u00a0where there wasn’t any raw milk, in fact, I quit drinking even pasteurized milk when I was in elementary school–I just didn’t like it, probably because the processed milk then available really didn’t taste good.\u00a0 But now, for the first time in decades, I\u00a0enjoy drinking\u00a0milk, and\u00a0I have never had any\u00a0problems drinking it.\u00a0\u00a0However, other<\/em> foods have made me sick, and some members of my family were very, very\u00a0sick, for days,\u00a0most likely\u00a0from sushi.\u00a0 I haven’t heard of anyone calling for a ban on foods like sushi or even raw oysters.\u00a0 Many more people get sick from these\u00a0foods than from raw milk.\u00a0\u00a0 Since making major changes in my diet\u00a0several years ago,\u00a0which included\u00a0adding raw milk, I am now healthier than ever before.\u00a0 I rarely get sick and\u00a0I have lots of energy.\u00a0\u00a0 I simply feel better.\u00a0 Most important, I don’t want to stop feeling better; I want to continue being able to buy and drink delicious,\u00a0raw milk and eat all of\u00a0the other local\u00a0foods that I really believe make me healthier and happier.\u00a0 I don’t know of any good reason to ban raw milk.\u00a0 Anyone who has looked into the\u00a0claims and still wants to drink it should be allowed to.<\/p>\n

Texas allows sales of raw milk and raw milk products, but only directly from the farmer on his farm.\u00a0 There\u00a0were bills (HB 75\/SB 237)\u00a0introduced into the state legislature last session that would have allowed raw milk dairy farmers to sell their milk at farmers’ markets and other agreed-upon locations.\u00a0\u00a0 HB 75 died because it couldn’t even get out of committee to be debated in the House.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As I said in my previous post about HB 75, Texas House Bill 75 About Raw Milk Delivery<\/a>, “It was defeated by testimony of the Texas dairy industry and the Texas medical establishment, who promoted unsubstantiated fears about the safety of raw milk.”\u00a0 The\u00a0argument that\u00a0simply delivering the raw milk would make it somehow\u00a0less safe to drink\u00a0was\u00a0just an\u00a0excuse\u00a0to prevent customers having more convenient access to raw milk, since many customers\u00a0live hours away from the nearest certified dairy.\u00a0 If the milk is safe for customers to pick up at the farm and take home, then it is\u00a0at least as safe, if not more safe, when delivered by the farmer to a location closer to the customer.\u00a0 Another problem with Texas regulation of raw milk dairies:\u00a0\u00a0the requirements for\u00a0licensing, preparation, storage, and testing of the milk for certified raw milk dairy farmers\u00a0can significantly\u00a0add to the cost of\u00a0raw milk dairy farming\u00a0and can make it\u00a0difficult–if not impossible–for the smaller dairies\u00a0to meet state requirements.\u00a0\u00a0 As has been seen in all kinds of farming, the small, family farm is being regulated out of business by fees and restrictions that only large farms can afford to pay and implement.<\/p>\n

Update 9\/6\/11: If our rights to food freedom are not upheld\u00a0in the courts (see David Gumpert’s posts of 9\/16\/11 and 8\/31\/11\u00a0linked below under Related Posts) how can we ensure our access to the foods that keep us healthy?<\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/p>\n

9\/6\/11, The Failure of Raw Milk Prohibition<\/a><\/em>: an excellent analysis of the war on raw milk by Karen De Coster<\/p>\n

9\/6\/11, David Gumpert reports more bad news about food freedom in Wisconsin: State Regulators Can Do No Wrong–WI Judge Rules in Favor of DATCP in Craig and Zinniker Cases As FTCLDF Courtroom Losing Streak Continues<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

8\/31\/11, David Gumpert reports on the latest (and unfavorable) news about Dan Allgyer’s case: In First Ruling, Federal Judge Provides Clues to His Leanings in MD Food Club Case, and They’re Not Encouraging for Amish Farmer Defendant, Or Food Clubs<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Jeff Ackerman: Can we have our milk and drink it, too?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Why You Don’t Want to Drink Pasteurized Milk<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>on CureZone.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people, especially those in government agencies like the FDA, say that I don’t have a right to choose and eat any particular food, even if\u00a0I believe it\u00a0is good for me, even if all the evidence points to a health …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,20,16,11,17,6,19],"tags":[26,25,61,46,24,31,62,45],"class_list":["post-793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-access-to-good-food","category-farmers-markets","category-food-freedom","category-food-rights","category-local-farming","category-raw-milk","category-real-food","tag-food-freedom-2","tag-food-rights-2","tag-healthy-foods","tag-pasteurization","tag-raw-milk-2","tag-sustainable-farming","tag-texas-food-laws","tag-traditional-food-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p70SEj-cN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}