Harvard Food Law Society Raw Milk Debate

The Harvard Food Law Society raw milk debate: Sally Fallon Morell (President, Weston A. Price Foundation) and David Gumpert (Author, The Raw Milk Revolution) representing the "pro-raw milk" side, vs. Fred Pritzker (Pritzker & Olson Law Firm) and Dr. Heidi Kassenborg
(Director, Dairy & Food Inspection Division, Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture) on the "anti-raw milk" team.

How safe is raw milk, compared to other foods like cantaloupe, spinach, ground beef, etc.? Should we have the right to choose what we eat based on what we believe?

The pace of the debate may be a little slow for folks new to the issues, but it is an interesting point of contact between the two sides, to be sure.

We can buy tobacco without having to drive to a farm, we can buy alcohol without driving to a distillery, and we can buy both without having to sign waivers. Surely these are more dangerous than raw milk--and yet raw milk is more difficult to buy in most of the US, and not available nearly as widely as cigarettes and alcohol.

How many deaths can truly be ascribed to raw milk, vs. alcohol and tobacco? Is it possible that raw milk regulations, and prohibitions in general, are motivated by something other than concern for public safety?

Fred Pritzker even said it--the regulatory status of raw milk is ultimately a matter of politics, not of science. The more we demand access to raw milk, the more we tell our politicians and regulators that it's important to us, and the more willing we are to defy ridiculous ordinances, the better our prospects for reasonable food laws.

The Only Food I Consume Today Will Be Raw Milk

Today, the only food that I consume will be raw milk.

Why?

A man named Michael Schmidt is on day 25 of a hunger strike in Ontario, Canada. His demands are simple: a meeting with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to discuss the legal status of raw milk.

An Ontario court recently found that Schmidt's raw milk was legal--only to have the Ontario government appeal the decision, and win the appeal.

Really, Ontario, you are going to spend a lot of taxpayers' money outlawing a food that people have been consuming for millenia, and that they will keep consuming regardless? Is this the best role of government? Do you not have real problems to address?

For more information and perspective, click here.

I am fortunate to be in a place right now (California) where I can buy raw milk at a store. I am grateful for that. Most people are not so fortunate.

Feds Versus Small Farmers In The Mainstream Media

No one has gotten sick. It's debatable whether laws have been broken. And yet the FDA has spent a year and a half's worth of time and taxpayers' money on an undercover operation to catch and prosecute Dan Allgyer, a small dairy farmer who has been providing fresh milk to co-owners of his herd of cows. US marshalls, federal agents, and state troopers were dispatched to his farm in a 5AM raid. There, they discovered "numerous portable coolers in the defendant's driveway that appeared to be milk," according to an injunction filed by the FDA.

They could have just asked him what he was doing, and he would have told them.

In the last few days, I've seen balanced pieces in both the SF Chronicle and the Boston Globe about this latest chapter in the FDA's war on raw milk and small farmers.

Unpasteurized milk is legal to buy and consume in all 50 states. It is legal to sell in some states, and illegal in others.

Is it the place of the federal government to ban the interstate sale and/or transportation of unpasteurized milk? Let's consider some goods that the feds regulate less strictly than raw milk: ground beef, raw fish and shellfish, alcohol, tobacco. Oh, and guns.

Even if such prohibitions exist, how much time, energy, and money should the feds put into enforcement? Are there more pressing issues today? Like the economy and jobs, war in Afghanistan, energy policy, hunger and poverty in the US and elsewhere, instability in Iraq and Iran, revolutions in the Arab world, Israeli borders…

Representative Ron Paul (R, Texas) has introduced a bill to legalize interstate commerce in raw milk. He believes that trade in raw milk should not be restricted by the federal government, and that "[i]f there are legitimate concerns about the safety of unpasteurized milk, those concerns should be addressed at the state and local level."

I tend to agree.

(submitted as part of Kelly's Real Food Wednesday)

"Raw Milk Spring" In Washington, DC

This past Monday, May 16, there was a demonstration for freedom of food choice on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

One of the motivations for the rally was outrage at an elaborate, expensive, year-and-a-half long sting operation mounted by the FDA against a peaceful Amish farmer who was distributing his milk to members of a private buying club.

Here's a video in which Adam Kokesh (talk show host) interviews Elizabeth Reitzig (rally organizer) and Mark McAfee (owner, Organic Pastures, the largest commercial raw milk dairy in the country, and outspoken raw milk activist):



The video is actually a great introduction to some of the issues surrounding raw milk, including the legal ridiculousness.

For information about how to get raw milk where you live, click here.

For more details about the rally, see here and here.

(This post is part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday link carnival.)

Fourfold Path To Healing Conference, post 1

This past weekend, I attended the Fourfold Path To Healing Conference near San Francisco.


Sally Fallon Morell quoted Schopenhauer:

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

She observed that with respect to raw milk, we're well into the second stage.

Queen Elizabeth Drinks Raw Milk

Did you know that Queen Elizabeth drinks raw milk?

Here's what I say: If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me.

Ironically, selling raw milk is illegal in at least one of the countries over which Queen Elizabeth reigns (Canada).

For more, see here and here.

Raw Milk In Massachusetts: Analysis, June 7 2010

Last month saw a raw milk drink-in on the Boston Common, followed by a Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) hearing about raw milk buying clubs (but it wasn't, really). For a full recap, see here.

Many folks who wanted to attend the hearing were denied access, because the hearing room was inadequate. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has called on Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to investigate what they see as a serious violation of the state's open meetings law. The OCA press release is here. Their letter to Attorney General Coakley is here.

Winton Pitcoff of the Northeast Organic Farming Association sent out an email yesterday detailing some conversations he had had with Soares. These details do not seem to be available on any web page [UPDATE: they're available here], so I excerpt Pitcoff's email at the bottom of this post.

Raw milk in Massachusetts is still very much in the news.

In the meantime, based on what I've seen and read, I may understand more of what has been going on in the statehouse.

I don't think that the MDAR or Commissioner Scott Soares has any beef (so to speak) with raw milk or with raw milk buying clubs. Until January, the MDAR has known about these clubs, and has ignored them. (It is silly to suggest that MDAR might not have known about them.) In my opinion, neglect was absolutely the appropriate policy: the clubs are far outside of the jurisdiction of the MDAR.

In January, faced with formal letters from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), the MDAR felt that it had to do something, in order to keep the peace within the state government. Cease-and-desist letters followed, along with a proposed hearing. The events around the hearing demonstrated to everyone that the MDAR could not adopt new regulations without unleashing a huge public outcry (and due to their mishandling of the situation, they got an outcry anyway).

In conclusion:

It's nice to think that MDAR is an ally of raw milk, in theory at least, and that there might be some level of raw milk access that they are willing to defend. But five months ago, we had many raw milk buying clubs; now, the largest and most visible of these clubs are gone. Access to raw milk has been restricted, and farm revenues diminished. This is a tide that must be reversed.

(Thoughts, comments, disagreements, arguments welcome.)

---

Excerpt from NOFA's June 6 email:

No Additional Raw Milk Hearings
MDAR says buying clubs still illegal

In response to an inquiry from the NOFA/Massachusetts Raw Milk Network, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) Commissioner Scott Soares said that the department will not hold additional hearings on raw milk regulations at this time, and the regulations as they are currently written will stand during what he said he expects to be a lengthy process leading up to any changes. Soares indicated that as a result of internal review and comments that have been collected regarding this issue thus far, adequate examination will exceed the current resources and capacity of the agency. "In the interest of providing sufficient attention to matters associated with raw milk," said Soares, "the agency will indefinitely postpone any further public work around regulatory changes that were proposed in April." (See here for details about that proposal).

In a June 3 phone call with NOFA/Massachusetts Raw Milk Network coordinator Winton Pitcoff, Soares said that discussions will continuewithin the Department about how to best maintain access to safe raw milk in MA, and NOFA/Mass staff and raw milk farmers will have opportunities to participate in those discussions. Any decisions to pursue regulatory changes would be publicly announced and hearings would be held.

"It remains illegal for businesses engaged in milk distribution to operate without a milk dealer license," said Commissioner Soares. Soares said that no buying club has yet applied for a milk dealer license, and that the Department would have to examine how to handle such a request. Soares added that the Department has not pursued further action against any buying clubs and that the Cease and Desist letters sent to clubs earlier this year were meant to alert those groups that they were operating illegally.

Soares said that as the Department continues its examination of the regulations, "everything is on the table. We will consider extended sales and what it would take to make those sales safe." He reiterated MDAR's commitment to on-farm raw milk sales, and said that there have been no discussions to eliminate or further restrict such sales.

Proposed changes to the regulations that do not pertain to buying clubs -- dilution levels of chlorine in water used to sanitize caps, flooring in milking parlors, etc. -- are still being reviewed "in the context of the comments provided" and to confirm alignment with the federal Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, said Soares.

The NOFA/Massachusetts Raw Milk Network has obtained copies of all of the email and written comments submitted to MDAR during the April/May comment period. Approximately 285 comments were submitted, with all but one of them indicating opposition to the proposed additional restrictions on raw milk sales. The lone letter in support of tighter regulations came from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (see NOFA's response to that letter here).

MDAR posted 'FAQ's About Buying Raw Milk in Massachusetts' on its website following the May 10 hearing.

The NOFA/Massachusetts Raw Milk Network remains committed to ensuring access to raw milk for consumers and will continue to work with state agencies and officials toward expanding that access. There is demonstrated demand for raw milk from consumers and farmers have proven they can produce raw milk safely. Massachusetts' 27 licensed raw milk dairies sell more than 80,000 gallons of milk a year to customers around the state and steward more than 3,500 acres of Massachusetts farmland. Sales of raw milk are an invaluable tool for preserving dairy farms, at a time when the dairy industry is in crisis and farms are closing at an alarming rate. Allowing expanded access to raw milk through such avenues as home delivery and farmers market sales will help further strengthen these farms.

Boston Raw Milk Rally, Drink-In, and Hearing Wrap-Up

Last week there was a raw milk rally and drink-in on the Boston Common, followed by a public hearing with Commissioner Scott Soares of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR).

Mainstream press covered the events (Boston Globe; Fox News).

I believe the most important testimony in the hearing came from Harvey Schwartz, a Boston-area attorney and raw milk drinker. He urged Commissioner Soares to reconsider the course that the MDAR has charted with respect to raw milk buying clubs. (The MDAR is simultaneously claiming that they are already illegal, and trying to create a regulation making them illegal.)

Schwartz spoke of the legal notion of agency. He stated that the buying club arrangement was a principal/agent relationship. He observed that under Massachusetts state law, you can contract an agent to perform all sorts of transactions for you, including writing checks, executing legal documents, buying cars, buying real estate, making end-of-life decisions, and buying vodka, cigarettes, and prescription drugs. And you can have an agent buy a cow full of milk for you. Or an entire farm, including its contents. So why should it be illegal specifically for an agent to buy you a gallon of milk?

Schwartz's argument convinced me that the legality of buying clubs in Massachusetts will ultimately be confirmed. It may just be a question of finding someone who's willing to challenge the law, and someone who's willing to foot the legal bill. I don't think it will be hard to fill these roles.

For those of you who like to have the whole picture, below is a wrap-up of the event, with lots of context (because I love context).

---

Selling raw milk is one of the best (and indeed only) ways for a small dairy farm in New England to stay in business. Raw milk drinkers pay $6-$10/gal directly to farmers for raw milk, while processors pay farmers only $1-$2/gal. People have been buying milk on-farm for many years in Massachusetts. They have also formed raw milk associations and buying clubs of various sorts. One motivation has been that most of the people are in the east of the state, while most of the milk is in the west. A milk-drinker who wanted raw milk could give their money to someone who would go to the farm to buy it for them. In some cases, these arrangements were informal, with groups of friends taking turns driving to the farm. In other cases, small businesses were formed to do the errand, generally charging a fee to cover the cost of operations and to support a small staff. These buying clubs extended the reach of raw milk sales considerably, and saved many driving miles, too.

In December, Commissioner Soares sent a letter in support of Eastleigh Farm's bid for a license to sell raw milk in the town of Framingham, Massachusetts, citing the above observation about the economics of small dairy in Massachusetts. Soares has historically been a faithful ally to Massachusetts farms; indeed, part of the state purpose of the MDAR (on their website) is "[w]orking to keep Massachusetts agriculture economically and environmentally sound". 

In February, the MDAR started sending cease-and-desist orders to some of the more visible Massachusetts buying clubs. The clubs receiving these orders seem to have complied.

It's not clear what prompted these orders, if anything. There was no public health crisis or outbreak. David Gumpert, a leading expert on raw milk policy, shares his thoughts here. Importantly, many of the dairy farms rely on the business provided by buying clubs. The farms are in financial danger without the clubs.

In April, the MDAR published a notice announcing a hearing for public comment on some proposed changes to the regulations governing raw milk in Massachusetts. Among other things, these proposed changes appeared to make it illegal for anyone to distribute raw milk anywhere but on its farm of origin. I wrote about this here. Interestingly, the MDAR claims that even at present, raw milk sales are only legal on-farm; yet if this is indeed the case, then the reg changes should be unnecessary. Boston Localvores address this point in greater depth here.

The MDAR's move caused quite a stir in the raw milk community. A pre-hearing rally was scheduled, and key raw milk activists made plans to fly in from out-of-state.

The MDAR hearing would take place Monday, May 10, at 10AM.

At 5:10PM on Friday, May 7, the MDAR announced that they were withdrawing the proposed changes regarding the distribution of raw milk, and that they would not hear public comment on the withdrawn changes; instead, they would hear comment only on some other, much more technical changes having to do with disinfection procedures for bottle caps, composition of barn floors, and so on.

Reactions to the MDAR's last-minute change were mixed, as I wrote here. NOFA, for instance, saw this as a sign that the people had been heard. David Gumpert saw it as a sign that the people had been denied the chance to be heard, and the government would try to go ahead with its original plans regardless.

The morning of the rally was clear and crisp. Local and national raw milk advocates gathered on the Boston Common, along with a bluegrass band, and most importantly Suzanne, a cow from Eastleigh Farm farmer Doug Stephan's herd. Suzanne was certainly the first cow to have grazed on the Boston Common in a long time. An impromptu press conference was held, we milked Suzanne, and we drank some milk.

We walked the few blocks to the municipal building where the hearing would take place. The room was inadequate for the number of people who wanted to attend the hearing; many were turned away. Beyond that, the room was not configured well. Comments were taken at one end of the long room, and there was no microphone or amplification system, so it was difficult to hear at times.

The MDAR heard perhaps five or so comments on the proposed changes regarding milk caps, barn floors, etc. After that was done, they agreed to hear comments on the withdrawn changes.

The hearing lasted about three and a half hours, which was twice as long as originally planned. Commissioner Soares, his staff, and the public all showed great patience, even during a sometimes emotional hearing.

Many, many people offered their comments, many of them quite insightful. I offer grateful acknowledgment to them all, and I regret that I cannot reproduce the comments here. Anyone who is interested can get a full transcript by calling 617-626-1700 and asking for a transcript of the MDAR public hearing of May 10, 2010, regarding raw milk. If you are curious, I would encourage you to do so.

Commissioner Soares said that the MDAR would review the public comment, and announce its plan of action within the next 30 days. Needless to say, I am curious to see what will happen!

Boston Raw Milk Rally And Hearing (Guest Post By Max Kane)

By guest blogger Max Kane of Wisconsin

Photos by Alex Lewin

PRE-HEARING EVENTS ERUPT AS RAW MILK SUPPORTERS HAND MILK SUZANNE THE JERSEY COW AS SHE GRAZES PARK GRASS IN DOWNTOWN BOSTON

An affirmative message was sent to food regulators around the U.S. as a raw milk freedom rally, centered at the Boston Common (a park area in downtown Boston), proved that unprocessed food supporters have the courage to stand up for their Rights. A large group of activists, from as far west as California, joined a pure jersey cow named Suzanne to show opposition against the cease-and-desist orders issued by MDAR (Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources) to MA raw milk buying clubs. Suzanne, belonging to a herd owned by popular talk radio host Doug Stephan, stood patiently across the street from the state capitol building while thirsty people lined up to milk her. California's celebrity/rock-star raw dairy farmer Mark McAfee was first in line for the milking.

[left to right in foreground: Doug Stephan, Max Kane, Suzanne, Mark McAfee] 

McAfee did not hesitate to quickly summon Max Kane of Wisconsin to "grab the other side of the bag". McAfee and Kane were squeein' away while giving an oral explanation of milking to the media. A dozen cameras captured the event as the line for fresh warm milk continued to grow. Many others jumped on the "handles" to milk. Signs and banners proclaiming farm freedom and consumer rights circled the event as a hired band provided music. Inspiring speeches led by Mark McAfee, Max Kane, and David Gumpert iced the rally's cake.

The supportive crowd paused for a picture in front of the capitol building, and then continued to march to a scheduled MDAR milk hearing two blocks away. The hearing's purpose was to receive public comment on newly proposed milk regulations in MA. With hopes to avoid getting a good old-fashioned education at their own hearing, MDAR pulled some of the language from the proposed regulations only days before the hearing. The bait-and-switch had no effect, as farm to consumer freedom supporters packed the hearing and overflow rooms anyway. 

[raw milk drinkers provide feedback to Commissioner Soares]

The main room erupted in applause after each testimony. Despite the fact that MDAR removed language, the department still maintained that the buying clubs are illegal. This leaves the issue somewhat unresolved as MDAR has yet to retract the cease-and-desist orders they issued.

[Ed: Max Kane is an outspoken citizen-activist from Wisconsin. He has stood up for his rights on numerous occasions, even at great personal risk. I have blogged about Max and his story here.]

Raw Milk Rally Tomorrow In Boston; Last-Minute Changes

There will be a hearing on the subject of raw milk tomorrow, Monday, as described here: 10AM, 100 Cambridge Street second floor, Boston MA, USA.

There will also be a rally tomorrow before the hearing, starting at 8AM, on the corner of the Boston Common near the Park Street T station. I heard a rumor that a cow was coming to the rally! Bring cameras, cow bells, cow outfits, and shiny distracting things. I may bring some raw milk to drink and share, in violation of the formerly proposed regulations.

Formerly? The nominal purpose of the hearing has changed, as of Friday, mere days before the hearing (without statutorily-required due notice). The reg changes that would have affected raw milk buying clubs have been taken off the table; this hearing will only deal with some other, less interesting issues.

Some believe that this change of purpose indicates that "the people have been heard" (NOFA Massachusetts). Others take it as a sign that the MDAR is planning to do an end-run rather than going up the middle (David Gumpert), and that, to mix a metaphor slightly, we should not trust the MDAR officials any further than we can throw them.

I'm afraid I belong to the latter camp. The MDAR's handling of this situation has been shifty on at least two grounds, and there's no reason to think that things will get any better.

To read more, check David's blog. Lots of good insight.

Massachusetts Raw Milk/Food Freedom Hearing In Boston, May 10

If you are in favor of

• the right to decide for yourself what foods are healthy for you, and not have it decided by corporations; and
• the continued existence of small dairy farms in Massachusetts

then it's vital that you come to this public hearing and make your presence felt and your voice heard.

What: Mass Department of Agricultural Resources hearing regarding proposed changes to raw milk regulations which would make it illegal for me to give raw milk to someone. 

When: Monday, May 10, 2010, 10AM

Where: 100 Cambridge Street second floor, Boston MA 

Why: There's no law against drinking it (yet), so there should be no law against buying it and giving it to someone who is themselves qualified to buy it.

For more details, read on.

---

Raw milk regulations in the US vary from state to state. In Massachusetts, where I live, farmers can be licensed to sell raw milk, and they sell it on their farms.

This is a huge boon to small dairy farmers in Massachusetts. By adhering to stricter production and sanitation standards, farmers are able to sell their milk raw, direct to consumers for anywhere from $6-$12 per gallon. Their only alternative is to sell it to big distributors for between $1 and $2 per gallon, or occasionally as much as $2.50.

For years, much of this milk has been sold through buying clubs, informal or formal, anything ranging from a small group of friends who take turns going to the farm, to a small business that charges delivery fees. For years, no one has become sick in Massachusetts from raw milk. Small farms have relied on these buying clubs to help them get raw milk to the folks who want to drink it—especially folks who might live far away from the farm, or might not be able to drive themselves to the farm for whatever reason.

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has proposed new regulations that would outlaw buying clubs of any kind, by making it illegal for me to go to a farm, buy raw milk, and give it to someone else. So I could not buy some for my neighbor, or for someone who doesn't drive, or is disabled. Or even give a glass of it to someone who stops by my house. The proposed regs are here. Paragraph 27.08A says:

No person shall sell, distribute, provide or offer for consumption to the public any raw milk elsewhere than on a dairy farm where that raw milk was produced provided that to such farm a Certificate of Raw Milk for Retail Sale has been issued by the Commissioner. For the purposes of these Regulations the term “offer for consumption” shall include any sampling of milk by the public or offering of samples to the public.

Think about it for a minute: What other products in this country are governed by similarly contextual regulations? Not alcohol or cigarettes; I can buy alcohol and cigarettes and give them to anyone who is qualified to buy them—no matter if they are diabetic, emphysemic, whatever—even though alcohol and cigarettes are clearly some of today's biggest killers. I can buy all the supermarket cakes I want, too, and give them to my diabetic grandmother, even though these cakes contain significant amounts of trans-fats, sugar, and food coloring.

I know…guns! Actually, no, not really. I am free to sell or give my guns to others, so long as everyone involved is qualified to own them, and so long as all relevant paperwork is filed.

Can anyone think of an example of a product with similar regs surrounding it?

Is raw milk more dangerous, and more deserving of regulation, than guns?

There has been no sign of tainted raw milk in Massachusetts for over a decade (or longer, depending how you count). Can the same be said for pasteurized milk? Tomatoes? Peanuts? Spinach? Ground beef? (Hint: The answer is no.) Are there regulations restricting me from giving my friend a hamburger with a slice of tomatoes on it?

Scott Soares, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, has historically been an ally of small farms in Massachusetts. In fact, in a recent hearing regarding the granting of a raw milk license to a farm in Framingham, Soares went to the trouble of writing a letter in support of the license. He could instead have chosen to do nothing, or he could have written a letter in opposition; but he wrote a letter in support. He understands as well as anyone the economics of raw milk sales on small dairy farms—he discussed these economics in his letter.

Why has he changed his tune?

It could be due to pressure from the dairy industry. David Gumpert presents evidence and makes a good case for this theory in his blog, here, raising some questions about the transparency of Soares' dealings. Gumpert's account is worth a read; and if I were in Soares' shoes, I would respond to it as quickly and as plainly as possible.

Why is the dairy industry anti-raw milk? Because the more the public and the press discuss and debate the virtues of raw milk, the more the severe shortcomings of pasteurized-homogenized milk become visible. And raw milk is a product that large dairies cannot produce because their herding and sanitation practices are inadequate, a fact that I'm sure they'd rather not have everyone discussing. In short, raw milk is a public relations disaster for Big Dairy.

Sadly, it is no longer surprising when industry and government are cozy. To anyone who is still shocked by this, I'd recommend watching Food, Inc. For an excellent summary of the movie, check here.

To read "Why this raw milk debate matters", including an interesting question about just exactly what the current regs and laws DO permit and restrict, visit my friends the boston localvores here on their blog.

To read what the Northeast Organic Farming Association has to say about the reg change and hearing, click here.

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund has as their purpose "[d]efending the rights and broadening the freedoms of family farms and protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient dense foods. ". Here's what they say.

Again, Gumpert's blog on the subject is here.

And here is a link to the MDAR website, the proposed regs, and the Notice of Public Hearing.

See you on May 10.

(This post is entered in Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade)

Max Kane, Raw Milk Activist, Wins Important Victory

Justice was served yesterday in Wisconsin—or at least it will be allowed to run its course.

Max Kane, a raw milk activist, was served a court order to provide information about private trade in which he had been involved, trade which is not regulated by the law. He filed a Motion of Appeal, and a Motion for Stay of Order Pending Appeal. The purpose of these orders was to have a higher court consider the case. The state, realizing that Max was not going to roll over for them, decided that Max was an "immediate danger to the public" and filed a Motion to Compel, which would have put him in jail before his appeal could be heard. This is quite unusual for a man whose purported crime was nonviolent had to do with food.

To make things worse, he has two children, his wife is pregnant, they don't have a lot of financial security, and they could all become homeless if he goes to jail.

Yesterday morning, the Court denied the State's Motion to Compel, and granted Max's Motion for Stay of Order Pending Appeal. This doesn't mean that he is off the hook; it merely means that he doesn't have to go to jail while he is appealing his case.

Check out Max's website here, and hear it straight from Max here.

Read what Kimbery Hartke had to say about it here.

Max Kane was interviewed yesterday on the Doug Stephan show. To listen to it, click here, then click on "Doug Stephan's Good Day - 4-20-10 H2". The interview is broken into parts. The parts run from 11:30-14:10, 17:50-21:20, 27:00-43:05.

For previous coverage of Max on this blog, click here.

Raw Milk In Massachusetts, April 14, 2010

Here's what's new in raw milk in Massachusetts, as of today:

Buying Clubs In Peril

The State of Massachusetts is considering a regulation change that would make raw milk buying clubs illegal. Depending how the regulation is interpreted, it might even become illegal for me to go to the farm, buy raw milk for myself, and bring some back for my friend. For more information, see here. Please consider contacting your senators and representatives at the statehouse if you have feelings about this issue.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods has permanently discontinued the sale of raw milk nationwide, even in states where raw milk can be sold in stores. It is ironic, because the milk they will continue to sell, pasteurized milk, is not a "whole food". It has typically been centrifuged, separated, re-blended, pasteurized, homogenized, and fortified…at least!

This action by Whole Foods doesn't affect Massachusetts per se, because raw milk can't be sold in stores in Mass. And it's a federal crime to transport raw milk across state lines, so I know that none of you would ever do that, right? For instance, you would never visit Maine or Connecticut for the weekend, stop in a store on the way home, and buy some raw milk. (But if you did, I might recommend Golden Harvest Market, in Kittery, Maine, just off I-95 right over the New Hampshire border.)

Whole Foods said they say they were having trouble with their insurers, and that this affected their decision. There may be other, more political reasons for their change as well. For more commentary, check out what Cheese Slave had to say here.

Eastleigh Farm

And now for the good news: As of quite recently, raw milk is available at Eastleigh Farm in Framingham, Massachusetts. This is the closest raw milk farm to Boston.

For more information about how to get raw milk in Massachusetts, visit my blog post here or NOFA's Raw Milk Network.

For all of my previous posts on the subject of raw milk, click here.

Raw Milk Now Available In Framingham MA From Eastleigh Farm

A few hours ago, Eastleigh Farm in Framingham, Massachusetts announced that they are open for business selling raw milk. Here's what they said:

Eastleigh Farm is pleased to announce that we have obtained all of our permits to sell raw milk and we are open for business. Initially, we will be open from 2 PM until 7 PM, every day. Milk sales are available to the general public and to Eastleigh Farm CSA members. The CSA membership provides the option of a prepaid quantity of milk that is guaranteed to be available on a weekly basis. The CSA application is attached [here]. We hope to see you soon and to share the good health of our product with you and your family.

Our address is 1062 Edmands Road, Framingham, MA 01701. Our gallons are priced at $8.50/each and our half gallons are $5.00/each for non-CSA purchases.

Eastleigh is now the source of raw milk closest and most convenient to Boston and many of the surrounding areas.

---

A recommendation for anyone thinking of buying raw milk (from any farm, not just from Eastleigh):

Talk with your farmers about their farming practices, and make sure that you are satisfied with how they are raising the animals. Ask them what the animals eat, how much time they spend outside, what happens when they get sick, and so on.

As with other products, if there is demand, the supply will be created to meet it. If enough people ask for organic, or 100% grass-fed, or whatever, and if it's clear to farmers that customers are willing pay for it, then they will find a way to produce it.

In the meantime, even if you are not able to find exactly the product you ultimately want, build a relationship with a farmer and buy food from them. You gain a huge amount of transparency into what you're eating. The farmer gets a better livelihood, since the intermediaries no longer get their cut. To use milk as an example, distributors pay farmers about $2.50/gal for organic cow milk; farms in Massachusetts get between $6/gal and $12/gal for raw milk (not even necessarily organic).

Direct-to-consumer raw milk sales are the one bright spot in an otherwise bleak outlook for small dairy farms.

Midwest Campylobacter/Campylobacteriosis Outbreak Linked To Raw Milk (Or Is It?)

In the news:

On Friday, the FDA reported 12 new cases of illness in the Midwest linked to raw milk from a dairy contaminated with a dangerous bacterium, campylobacter. "Raw milk is inherently dangerous and should not be consumed by anyone, at any time, for any reason," says John Sheehan, director of the FDA's division of plant- and dairy-food safety.

This from the Wall Street Journal and many other sources.

Down with raw milk! Burn it! Pasteurize the cows!

Hmm. Let's take a step back.

Establishing the actual cause of an outbreak is not as straightforward as one might like. It's possible that these cases were caused by raw milk—but it's also possible that the outbreak was caused by something else. Given that the FDA has a stated agenda of abolishing the consumption of raw milk, they may be motivated to jump to conclusions if these conclusions support their agenda. It has happened before, and farms have been shut down, or had their raw milk sales suspended, based on inconclusive or incomplete evidence.

Even if it turns out that the outbreak was caused by raw milk, it is important to keep things in perspective.

Consider foods that have caused outbreaks in recent years: ground beef, organic spinach, tomatoes, peanuts. Some of these outbreaks have involved hundreds or thousands of people, and hundreds of tons of product. What has happened? Have ground beef processing plants suspended operations? Has anyone been put out of business? Not that I know of. Has there been a call for an end to sales of these dangerous foods? No.

There was an outbreak traced to pasteurized milk in Massachusetts in 2007 that caused 3 deaths. Was there a call for an end to sales of pasteurized milk? No.

Should people be able to choose for themselves what foods they eat; where, how, and from whom they buy them; and how they are processed? I say yes.

Should the government continue in its valuable role of monitoring food outbreaks and gathering data? Yes.

Should the government continue to have the power to regulate commerce in different types of goods? Probably. But individual liberties must be preserved, and regulations and prohibitions should be in proportion to actual threats.

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Many people claim that raw milk is no different from pasteurized milk, just more dangerous, and that therefore there is no reason to drink raw milk. Others claim that raw milk has a different nutritional profile from pasteurized milk.

Consider this:

I have a friend who can't drink pasteurized milk without getting indigestion. If she takes lactase pills, the indigestion goes away. Lactase is the enzyme that's necessary to digest lactose, the sugar in milk. Some people make lactase in their bodies, and some people don't. She would seem to be one of those who don't. Interestingly, she can drink raw milk without any digestive problems. Raw milk contains lactase. Lactase, along with other enzymes and some vitamins, is destroyed or diminished by heat.

It sounds to me like raw milk is different from pasteurized milk, in at least one way.

The report-in-progress of the Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk Workgroup describes other differences. This group includes officials from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and other representatives of state government, a medical doctor, an official from the MSU College of Agriculture, and others.

I hope that their report will put to rest, once and for all, the claim that raw milk and pasteurized milk are no different.

Raw Milk Dropped By Whole Foods (Temporarily? Permanently?)

Up until yesterday, Whole Foods sold raw milk in many states where they could.

As of today, Whole Foods no longer sells raw milk in CA, CT, PA, and WA (and maybe others). The above sign, seen outside a Whole Foods Market in Washington, makes it sound like they may start selling raw milk again at some future time. We shall see.

Mark McAfee suggests that this decision came from difficulties Whole Foods was having with insurers. McAfee observes that the store continues to carry spinach and peanuts, despite the fact that they have killed far more people than raw milk has in recent years.

While this may be a temporary blow to raw milk, it is a boon to independent stores and smaller chains that carry raw milk. And it will generate more bad PR for Whole Foods, who have been alienating key constituencies with some frequency over the past year. (See here and here.) Raw milk drinkers tend to think quite a lot about food, health, and wellness; other people are likely to seek their advice around food questions.

David Gumpert posts his thoughts on the subject, insightful as usual, over at his blog, The Complete Patient.

Raw Milk Interviews: Winton Pitcoff of NOFA; Terri Lawton of Oake Knoll Ayrshires

If you're new to my blog, you might easily conclude that I'm interested in only kimchi and raw milk. Which I don't recommend combining.

I can see why you might come to this conclusion. It's not true, I assure you.

Nonetheless:

Here's an excellent interview with Winton Pitcoff, who heads the Raw Milk Network for the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association:

http://localisbetter.org/2010/02/15/raw-milk-in-mass-part-1/

And one with Terri Lawton of Oake Knoll Ayrshires, the only remaining dairy of any kind in Norfolk County, Massachusetts:

http://localisbetter.org/2010/02/19/raw-milk-in-mass-part-2/

Terri offers a perspective on the strict regulation of the sale of raw milk in Massachusetts:

Do you think it’s unfair that raw milk can only be sold on the farm where it’s produced [in Massachusetts]?

I think it’s wild that a person can go to any store and buy cigarettes or alcohol. Certainly cigarettes are known to have no additive effect to anyone’s health. And whether or not raw milk does—and a lot of studies that say that it does—but regardless of whether it does, it’s certainly not as inherently harmful as smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco. There’s no problem with selling any kind of tobacco at any kind of store. I think that’s pretty outrageous. If that’s allowed, there shouldn’t be any problem allowing raw milk.

She has a good point.

Where To Get Raw Milk In Massachusetts (Updated 2010-02-11)

Breaking news: The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has been sending cease-and-desist orders to a number of raw milk buying clubs. Because of this, I will not name any of them, or talk about how to find them on the Internet. Buying clubs have served many Massachusetts raw milk drinkers for many years with ZERO incidents, and it is very sad to see the government creating problems where there aren't any. With a little luck, this situation might clear up…but luck is often not enough when it comes to raw milk and state bureaucrats. For an in-depth analysis, see David Gumpert's recent blog post. When it becomes clear where we should be writing letters, I'll let you know.

Here are some options for finding raw milk in Massachusetts, as of 2010-02-11:

• Get yourself to a farm that is licensed to sell raw milk. This is the most straightforward option, if not always the most convenient. (1) At this moment, the closest farm to Boston is Oake Knoll Ayrshires At Lawton's Family Farm in Foxboro; I blogged about it here. (2) Starting on or around March 1, 2010, you will also be able to get raw milk at Eastleigh Farm in Framingham, which is significantly closer to Boston and Cambridge. I have blogged extensively about Eastleigh, and their licensing challenges, here. (3) NOFA lists other Massachusetts raw milk farms here. I've been to Upinngil Farm in Gill: Ayrshire cows, great milk, and great prices!
  
  
• Pick up some raw milk on your next trip to Maine or Connecticut. Make sure to bring a cooler or an insulated bag. For extra points, bring an ice-pack of some sort, or ask for ice at the store—some stores will give you ice for free. I've purchased raw milk at Rosemont Market on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, and at the giant Whole Foods in Portland. I've also been to Golden Harvest Market, in Kittery, Maine; just over the ME-NH border on I-95, it's a very cute store that reminds me of Debra's in Concord, Mass.
  
  
• Join a formal buying club.
   
• Join an informal buying club—one that does not advertise its existence, and that stays under the radar. I hear of them from time to time.

• Start your own buying club, only deal with people you know, and keep quiet about it. All you need to do is get a bunch of people together, take turns driving to a farm, and figure out the finances and logistics to everyone's satisfaction. The smaller it is, the less coordination you'll need to do (but the more driving you'll do).
  
  
• I have heard that there are dairy cow share programs in Massachusetts. For obvious reasons, I can't provide any details.
  

As far as other raw dairy products go:

• Raw milk cheese is legal, so long as it is aged at least 60 days before sale. Whole Foods sells some cheddars made from unpasteurized milk. (Trader Joe's sells a raw milk cheddar, too, but it's not very tasty at all.) Other cheese purveyors may have greater variety and quality of raw milk cheeses, legal and otherwise.
  
  
• Raw cream, raw butter, and any other such "processed" raw dairy do not seem to be legal in Massachusetts.

Please comment if you have additions, corrections, questions, or whatever.

Max Kane, Raw Milk Activist, Found Guilty

A judge in Wisconsin found that Max Kane would be required to divulge the names of farmers and consumers involved in private transactions.

If not? "You could ultimately go to jail—that certainly is a possibility," the judge said. "A remedial order could be entered that you would go to jail until you answer the questions."

Read more in David Gumpert's blog, The Complete Patient.

For the background behind this case, read my post about it here.

Will Max Kane, Raw Milk Activist, Go To Jail?

Max Kane appears before a judge on Monday to answer charges of contempt of court for not divulging the names of farmers and consumers with whom he was involved in private transactions.

If he loses the case, he could go to jail.

Max originally started drinking raw milk to reverse his "incurable" Crohn's disease. It must have worked pretty well, because he recently biked 3600+ miles across the U.S. to publicize raw milk.

If you would like to support Max, there will be a rally before his hearing. December 21, 9:30AM, at the Viroqua, WI Courthouse.

Speaking at his rally will be a fascinating who's-who of raw milk producers, political thinkers, activists, writers, healers, and film makers including:

• Mark McAfee (http://organicpastures.com) 
• David Gumpert (http://www.thecompletepatient.com/) 
• Michael Badnarik (http://constitutionpreservation.org/) 
• Kathryne Pirtle (http://performancewithoutpain.com/) 
• Michael Schmidt (http://glencoltonfarms.com/) 
• Rob Taylor (http://robtaylorforsenate.com/) 
• Mark Kastel (http://cornucopia.org/)
• Kristin Canty (http://www.ftcldf.org/kudos/canty2.html)
• Ann Marie Michaels (http://cheeseslave.com/)
• Tim Wightman (http://farmtoconsumerfoundation.org/)

For more information about his case and the rally, press clippings, etc., check out Max's blog, his video:



and Kimberly Hartke's posting about him.