Raw Milk Uniting our Citizens
By: Shoshanna Levy
Published: August 6, 2011

The battle over raw milk has the potential to bring together many people in our heavily divided country. From "Latte drinking liberals" to "gun toting country folks" and plenty of other "average Americans" are outraged by the recent SWAT-like raids happening all over the country. A growing number of people believe in our access to unpasteurized dairy products.
Large corporations consistently get away with over-saturating the food supply with chemicals additives, HFCS, artificial sweeteners, and other poor quality ingredients. These foods are harmful to human health, yet people still have the choice to feed their families this "food".
	There is an even greater irony, considering that Cargill recently recalled 36 million pounds of tainted turkey, which actually killed someone and made many more people ill. I seriously doubt that they will spend a moment in jail, as is the case with the Rawesome buying club, who never even had anyone get sick from their products.
Now, some will say that Rawesome was a business that was operating without a license, but they are not a retail store and the same rules don't apply. Every member of Rawesome has to sign a liability waiver before they can officially join.
As people get more connected to where their food comes from and how it's processed, I suspect the support for this movement will continue to grow. If the government is really concerened, then they can slap a warning label on raw products as they do with tobacco or alcohol. Drink at your own risk.

Comments:
Katherine
August 6, 2011

It's not as simple as a permit ! CA allows raw milk sales in both stores and on the farm . These people did not comply with the necessary inspections for health and safety standards. Listeria is a huge concern for raw milk ;I would think that people would want to know that their raw dairy supply at least meets some minimum standards.
Katherine

"Before the invention and acceptance of pasteurization, raw milk was a common source of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, diphtheria, severe streptococcal infections, typhoid fever, and other foodborne illnesses.  These illnesses killed many people each year, especially young children.  In the 1900s many mothers recognized this risk and would boil milk (bringing it to a temperature of 212°F) before giving it to their infants and young children. "http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/rawmilk/raw-milk-index.html 
If you want to drink raw milk then go for it. I personally would want my Raw Milk to at least conform to Grade A milk standards :
Grade A Milk: Producers are issued a permit by their state to ship Grade A milk. To meet the standards of Grade A milk, the milk shipped should not exceed 40 F and should have a low bacterial count. Some other standards included in designation of Grade A milk include: prohibition of addition of water (see Freezing point of milk in the Milk Composition module), absence of antibiotics (see resource on Mastitis Treatment & Control), exclusion of milk from diseased animals and of colostrum, proper construciton and maintenance of facilities, safe water supply, sanitary waste disposal, milking equipment properly constructed, cleaned and sanitized, and cooling milk within the prescribed period of time to a temperature that restricts microbial growth."http://classes.ansci.illinois.edu/ansc438/mastitis/milkquality.html
This link takes you to a pdf file : State of California New Coliform Standard for Milk
Sold Raw to Consumers: http://bit.ly/pdl0jN
So maybe a  better question remains : why wouldn’t Happy Family Farms and Rawesome protect their customers by obtaining the permits and inspections, monthly testing  for bacterial levels and animal inspections to meet minimal Grade A safety?