Deadline 2008: raw milk under threat in California

by Diane Vigil, November 2, 2007
in

In eight weeks, unless something is done to revoke AB1735, dairies will no longer be able to sell raw milk in California.

On October 8, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB1735, an amendment to the food laws that requires that milk sold in California contain 10 or less coliform bacteria per milliliter — despite the fact that most coliform bacteria are not harmful and/or are beneficial. Strangely, it does not require that milk be tested for pathogens (disease-causing micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungus).

Based on precisely two incidents of illness (one in California), the selective-science tallying requirement of AB1735 is important because raw milk naturally contains far more than 10 coliform bacteria per milliliter — a requirement that, apparently, pasteurized milk can meet. Says Organic Pastures Dairy Company’s Mark McAfee:

That is just the nature of milk, a fact that is in USDA published peer reviewed journals show the value of good coliforms in food safety and surely this should be known by the CDFA in California.

Of course, if you pasteurize milk, it is no longer raw. Thus, this new amendment means that as of January 1, 2008, real raw milk cannot legally be sold in California. As Californians interested in organic food, we feel that this issue needs more exposure — and fast. This page will serve as a centralized area where we can do a bit of tallying of our own in the form of a list of related articles on websites, blogs and forums.

Lastly, we think this issue is doubly important because the same types of pressure are being brought to bear on organic farmers in other states. They could use some help too because as California goes, so may go other states. As consumers interested in health, we don’t want our only food choices to be conventionally processed foods and foods with all the nutrients pasteurized right out of them. This is about the health and well-being of all of us.

We Want Organic Food.com
OrganicPastures.com
HomesteadingToday.com
- Giving up my raw cow milk permit
Local Forage.com
- Government Sneak Attack on CA Raw Milk - Organic Pastures’ Mark McAfee claims: "Last year you might remember that CDFA ordered a recall of all OPDC raw milk products. Several months ago after threatened legal pressure CDFA settled with OPDC for a cash amount, mutual legal release, and the promise that OPDC would not sue CDFA or its personnel for the biased and unfounded recall. FDA, DHS, and CDFA concluded after several weeks of intensive testing of cows fresh manure and OPDC dairy products that there was no connection between any sickened children and OPDC raw dairy products."
The Ethicurean
- Hey Californians — like your raw milk? Drink fast.
  "Someone decided that if you can’t close down that renegade raw-milk cowboy Mark McAfee and his Organic Pastures Dairy with a recall for E. coli 0157:H7 (that was never found in the test samples), and not even a cream recall a year later for listeria (though nobody got sick) — obviously you need a new strategy."

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