Raw Milk

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an advisory warning to local education officials throughout the country suggesting that children be prevented from consuming raw milk during school field trips to dairies. The information was issued by Antony C. Celeste, acting director of the FDA's federal-state relations section.

A sour note for the raw-milk fans out there: Unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause a disease outbreak than pasteurized milk, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before it ever shows up in a carton, most milk is pasteurized -- heated to kill any harmful bacteria it contains. But there's a small but thriving market for unpasteurized "raw" milk. Some say they drink it because it has a richer, creamier taste, according to a 2009 article -- but more often the reason given is because, in this organic-conscious age, it's seen as more healthful.  Perhaps it depends on how you define "healthful.

More and more consumers are forgoing standard milk in favor of "raw" milk, milk that's unpasteurized and unhomogenized, essentially straight from the udder of the cow. Some seek out raw milk for its reportedly creamier, richer taste, but more choose it because they believe it's more healthful, a "living" food that can help fend off many illnesses, as varied as allergies and cancer.

The owner of a Venice health food market and two other people were arrested on charges related to the allegedly unlawful production and sale of unpasteurized dairy products, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. The arrests of James Cecil Stewart, Sharon Ann Palmer and Eugenie Bloch on Wednesday marked the latest effort in a government crackdown on the sale of so-called raw dairy products. Prosecutors in Los Angeles alleged that Stewart, 64, operates a Venice market called Rawesome Foods through which he illegally sold dairy products that did not meet health standards because they were unpasteurized or were produced at unlicensed facilities.

I am 73, not overweight, my cholesterol level is 137, my blood pressure is 100/70, I snow ski about 20 days every winter and have used Altadena/Stueve natural certified raw milk (about a gallon a week) for 30 years. When I was forced to go to pasteurized (due to the state's zealous effort to protect my health) a dull ongoing headache set in, lasting three days! Every few years, since Gov. Ronald Reagan's Administration, the authorities cause economic disaster to the dairy and disaster in households that depend on this natural product.

The owner of a Venice health food market and two other people were arrested on charges related to the allegedly unlawful production and sale of unpasteurized dairy products, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. The arrests of James Cecil Stewart, Sharon Ann Palmer and Eugenie Bloch on Wednesday marked the latest effort in a government crackdown on the sale of so-called raw dairy products. Prosecutors in Los Angeles alleged that Stewart, 64, operates a Venice market called Rawesome Foods through which he illegally sold dairy products that did not meet health standards because they were unpasteurized or were produced at unlicensed facilities.

The fact that a dairy wants to challenge critics of raw milk products looks, to me, more like bringing truth out into the open rather than silencing it. I agree that the comparison of the risks of raw milk to toxic waste is not an appropriate comparison. Why not compare the risks of chemical additives in processed milk products to the risks of raw milk products? Those who raise doubts about the safety of raw milk products avoid addressing the issue of chemical additives found in most other milk products.

A sour note for the raw-milk fans out there: Unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause a disease outbreak than pasteurized milk, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before it ever shows up in a carton, most milk is pasteurized -- heated to kill any harmful bacteria it contains. But there's a small but thriving market for unpasteurized "raw" milk. Some say they drink it because it has a richer, creamier taste, according to a 2009 article -- but more often the reason given is because, in this organic-conscious age, it's seen as more healthful.  Perhaps it depends on how you define "healthful.

If unpasteurized milk is to remain commercially available, the Legislature should act immediately to require an appropriate warning label. That is clearer now than ever before with completion of a careful, 30-month study by researchers at the UCLA School of Health. The study was funded by the raw-milk industry in the hope, we presume, that different conclusions would be reached.

Federal prosecutors in Central California have busted outlaws they describe as pale-skinned and somewhat smelly, with mug shots worthy of Bon Appetit: 97 wedges of raw-milk Gouda cheese. On Thursday, U.S. marshals and Food and Drug Administration agents arrived at Tulare County cheese maker Bravo Farms and seized the Gouda, along with piles of Edam and blocks of white cheddar. All told, investigators have locked up more than 80,000 pounds of cheese. Prosecutors say it is all headed for the garbage disposal.

An artisan cheese maker in California linked to a multi-state outbreak of E. coli is recalling all of its cheese after listeria was found at its plant. Bravo Farms, which specializes in raw-milk cheese, sells Gouda, pepper jack, Tulare Cannonball and cheddar cheese at stores mainly on the West Coast but also elsewhere in the country. This month its Dutch Style Gouda sold in about 50 Costco stores was pulled after it was linked to an outbreak of E. coli . At least 37 people have been sickened in that outbreak in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts. Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid's target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk. "I still can't believe they took our yogurt," said Rawesome volunteer Sea J. Jones, a few days after the raid.

Caviar A Global History Nichola Fletcher Milk A Global History Hannah Velten Cake A Global History Nicola Humble The Edible Series / Reaktion Books: $15.95 each Each book in the "Edible Series" describes a food or drink — its history, how it has evolved and how it has figured in various cultures across civilization. Twenty-eight of these little butter-cream-colored gems are in the works; 11 so far have been published.

Re "The War on Salt Goes Corporate," May 17, you missed the saltiest of all: fried chicken. Also, we always laugh when the Food Network chef says "a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper" — every few minutes! John Albritton Laguna Beach • That article on salt may be the best one written for The Times all year. I'm also dismayed by the "serving size" on packaged foods, which is always smaller than an average person's serving, further misleading the consumer as to how much sodium they are actually getting.

More and more consumers are forgoing standard milk in favor of "raw" milk, milk that's unpasteurized and unhomogenized, essentially straight from the udder of the cow. Some seek out raw milk for its reportedly creamier, richer taste, but more choose it because they believe it's more healthful, a "living" food that can help fend off many illnesses, as varied as allergies and cancer.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got some flak Wednesday from groups including the state lobby corps, supporters of medical marijuana and aficionados of unpasteurized milk for what they said was a raw deal in his bill decisions. His vetoes included: A bill that would have barred employers from discriminating against workers for use of marijuana for medical purposes. "I am concerned with interference in employment decisions as they relate to marijuana use," Schwarzenegger said.

Dairy owner Mark McAfee started selling raw milk in 2000, marketing it to customers who believe it contains beneficial microbes that treat everything from asthma to autism. The unpasteurized milk swiftly caught on as part of the growing natural food movement. But the Food and Drug Administration considers McAfee a snake-oil salesman and recently launched an investigation into whether his dairy illegally shipped raw milk across state lines. The case against McAfee is part of a crackdown on raw milk by health officials who are concerned about the spread of food-borne illnesses.