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.

Although the recession drove many businesses into bankruptcy, times have been particularly hard for the state's dairy farmers. Almost 400 California dairies have closed in the last five years - 105 in 2012 alone - plagued by soaring prices for feed and an antiquated regulatory system that keeps their prices artificially low, at least in the farmers' view. The right solution for the long term would be to scrap the current approach in favor of a market-based one, but there's little political will to take such a disruptive step.

Although the recession drove many businesses into bankruptcy, times have been particularly hard for the state's dairy farmers. Almost 400 California dairies have closed in the last five years - 105 in 2012 alone - plagued by soaring prices for feed and an antiquated regulatory system that keeps their prices artificially low, at least in the farmers' view. The right solution for the long term would be to scrap the current approach in favor of a market-based one, but there's little political will to take such a disruptive step.

Nathanael Johnson was born without a doctor and later toddled around his Northern California yard without diapers, free to ingest whatever germy creatures he got his hands on, but no sugar allowed. With parents like his, it's little wonder he grew up wondering about the miracles of modern science. What's really welcome about his deeply reported book, "All Natural," is that his upbringing makes the investigation of nature versus technology fun as well as thought-provoking. He questions mainstream wisdom, "expert" advice and the all-natural solutions for childbirth, germs, raw milk, sugar, factory farming of animals and more.

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 Knudsen milk tanker lumbered up to the Koopman's dairy farm in San Bernardino County on Wednesday and siphoned more than two tons of fresh milk from waiting storage tanks. Koopman had turned the tanker away empty the day before, but now he is again doing business with Knudsen--as long as he gets paid. That scene was repeated Wednesday throughout the Chino Valley--where suburban sprawl gives way to the flat pastures and occasional grain silos of Southern California's dairy industry.

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.

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.

SACRAMENTO -- State agriculture officials have lifted a ban on sales of raw milk by Organic Pastures, a Fresno dairy. The California Department of Food and Agriculture imposed the quarantine May 10 after inspections found harmful bacteria in samples of butter, cream and cow manure from the dairy's herd. The prohibition ended Friday morning after the facility was certified as meeting all state food safety and sanitation requirements. Organic Pastures' website immediately announced that it would soon restart distribution to stores and told customers that they could come to the dairy to buy milk immediately.

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.

Residues of milk fat on pottery indicate that Africans in what is now the Sahara desert were milking cows and processing the milk into cheese, yogurt and other products 7,000 years ago, European researchers reported Thursday. Ancient rock art throughout the region shows herds of cattle and even people milking them, but dating the art has been a problem. The new evidence provides the first reliable date for how long the practice of dairying has been carried out in the region. The new data were reported in the journal Nature by a team headed by chemist Richard P. Evershed of the University of Bristol in England.

SACRAMENTO -- State agriculture officials have lifted a ban on sales of raw milk by Organic Pastures, a Fresno dairy. The California Department of Food and Agriculture imposed the quarantine May 10 after inspections found harmful bacteria in samples of butter, cream and cow manure from the dairy's herd. The prohibition ended Friday morning after the facility was certified as meeting all state food safety and sanitation requirements. Organic Pastures' website immediately announced that it would soon restart distribution to stores and told customers that they could come to the dairy to buy milk immediately.

Last week was all about breast milk -- specifically, a big kid standing on a stool while being nursed by his young, attractive mom on the cover of Time magazine . In all the media hubbub, a story about raw milk infecting 10 people in California with Campylobacter didn't get the attention it deserved. In a Grub Street post , Krista Simmons points to a series of recent raw milk mishaps across the country. Never mind the raw milk advocates who swear by its many health benefits . Simmons not only argues against consuming raw milk but also against the push to legalize it. “Much as we support personal liberty, small farms, and less processed and commodity-raised goods, this raw milk business seems downright dangerous,” she writes, asking: “Wouldn't states like New Jersey, who are currently aiming to legalize the sale of raw milk, be better off fighting elements of the food system that are plaguing the nation?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.