I was looking at a web site recently, that lists places where you can buy raw milk in Washington state. I hadn’t been aware that raw milk was available across the line. Yes, it’s a whole other country, but it’s less than 70 km from my home.
Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized, and it’s coming into vogue along with the local eating movement. Raw milk is generally produced by very careful farmers, is typically organic, and always local. Plus, there are a whole range of purported health benefits, ranging from more nutrients, to protective enzymes and microbes, to better farming practices because producers can’t rely on pasteurization to make up for any shortcomings. And people who drink raw milk claim that the taste is much better, as well.
Here in Canada, selling raw milk is illegal. Since 1991, it’s been against the law for any farmers to sell unpasteurized milk in this country. And even before that, I think there were provincial and other statutes that restricted its sale. The reasoning is that raw milk can contain bacteria, which can cause a variety of illnesses and even death. This was a huge problem at the turn of the last century, when hygiene practices were poor and people were moving into urban centres where they no longer had access to fresh local milk. Pasteurization reduced childhood deaths substantially when it became the norm.
In Canada raw milk is in the news right now because dairy farmer Michael Schmidt has circumvented the law. He has sold shares in his cattle to individuals in Ontario. Then he provides the ‘owners’ raw milk from ‘their’ cows. It’s not illegal to drink raw milk, after all, it’s only illegal to sell it. But Schmidt is walking a fine line, and he’s been called into court several times. He’s going to trial again on January 26 for selling raw milk. He asserts that if handled properly, raw milk poses little risk. He also asserts that raw milk faces restrictions that other products such as lunch meats or even cigarettes do not.
And that’s the crux of the issue. Knowing full well the risks I’m assuming, should it be illegal for me to buy raw milk? Certainly conditions today, in terms of food handling and refrigeration, are much different than when pasteurization was introduced. Raw milk was the norm for milk-drinking people (such as my Scandinavian ancestors) since time immemorial. As far as I know they weren’t all dropping dead of E. Coli. So where do we draw the line between protecting people from a public health standpoint, and infringing on their freedoms?
I heard someone on the radio say, “If an adult wants to drink raw milk, fine. But what about their kids? They can’t decide for themselves.” The fact is that I make decisions for my kids every single day. At their ages they are not equipped to give informed consent to pretty much anything. If I feed them lots of fast food I’m putting them at risk for a lifetime of illness and various diseases, but no one’s suggesting I shouldn’t have the freedom to take them to McDonald’s. (In the interests of full disclosure, we do eat there from time to time. I am not judging you and your Big Mac Attack. But we all know it’s not exactly the best choice.) So why is raw milk different? Why can I subject my children to one risk but not another?
I’m not sure that I would drink raw milk. For one thing, I don’t relish the idea of my milk separating in the fridge. I’m fairly happy with my standard-issue organic 2%. But I remain unconvinced that outlawing raw milk altogether is necessary. If there are farmers within spitting distance of my home that can put safeguards into place and sell this product to willing consumers, why shouldn’t farmers and consumers here in Canada have the same freedoms?
Never heard of the raw milk movement…and it sort of scares me…not the health concersn, but I don’t like milk at the best of time, I can’t imagine it seperating in my fridge..yikes!
Lots of old ideas are changing, but it takes time. I like my milk from the store though..and I buy organic too…costs a fortune…and I am still looking for a cow to buy, but then again, I don’t really drink milk! Thanks for opening my eyes to a new, or should I say old, trend.
The Government is opposed to people selling raw milk because the Milk Board can’t regulate the sales, which means they can’t sell quota. It’s all about money.
Everyone knows cigarettes cause cancer and contribute to a massive strain on the medical system but the government still permits them to be sold, simply because of the revenue generated from the tax.
Whenever a rule or policy doesn’t seem to make sense, ask yourself who benefits financially from it.
Hm. There’s actually a farm in Abbotsford that does that (you buy a share of a cow and you can have the raw milk). I buy my chickens from them (they’re part of the SPCA program that makes sure the animals are treated humanely before they become your dinner).
Personally, I don’t like raw milk, so I wouldn’t do it, but the last time I was there picking up some chickens, four or five people walked in to pick up their milk.
When you were a wee thing, living in the country, I felt excited that I could buy good quality unpasteurized cow and goat milk straight from the farmer. It was handled with the utmost of cleanliness and we got what we needed fresh daily. We stopped the cow’s milk because you had difficulty with the high fat content and we stopped the goat’s milk because they moved away. This was when, in Abbotsford, the farmers still delivered hay by horse and wagon (boy, does that ever make me sound old!).
But the world has changed, even in this short time, and I don’t know if I would buy the milk now because I don’t know my neighbours anymore, not like you do in a small country community.
But I am glad I got to live there, even just for a little while; it was a nice place to be.
In theory, I think that raw milk makes sense and that one should be able to purchase it.
If the laws were changed, I wonder what the unintended side effects would be? For instance, as I understand it, “organic” has been swamped with big companies that manage to follow the letter of the law, but not the spirit, and that has changed the food industry.
I think I bought some o’ that raw milk at the diary shop in Pike Place Market in Seattle about a decade ago. Not sure if they’re still selling it, or if the shop is even still there.
When my boyfriend was a child, on a visit to his mother’s homeland of Poland, his mother gave him some raw milk to drink. He got horribly sick.
He’s still bitter about the whole experience.
I’ve had raw milk before and never got sick. I guess it depends on the person… But if you put raw milk in a pot with sugar and let it cook at a low fire for a couple of hours you’ll have the most delicious thing i tried on a trip to argentina, it’s called Dulce de leche, which means milk sweet.