Raw Milk
(Continued from Page A 1)
ing lively applause from the
crowd of 170 people.
Interest in raw milk is growing
among both dairy farmers and
consumers, according to raw
milk advocates and ag officials
who gathered Monday at the
Lancaster Farm and Home Cen
ter. The meeting was organized
by the Pennsylvania Association
for Sustainable Agriculture
(PASA).
The group heard details about
the permitting process for raw
milk sales, discussions on the
health benefits of raw milk and
its products, and stories from two
out-of-state dairymen who mar
ket them.
“The whole movement is ba
sically about honesty,” said Tim
Wightman, organic dairy produc
er from Wisconsin.
Wightman has struggled for
several years to find a way to sell
his raw milk in Wisconsin, a state
that bans the outright sale of raw
milk or its products. Eventually,
after spending $35,000 in legal
fees and losing an estimated
$lOO,OOO in income, Wightman
was able to form a limited liabili
ty corporation that allows con
Maureen Diaz with son Wilson, 6 months, says it
should be up to consumers to choose clean milk prod
ucts.
sumers to buy shares in the farm.
Since the raw milk and products
can be legally consumed by own
ers of the farm, the arrangement
is approved by law.
Wightman said that Pennsyl
vania farmers have a long history
of direct marketing and are for
tunate to having a raw milk per
mitting process.
Pennsylvania’s policy allows
farmers to sell fluid raw milk and
hard cheese with a permit. How
ever, selling products made from
raw milk, such as butter, yogurt,
and soft cheese, is prohibited.
“You actually have a state
sponsored raw milk program,”
Wightman said. “Don’t let it go
away.”
Wightman has his milk tested
routinely for disease-carrying or
ganisms and posts results for cus
tomers to see. He urged fanners
to take an active role in assuring
milk quality for consumers, in
cluding making sure their cows
are certified Johne’s-free.
“Big companies can never
match the job you do at control
ling milk quality,” he said.
In Wightman’s system, con
sumers “certify” the product by
coming on the farm, seeing how
it is produced, and talking to the
farmer.
“That’s called America free
dom of choice.”
Wightman said “people are
coming out of the woodwork” to
buy raw milk and products such
as artisan cheeses. Across the
country, “we revere things that
are handmade because nobody
does it anymore.”
Mark McAfee, California dairy
producer, told his story from a
state that allows raw milk sales.
McAfee of Organic Pastures
Dairy sells raw milk and its prod
ucts in 325 stores throughout
California, and has even shipped
colostrum (milk from newly
calved cows) to countries around
the world.
“Raw milk has never been
banned (in California),” McAfee
said, “although there’s a tremen
dous number of hoops to go
through to sell raw milk on the
shelf.”
The health benefits of raw milk
are becoming better-known,
according to McAfee. He pointed
out increasing claims that prob
lems such as autism, asthma, and
attention deficit disorder (ADD)
are alleviated by a diet that in
cludes raw milk and/or its prod
ucts.
Immunity can also be in
creased by drinking raw milk and
colostrum, McAfee said. Colos
trum from his cows was shipped
to Asian countries to help protect
health workers during the SARS
outbreak.
Before the war in Afghanistan
and Iraq, Navy Seals in southern
California were “drinking the
heck out of our raw milk and co
lostrum” to bolster their immune
systems against foreign diseases
they might encounter in the Mid
dle East, McAfee said.
Raw milk contains compounds
that act as safety mechanisms
and kill disease-carrying organ
isms. Pasteurization actually in
activates these compounds,
according to McAfee.
As long as the milk is clean
from the start, “these (safety
mechanisms) keep raw milk
safe,” he said.
McAfee referred to recent stud
ies at the University of Califor
nia-Davis which show that path
ogens do not survive when added
to raw milk from his farm.
Producing that kind of raw
milk means the cows have to be
grass-fed, kept in a clean, stress
free environment, and not given
antibiotics, he said.
“The reason you don’t have
pathogens in this milk is that
you’ve changed the internal
physiology of the cow (from the
conventional system),” McAfee
said. “It’s really not organ
ic it’s more than that.”
McAfee believes selling
raw milk is a way for dairy
farmers to add a lot of
value to their product. In
California, he gets $7O per
hundredweight (about $6
per gallon wholesale) for
Taylor Diaz asks why
consumers have easy ac
cess to tobacco when raw
milk products are so regu
lated.
raw, certified organic milk.
His organic, raw colostrum re
tails for $9O a gallon, according
to McAfee.
“Don’t cheat yourself,” he
said. “The value of a pasture
raised, organic product is very
high.”
McAfee encouraged farmers to
work together with government
officials to build a thriving raw
milk industry and help to teach
the public about its value.
“The more we stick together,
the more we’re going to win this
battle of, basically, education,” he
said.
The ability of raw milk to cre
ate health as one part of a whole
some diet is “as close to a miracle
as you can get,” McAfee said.
But it has to be viewed as a pre
ventative, not as something that
will necessarily bring people back
from the brink of death.
“There are a lot of people out
there who have saved their’ lives
on raw milk and raw milk prod
ucts,” he said. “There are also
some who have gone overboard.
“This is about prevention. It’s
about living well and eating well
so you can have a healthy life.”
On hand at the meeting were
Bobby McLean, director of the
Bureau of Food Safety and Labo
ratory Services under the Penn
sylvania Department of Agricul
ture (PDA), and Roy Malik,
PDA’s supervising milk inspector
for much of the state, to discuss
Pennsylvania’s raw milk permit
ting process.
Mark McAfee of Califor
nia shares his experiences
selling raw milk.
“Over the last few months. I’ve
received what I’d call a warm
welcome to the raw milk issue,”
McLean said, referring to calls to
the PDA over a rumor that raw
milk sales were being outlawed in
the state.
The PDA’s stance on raw milk
is that “we’re not trying to pre
vent anyone from getting any
thing that would be beneficial to
their health,” McLean said. “We
want that product to be safe.”
The law that prohibits retailing
raw milk products such as butter
and yogurt has been in effect
since 1935. The PDA’s job is to
interpret the law and make sure
it is being followed not to
change it, McLean said. In order
for the law to be changed, a new
version would have to be drafted
and approved by the Pennsylva
nia legislature.
“We as a regulatory agency
cannot turn our backs on the reg
ulations that are in place.”
As for raw milk itself, McLean
said he recently tried a glass
and liked it.
Roy Malik explained the two
types of permits for selling raw
milk in the state: the customer
container permit and the pre
filled container permit.
The customer-container permit
allows farmers to sell milk to cus
tomers who bring their own jugs.
For farmers who have this type
of permit, Malik recommended
keeping clean, disposable plastic
containers on hand, in case the
customer needs one. The pre
filled container permit requires
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