Got raw milk?
We've all heard the advertising slogan that milk does a body good, but followers of a new trend say milk straight from the cow is even better. Sasha Khokha explains.
Dairyman Mark McAfee models a t-shirt promoting raw milk. (Sasha Khokha)
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Kai Ryssdal: Tyler Cowen was talking about organic milk and how it costs more, but consumers eventually get used to it. Try getting used to this: milk at 12 bucks a gallon.
That's what you'll pay to get milk raw -- straight from the cow to your refrigerator, no pasteurization provided.
Sasha Khokha reports.
Sasha Khokha: In the Edin family's kitchen in Clovis, California, three year old Emma is holding up her sippy cup. Her mom Linda shakes a jug of raw milk and pours it for her.
Emma started drinking raw milk as an infant after Linda couldn't produce enough breast milk.
Linda Edin: I knew if breast milk is all natural, there has to be another all natural way to feed your baby. She thrived on it.
Edin and other raw milk advocates say it has helpful bacteria and enzymes that aid digestion and boost the immune system. Edin claims it's even helped cure her own asthma.
The milk the Edins drink comes from Organic Pastures Dairy, in California's Central Valley.
Mark McAfee and his crew call the cows from lush fields of organic alfalfa into the milking barn. Then, just like at most conventional dairies, they clean the udders with iodine and hook them to a milking machine. The difference is, this milk is immediately chilled and bottled, not heated like pasteurized milk.
Mark McAfee: Mankind's design is lots of milk, super, super cheap, long shelf life, no liability. We have a sterilized immune system that reflects it. People that get on raw milk start seeing a really, really profound difference in their immune systems when their gut starts to work, their immune system starts to work.
McAfee is a former paramedic turned dairyman who says his sales are growing by a million dollars a year. Organic Pastures milk is sold in more than 300 stores in California, including Whole Foods.
But it's illegal to sell raw milk in about two dozen other states, so some consumers in states like Iowa and Tennessee have turned to the black market or to a cow share, where they own part of a cow rather than paying directly for the raw milk.
The FDA says drinking raw milk is like playing Russian roulette with your health. Dr. Michael Payne agrees. He's with the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security.
Michael Payne: The dirtier the milk, the more likely it is to be dangerous.
Payne dismisses the notion that there's healthy bacteria in a cow's udder. He says any bacteria introduced in milk comes from milking equipment, dirt or manure.
Payne: Would you have your child go ahead and suckle on a cow teat that's been rolling around inside the pasture? Common sense says no.
In fact, two Southern California families are suing Organic Pastures dairy alleging their children experienced E. coli-related kidney failure from drinking raw milk.
Back in her Clovis kitchen, Linda Edin isn't fazed by the arguments against raw milk. She wants the right to choose what to feed her children.
Edin: It's not illegal drugs, it's milk!
Edin may think the government has better things to regulate, but the feds and state agriculture officials are increasingly cracking down on the raw milk trade. California has a new law limiting the amount of bacteria in unpasteurized milk. Producers like Organic Pastures dairy say that might ultimately put them out of business.
From Fresno, I'm Sasha Khokha for Marketplace.
Comments
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From douala, 09/18/2008
Dear Sir/Madam;
We are one of the Milk company here in central africa cameroon we will like to have business with your company concerning your item of which we are much intrested in it however if you have it we request that you then mail us direct through our mail box which is below
Email(rosesgarment@yahoo.com )
Waiting to hear from you soon
Mr Okiriko.
From NJ, 06/24/2008
Six of us spent two weeks with uncontrollable diarrhea after contracting campylobacter from drinking raw milk at a farm in Pennsylvania. Four of them were young children, who had to miss school for a week, and one adult who needed intravenous fluids after suffering from dehydration. Drinking raw milk is dangerous and you run a huge risk. It's not worth it. If you want to drink organic, that's one thing, but milk needs to be pastuerized for a reason. Our experience nearly killed us.
From Omaha, NE, 06/16/2008
At first I was excited to hear the report on raw milk, but my pleasure turned to disappointment at the incomplete information presented. Balanced reported would require the disclosure of the illness caused by pastuerized milk: "Between 1980 and 2005, 41 outbreaks were reported to the CDC, attributing 19,531 illnesses to the consumption of pasteurized milk and milk products." http://64.233.167.104/custom?q=cache:dDkwVS8J_1UJ:www.realmilk.com/documents/SheehanPowerPointResponse.pdf+powerpoint&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us&client=google-coop-np
I realize most American have little idea from whence their food originates. It's very sad that this report contributed to the average consumer's confusion.
From Whittier, CA, 06/14/2008
I for one, would much prefer to be able to buy raw milk, than not. First of all, I do not think it is the gov't position to outlaw something that has been made for 10,000 years.
Second, I find it rather absurd considering the number of raw milk cheeses available (and widely consumed) in Europe (and not in the US) that an ill-informed "doctor" can assert that raw milk is some how tainted or bad for you.
As for his stupid comment about sucking on the teat of a cow after she has been rolling on the ground, I would respond that with the superior immune system that one acquires from raw milk over a period of time, he might discover that a little dirt is good for him.
Pity most folks are so poorly informed on this and many other subjects.
From Ashton, MD, 06/11/2008
Linda Edin and Mark McAfee document all that supports raw milk from cows in a healthy pasture and sunlight, and all that is wrong with the conventional animal products from animals confined in the most unsanitary and inhumane conditions. Those are the products that are unfit for consumption, and the choices those of us, such as Mark and Linda, who have done our homework, reject.
Dr. Michael Payne reflects all that is wrong with our food supply and our state and federal agencies that have betrayed the public.
Payne's characterizationn of raw milk is the factual description of the conventional products Payne apparently supports that the rest of us reject. Those who choose raw milk and other products from healthy animals such as Mark's, recognize food (not chemicals) and nutrition when we see it.
The recent epidemics of cancer, allergies, diabetes, and obesity are directly related to the adulterated products paraded as food by Dr. Payne and his corrupt and ill informed cronies.
Studies by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the American Public Health Association implicate the disgusting conditions of animal feeding operations in a range of environmental and health problems.
Homogenization and pasteurization are intended to extend the shelf life of products that no longer qualify as food. For example, the FDA and USDA promote pasteurization of eggs from these animal feeding operations that are too contaminated to eat. Pasteurization destroys vital nutrients necessary for strong immune systems. The FDA Web site usually contains at least fifteen pages of product recalls that reflect how unsafe and nutritionally bankrupt our food supply has become. The solution is not more money for more inspectors. The solution is to stop subsidizing agribusiness operations that threaten our health and environment, stop attacking the best farming prctices that Mark represents, and restore our nationwide system of family farms that provide a safe and local food supply and generate health local and state economies.
From El Cerrito, CA, 06/11/2008
I was disappointed by the incomplete coverage of the raw milk regulatory struggle and it's potential health implications.
The lawsuit mentioned sounded current when it was actually resolved two years ago with no evidence that raw milk was the origin of the E. coli in question.
I feel it was irresponsible reporting to include the provocative comments from the representative of the Western Institute for Food Safety without supporting scientific data. Such comments also should have been followed by a scientifically reasoned rebuttal from the raw milk perspective. Dr. Payne's comment about the lack of cleanliness during milking was uncalled for when it is clear that these dairies practice extremely hygienic milking methods. Raw milk dairies enthusiastically comply with rigorous State health standards. Human pathogens have never been found in Organic Pastures raw milk.
Dr. Payne's provocative comment stops before informing that the same bacteria he wants us to fear are also found in a dead form in pasteurized milk, leading to allergic reactions. There was also an insufficient discussion of the other beneficial bacteria, enzymes, vitamins and minerals that make raw milk more digestible and nutritious because they are not denatured by the heating process.
In opting to cover this story with sensational unsanitary imagery the reporter abandoned the solid scientific and quantitative understanding of both sides of this issue that is more pertinent to this food safety issue.
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