What the Hell can I Eat?

California Threatens to Outlaw Sales of Raw Milk

California raw milk producers warn that a new law to impose strict requirements on raw milk, will outlaw and require the disposal of perfectly safe milk. AB 1735 requires that all raw milk sold in California be tested for 10 coliform bacteria per milliliter or less. But raw milk producers and activists say that most coliform bacteria is perfectly safe, and that tests are already carried out for a handful of such bacteria, including E. coli 0157:h7 and Listeria monocytogenes, that can cause disease in humans. The new law does not require testing for those bacteria.
“My customers’ choices are now being limited by a law that makes no sense,” said Mark McAfee, owner of the country’s largest raw dairy, Organic Pastures. “Why test for coliform bacteria when you can test for pathogenic bacteria directly?”
“Officials cite health risks to raw milk, but once milk has been pasteurized, all the anti-microbial and immune-supporting components are reduced or destroyed,” said Sally Fallon, founder of “A Campaign for Real Milk.” All coliform bacteria are killed by the pasteurization process.

Read Full Article here:
http://www.enn.com/business/article/34249

Also, please see my earlier posts plus the links on raw milk! It’s a fact that out of the THOUSANDS of cases of food borne illness in the U.S. each year (most of which are from pasteurized dairy products and contaminated produce) only a handful are ever associated with raw milk.
It’s a lot more dangerous, statistically speaking, to eat a spinach salad than to drink raw milk from clean, healthy cows.
In fact, I’m going to repost some links right here for your convenience:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHcyAH0rOPE&feature=related

http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr5pl6lgjJ8

http://www.realmilk.com/

Well, that certainly tempers my good news, which is that my mom found a dairy near her in upstate N.Y. and will be bringing me raw milk this very weekend!
She’s looking for glass gallon or half gallon containers to store it in and will drive it down to our old wreck in the Catskills that we’re slowly (very slowly) fixing up.
It turns out that a good friend of hers got inspired by my posts here and found a tiny dairy near her run by a single family with a handful of cows! She buys it for her husband (who is not well) and they all just love it. The cows are grass fed and pretty much always pastured except when weather won’t allow. I’ve asked my mom (who is more than a good sport) to take notes and photos to post here as well as a list of questions to ask.