Tuesday August 30, 2011: Editorial by Jeff Akerman, publisher, The Union, Jeff Ackerman: Can we have our milk and drink it, too?
Friday August 26, 2011: Letter to the Editor of The Union from Karen Ross, Secretary California Department Food and Agriculture Local food movement a positive, as long as safety is maintained
Rebuttal to Karen Ross of CDFA, letter to the editor 8/26/11 by Shan Kendall, Gold Country Chapter Leader, Weston A Price Foundation:
The CDFA continues to slander the good name of raw milk. Ms. Ross states: “The 1985 deaths of several dozen people in the Los Angeles area, (was) the result of unpasteurized milk used by a cheese manufacturer..” From raw milk expert, Ted Beals, M.D.: “…it is most likely that the pathogens that were attributed to the deaths did NOT originate in the raw milk, but in the processing environment.” Cheese illnesses can also result from pasteurized milk cheeses. I note that there have been NO deaths attributed to raw milk during the last 12 years, but 3 deaths caused by pasteurized milk in Massachusetts and 7 deaths from pasteurized cheese in Europe. I would like to refer readers to an article by Dr. Joseph Mercola (8/31/11) in which our own government data is used to show that people are more likely to become ill from eating other foods than from drinking raw milk. Why is this “Unsafe” Food Banned When It’s 35,000 Times SAFER Than Others? Ms. Ross represents a government regulatory agency that is supported by the Corporate food industry. They are scared of shrinking profit margins when people adopt healthy local, unprocessed foods.
Comment on Karen Ross’s letter to the editor 8/26/11, by Cathe’ Fish, Gold Country Chapter Leader, Weston A Price Foundation:
The cheese incident that Karen Ross mentions above is the Jalisco Cheese Incident, where raw milk was improperly heated to 140º. Heating the milk to 140º does not destroy all of the “bad” bacteria, but does destroy “good” bacteria and enzymes that make raw milk safe. Then the cheese was manufactured and labeled as raw cheese. In the opinion of many, this Jalisco cheese was no longer raw.
Frankly, we are really sick of hearing this incident used as the rationale for the CDFA and the FDA attacking raw milk farmers in swat style raids. Liquid raw milk is safe.
Wednesday August 24, 2010: The Union Feature Article by Laura Brown Weston A. Price Foundation: Food, education and activism
Wednesday August 10, 2010: The Union Feature Article by Laura Brown Government raids set local foodies on edge
I was attending the 2012 Farm Conference in Grass Valley and heard word of a petition to repeal a bill that went into law regarding the legalities of food storage and bearing arms. Does your organization have any information about this that you may pass along. Thank you