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RAW MILK REVISITED
When government agents ordered the
dumping of 110 gallons of raw milk at Eric
Wagoner's home on Oct. 19, they unwittingly
sparked a local debate that had been gaining
momentum nationally for years. How could
milk, with all its wholesome connotations, be
illegal? How could Wagoner, coordinator of
Athens Locally Grown food network, violate
a federal crime for carrying milk from South
Carolina to individual Locally Grown members
who had purchased it online? More fundamen
tally, how could anyone have the right to say
what we can and cannot eat?
Wade cautiously into the subject of pas
teurization, and you're in an impossible
quagmire of competing sciences and seeth
ing vitriol. The FDA aggressively regulates
against raw milk being delivered across state
lines, it says, in order to protect the health
of citizens. Proponents of raw milk think of
themselves as victims of an intrusive state,
crusading on behalf of corporate interests and *
giddily enforcing rules with prejudice against
a responsible, informed minority.
In such a charged environment, facts shake
out begrudgingly. Does pasteurization make
milk safe for con
sumption? Absolutely.
Are the pathogens
killed by pasteuriza
tion the result of
poor production
techniques? Possibly.
Have people drunk,
and do they continue
to drink, unpasteur
ized milk without ill
effects? Yes (though
not universally), for
tens of thousands of
years. Does pasteuri
zation disturb the
composition of ben
eficial enzymes, fats,
proteins, minerals and
probiotics? It seems
plausible.
Yet there's no
indisputable analysis
of the trade-off either
way. The discussion leads almost immediately
to philosophical questions about progress,
nature versus culture and the proper limita
tions of a modern technological society. As
the public discourse about technological
applications to the food supply—like genetic
modification, bovine growth hormone and
irradiation—evolves, pasteurization inevitably
comes up for referendum.
It's not as though legislation to mandate
the pasteurization of milk is illogical. If a
single process can spare people from sick
ness or worse, why shouldn't it be done?
But Wagoner maintains that "South Carolina
has established a strict testing regimen that
ensures milk being sold raw has bacterial lev
els below that required of pasteurized milk."
Consumers' inability to purchase raw milk
responsibly shows the cracks of one-size-fits-
all regulation.
Pasteurization has completely transformed
the way the country buys milk. Without the
extended shelf-life that it provides, the only
supplier of milk could be local dairy farms. But
with pasteurization and relatively cheap gas,
local farmers can't compete against larger pro
ducers outside the region.
Lost in all of the racket about consumer
freedom are the farmers themselves. High feed
costs and lower demand due to the global
recession have sent the dairy industry into
a crisis. According to the USDA's Economic
Research Service, feed costs rose due to higher
ethanol use and "strong grain exports encour
aged by a weak U.S. dollar," and a previous
ERS projection predicts "average net dairy
farm income down 94 percent in 2009, to
$9,200 from $152,000 in 2008."
The federal government isn't just sitting
on its hands. In addition to farm purchases
by the USDA under the Dairy Product Price
Support Program in the 2009 fiscal year, the
agency has made more than "$700 million
in direct payments to dairy producers" under
the auspices of the Milk Income Loss Contract
Program. On Aug. 1, the U.S. Senate allocated
$350 million more to the USDA to mitigate the
crisis.
The economics, it seems, also begs
unavoidable questions of the state's
Department of Agriculture with regard to raw
milk: Why not open up another market to
Georgia's dairy farmers? Why not codify uni
form labeling so that buyers are aware of the
dangers involved, like raw beef? Why not tax
it and pay for manda
tory microbial tests
with that money? The
payoffs are unequivo
cal. More competition
would invigorate an
increasingly con
solidated industry.
Farmers could market
raw milk as a "pre
mium" product with
a higher retail price
than pasteurized milk.
Money would stay
inside the state, and
local food systems
might be re-ener
gized and farmland
protected.
A cursory look at
the issue reveals that
there's a vigorous
movement underfoot
in Georgia and the
nation. Locally Grown members and local
raw milk advocates are already talking about
motivating their legislators to modify the
laws. Wagoner has even mentioned becom
ing a plaintiff in a federal suit to reinterpret
FDA rules in favor of "direct-to-consumer
purchases." In short, the demand is not going
away.
Consequently, it's time for our Department
of Agriculture to start exercising its adapt
ability. Busting a relatively small group of
informed buyers of raw milk is a waste of time
and resources—and outrageous in the same
calendar year that salmonella from a Blakely
peanut-processing plant killed nine and
made more than 600 people sick nationwide.
Instead, for the benefit of Georgia consumers
and farmers alike, Tommy Irvin's office must
understand the new food models already thriv
ing inside the state.
Hopefully, the authorities who arrived at
Wagoner's farm in October were harbingers of
their own irrelevance. Raw milk is no longer
about past laws or present infractions but
about future opportunities. As frustrating as it
is for a Georgian to say, perhaps we can look
to South Carolina for a model. ’
Donn Cooper
Eric Wagoner pours out raw milk on Oct. 19.
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NOVEMBER 4,2009 • FLAGPOLE.COM 7