Portal:Raw Milk

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The Raw Milk Portal

The Food Rights Network is a non-profit, non-partisan research and advocacy project of the Center for Media and Democracy.

Raw milk is milk that comes directly from cows, goats and sheep. It is not modified by processes such as pasteurization and homogenization. Farmers’ practices, such as how those animals are fed, milked, and treated, along with how the raw milk is stored and transported, are critical to the quality of that milk. FRN supports the policies and practices in dairy farming that make it possible to have appropriately sized herds and pasture for grazing that will help ensure good quality milk. FRN supports practices in storage and transportation of raw milk that have made this a safe and healthy product for generations. FRN supports the farmer’s right to sell raw milk to individuals and commercial enterprises both on and off the farm. FRN supports the milk drinker's right to purchase raw milk both on and off the farm.

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The Latest from the Food Rights Network

Activists Rally Around Wisconsin Dairy Farmer Facing Criminal Charges

As snow started to fall, a Mennonite dairy farmer arrived at the courthouse in Baraboo, Wisconsin, on March 2 for a hearing on four charges against him related to the production and distribution of milk and other foods. Vernon Hershberger operates Grazin' Acres Farm, a small family dairy farm in Loganville, and is part of a private food club that leases his cows and receives distributions of raw milk and other foods via what he calls a members-only "food pantry" on the farm.

Wisconsin allows incidental sales of raw milk on-farm without a license. Critics claim that the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) interprets this law more strictly now than it has in the past.

Hershberger is being charged by the state of Wisconsin not with selling raw milk, but with operating a food establishment without a license, producing milk without a license, operating a dairy plant without a license and violating a hold order that was placed on his coolers during a June 2010 raid. Hershberger claims he does not participate in commerce, but instead has a contractual arrangement with the leaseholders of the farm's livestock. The state's charges could land him in prison for three years, with fines of over $10,000. . . .

Food Rights Activists Support Hershberger

Despite an impending snow storm, about 300 people gathered in front of the Sauk County District Courthouse in Baraboo before the hearing to support Hershberger, the food club members and what they say are food rights.

The "Raw Milk Freedom Riders" group, unveiled a "Declaration of Food Independence" beside the courthouse steps. It proclaims that "inherent in every individual is the God-given right to procure the food of one's choice from consenting farmers and producers." Hershberger was the first to sign.

Food Club Members Defend their Contract and their Farmer

Members of Grazin' Acres private food club toasted "to food rights" with raw milk and homemade cookies.

One of the members of the club, Kelly West of Middleton, Wisconsin, said, "Vernon is not selling to the public. We pay him to board and care for our animals. We own the cows. We own the food. This arrangement is permitted under the Wisconsin State Constitution. ... We are not asking that this milk be able to be sold in the nearest grocery store, as wonderful and convenient as that would be. No, all we want is to be left alone. This government is supposed to protect our liberties, but instead it's taking them away."

West emphasized, "In the last several years, the family farm has become an endangered species. There have been undercover stings and raids on family farmers, and all over what? Milk! Vernon could go to jail for distributing milk! ... I can feed my kids soda pop and candy bars all day long. Is it healthy? No. Is it legal? Yes. I can give my kids fresh milk from a local farm. Is it healthy? Yes. Is it legal? No."

See PRWatch.org for more.

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Raids

The Raw Milk Raid Timeline provides a timeline of government raids of farmers and others selling and/or distributing raw milk.

2004

• Spring: Organic Pastures, California: "Without notice, the FDA in association with state agencies visited Organic Pastures Dairy Company (OPDC) and carried out a multi-day investigation. The initial authority provided at arrival was suggested that the FDA was visiting to look at cheese production. On the second day of the inspection/ investigation an FDA investigator (Special Agent Jennifer King) was found secretly and illegally rapidly taking pictures of customer files of PET food sales and colostrum sales. OPDC demanded that the FDA leave and return the next day so that OPDC attorneys could respond to the illegal and unauthorized taking of customer data and file information. The FDA was found illegally operating outside of its jurisdiction, they were very embarrassed and did not return for five years."

2006

• March 6: Double O Farms, Kentucky: Police and authorities from Ohio, Kentucky, and the FDA raid a distribution of raw milk by Double O Farms.

• August: Amos Miller Food, Pennsylvania: "Amos Miller Food was red tagged and embargoed. Aajonus Vonderplanitz, later co-founder of Rawesome Foods, ghost writes motion to quash. Judge throws the case out of court and quashes the complaint against Amos Miller. Miller continues supplying food."

• October 13: Family Farms' Cooperative, Michigan: The Michigan State Police and Michigan Agriculture Department raid Richard Hebron of Family Farms' Cooperative following a sting operation that lasted several months.

2007

• February: Greg Niewendorp, Michigan: February: Greg Niewendorp sends legal notice to Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA), alienating his property and notifying of non-compliance in the state’s unlawful, dangerous experimental TB cattle testing and eradication program. MDA quarantine’s his farm.
• August 21: Two state police trespass on Niewendorp’s property – with a state vet in wait around the corner – to coerce him into testing. Niewendorp escorts them off the property
• October 7: The state vet, enforcement agents, and representatives of the MDA, warrant in hand, with police and SWAT teams standing by down the road, trespass on Niewendorp’s farm, forcing his cattle to be used for the state’s experimental program and RFID ear-tagged for the National Animal Identification System.

2010

• April 2010: Dan Allgyer's Rainbow Acres Farm in Pennsylvania raided at 5am by the FDA with the U.S. Marshals and a state police trooper, following a months-long operation by an undercover investigator.
• June 2, 2010: Vernon Herschberger's Grazin' Acres Farm raided by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. He cuts the seals on his coolers and reopens his private farm store for business the next day.
• June 30, 2010: Rawesome Foods and its supplier, Healthy Family Farms, LLC, are raided and dairy products are seized.

2011

• August 3, 2011: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Food and Agriculture and police raid Rawesome Foods (Los Angeles, CA) and arrests James Cecil Stewart, Sharon Ann Palmer, and Eugenie Bloch. Leading up to both raids, the Los Angeles County District Attorney "employed at least three paid informants to join Rawesome...They were to join and become part of the community and report back on what was happening." There were also, separately "at least half a dozen undercover investigators," and "the investigators mounted secret 'pole cameras' within the tiny food club in Venice, CA, to film members in the club picking up food." Defense lawyer Ajna Sharma-Wilson says, "They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on informants and undercover agents. . . . They've spent millions on the whole case."

Read more here.

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Categories

• Raw Milk
• Agriculture
• Food Sovereignty
• Food and Agriculture Policy (U.S.)

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Raw Milk news

• Dozens of studies reviewed in May 2013 by independent health researcher Nadine Ijaz for the British Columbia Center for Disease Control suggest that raw milk is actually a low-risk food.

• Dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger receives $1,000 fine in raw milk case: "A Sauk County[, Wisconsin] dairy farmer who has gained national fame in the raw-milk debate avoided jail time and probation in his sentencing . . . for a crime stemming from a raid on his Grazin' Acres farm" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/13/13).

For more news, please see Raw Milk News.

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Selected article

Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinances, first drafted in four towns in Hancock County, Maine, are town ordinances establishing local food governance in response to increased federal regulation via the "Food Safety Modernization Act." Residents who drafted the ordinances in 2010 and 2011 feared that the new law, which President Obama signed on January 4th, 2011, could shut down cottage producers of jam and pickles made from backyard garden produce and church pot lucks without these local ordinances to protect them.

Read more here!.

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Selected picture

Jersey mix cow with brand new calf at pasture-based farm (Source: Rebekah Wilce)

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Raw Milk Studies

• R.J. Joost van Neerven, PhD, Edward F. Knol, PhD, Jeroen M.L. Heck, PhD, and Huub F.J. Savelkoul, PhD, "Which factors in raw cow's milk contribute to protection against allergies?" The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Volume 130, Issue 4), October 2012, pp. 853-858.
• Mark Holbreich, MD, Jon Genuneit, MD, Juliane Weber, MD, Charlotte Braun-Fahrländer, MD, Marco Waser, PhD, and Erika von Mutius, MD, "Amish children living in northern Indiana have a very low prevalence of allergic sensitization," The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Volume 129, Issue 6), June 2012, pp. 1671-1673.
• Torsten Olszak, Dingding An, Sebastian Zeissig, Miguel Pinilla Vera, Julia Richter, Andre Franke, Jonathan N. Glickman, Reiner Siebert, Rebecca M. Baron, Dennis L. Kasper2, and Richard S. Blumberg, "Microbial Exposure During Early Life Has Persistent Effects on Natural Killer T Cell Function," Science (Vol. 336 no. 6080), April 27, 2012, pp. 489-493.
• Loss G, Apprich S, Waser M, Kneifel W, Genuneit J, Buchele G, et al, "The protective effect of farm milk consumption on childhood asthma and atopy: the GABRIELA study," Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Volume 128:766-73), October 2011, p. 1.
• Erika von Mutius and Donata Vercelli, "Farm living: effects on childhood asthma and allergy," Nature Reviews (Volume 10), December 2010, p. 861.
• Josef Riedler MD, Charlotte Braun-Fahrländer MD, Waltraud Eder MD, Mynda Schreuer PhD, Marco Waser MSc, Soyoun Maisch MD, David Carr PhD, Rudi Schierl MD, Dennis Nowak MD, Erika von Mutius MD, and the ALEX Study Team, "Exposure to farming in early life and development of asthma and allergy: a cross-sectional survey, The Lancet (Volume 358, Issue 9288), October 6, 2001, pp. 1129 - 1133.

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"Selected video"

Fresh Milk Food Politics Interview: Nadine Ijaz (from Road Kill Radio News)

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"Related SourceWatch articles"

• Raw Milk
• Raw Milk News
• Raw Milk Laws By State
• Raw Milk Raid Timeline
• Raw Milk Freedom Riders
• Herdshare
• Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance
• Family Farm Defenders
• Rawesome Foods
• Double O Farms
• Zinniker Family Farm
• Grassway Organics
• Tucker Adkins Dairy
• Family Farms' Cooperative
• Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
• Weston A. Price Foundation

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Related portals

• Food Sovereignty Portal
• Toxic Sludge Portal

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Contact the Food Rights Network

You can contact the FRN by email to FoodRightsNetwork AT gmail.com. You can also sign up to receive helpful news:

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Raw Milk Resources

PRWatch Articles

• Rebekah Wilce, California is Farmer Brown, PRWatch.org, December 12, 2011
• Rebekah Wilce, Raw Milk Freedom Riders Take on Chicago, PRWatch.org, December 9, 2011
• Rebekah Wilce, We Are Farmer Brown, PRWatch.org, December 9, 2011
• Rebekah Wilce, Local Food Ordinances from Maine to California, PRWatch.org, October 10, 2011
• Rebekah Wilce, Wisconsin Judge Rules Against Food Rights, PRWatch.org, October 6, 2011
• Rebekah Wilce, Raw Milk Raids and Court Cases Enter New Territory, PRWatch.org, October 5, 2011

External Resources

• Food & Water Watch's Guide to Milk
• David Gumpert, The Complete Patient blog
• Coalition for Farm Food Freedom, Grassfed On The Hill website
• Weston A. Price Foundation, A Campaign for Real Milk website

References

Portals: Koch Exposed  · FrackSwarm · CoalSwarm · OutsourcingAmericaExposed · ALECexposed  · NFIBexposed  · Fix the Debt · State Policy Network · All Portals