Raw milk courtcase, farmer wins

http://www.torontolife.com/daily/daily-dish/aprons-icons/2010/01/21/raw-milk-advocate-michael-schmidt-acquitted-of-charges/

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/01/21/raw-milk-trial.html

Good for him!!

Good to see a farmer come out on the winning end for once.

Dave

After his place was raided three years with 21 armed officers (MNR who do not need warrants), his dairy equipment confiscated and hundreds of thousands in legal bills; he kept his cool, conducted all business with integrity and they tried to starve him out until about 500 of his supporters appeared. There were about 150 people at the courthouse today and 6 TV crews.
A great day for people who want to choose their own food. Maybe the milk regulations were the right thing to do in 1938 when they were enacted, but they just don't apply anymore. This whole thing never should have happened.

Glad it worked out for him and glad his customers thought enough of him to stand up for him! Hope the best for him, all the news coverage will be good advertise'n. I bet the google hits for raw milk went up and hope he has so many new customers that he has to buy more ground to feed all the new cheap cows he's gonna have to buy!

Dave

I will never understand what people have against Pasteurized milk. After all its just milk that is heated to kill the bad things in it.

Next thing people will want to get rid of Homogenized milk.

Walt

PS I guess people have the right to drink what they want but I for one don't trust it to be clean.

it also kills all the good bacteria and enzymes also. The farmers who have been drinking their own raw milk for generations I will believe before I believe some eco scientists with a mission.

Good thing for him he is in Canada. After the ruling that the US court just handed down. The big companies in the US can now buy all the votes they want to get laws passed in their favor. They will make sure that they have no competition from some little farmer.

Walt,

Your comment sounds like someone that has
not tasted the good stuff , what you buy in the
store today tastes about like chaulk water and
it doesn't even get the glass dirty. We quit
milking cows in 74 and I still miss the taste.
As for homogenized milk , kids today don't
have any idea what cream is or what whipped
cream tastes like ,the white foam in the tub
has little if any flavor.

george

The comments on the CBC site range from amusing to absurd...
On one hand, I think this is one up for freedom of choice. On the other hand, milk is pastureized for a good reason...
I milk cows. I drink raw milk. I drink pastureized milk... It's all about the same to me.


What this whole damn issue is about is the fact that DFO, adn for that matter, ever other milk board in the country is worried about... is an issue popping up where somebody gets sick from drinking raw milk. That's an economic loss for US as producers...
The ironic part is that if the bugger could tone it down a bit and work in the shadows he'd probably get along fine without much bother... but if you set out to challenge the law, the law will come down on you.
This ~will~ no doubt be appealed and probably be overturned on appeal.

I found some of the comments on the CBC page quite interesting tho...
some people seem to think that because bacteria is tested several times daily, dairies and farms and equipment are cleaner today or TB has been eradicated, etc that there's no problem.

Fact is.... bacteria is tested twice ~monthly~, somatic cell... weekly, and antiboitics are tested daily on every tanker, then on every farm if there's a problem.
The notion that milking equipment is cleaner today is probably wishfull thinking as well. There's a high reliance on detergents and acids to keep systems clean today where elbow grease used to do a lot of that work... and a small change in water temperature, hardness or chemical amounts can lead to a problem. Quickly... A problem that may not be noticed for some time until the next test comes in...
So... pastureization really isn't such a bad thing. If nothing else it's just another layer of insurance.

Rod

RodInNS,
"This ~will~ no doubt be appealed and probably be overturned on appeal"

I think you're right; he will not win in the end, just the Lawyers.

I remember milk before pasteurized, homogenized and the unknown to us chemicals in all milk products.

The milk today has so much preservatives in it, it does not sour it rots.
I really liked buttermilk, today’s buttermilk is too chalky the preservatives have made it unfit to drink.

This debate will rage on in the courts for a while yet but, I don't think it will stand up in the supreme court, because the law is clear that the sale of milk in Canada requires it to have been pasteurized . This law is not something grey or murky, it is not subject to interpretation , this is a simple public health issue of processed food safety. I'm sure the lawyers and news paper hacks will eat it up and get fat off of this story but , in the end we have laws in place for a reason , not just to be challenged and changed for no real advantage at the public's expense .

I really can't say for ~sure~ that there aren't ~any~ preservatives in the milk today, but I'm fairly sure that there isn't.
The main reason milk keeps so long today is because of fast, controlled refridgeration moments after it leaves the cow until it reaches your hands. It's cooled to under 4 degrees C within 1/2 hour of milking, stays that way until it's pasturized when any bacteria are killed, then it's quickly chilled again.
40-50 years ago there was little or NO refridgeration... at least around here. Milk was shipped in cans here until 1971. They had water chillers for the cans... but there's only so much that was going to do.
4 deg C is considered a critical control point for milk in the HAACP protocols that are followed today in the plants and on farm. Basically... if milk is kept cooler than 4 deg C, then bacterial growth is basically inhibited. That and fairly strict control of somatic cell counts (mastitis) give milk a long shelf life.

Rod

Give me raw milk any day.

Rod I have the same discussion with my hippie friends, they think it is a big conspiracy to keep all the benefits of raw milk away from them.

I've spent enough time milking and around dairies that I wouldn't want more than a few cows milk mixed into a glass I'm drinking. It was tough enough to spot problems with the neighbours 20 head we milked, with him knowing every cow and knowing if it was acting sick etc. The farm down the road with 100 head and a hired man who didn't give a hoot was picked up by the same truck. No clue how many loads they ruined.

Walt, I suggest you do some reading on the research that has been conducted on the relationship between clogged arteries and homo milk. Weston Price Foundation has plenty of material if you are interested. I don't want to start and argument or anything, just a thought.

RodInNS
I think Rod makes some good points. Pasteurization is done for a reason. Consumers reaching into the dairy case at the local store shouldn't have to worry about the safety of the product. They have no clue where it came from. By the same token, no one is holding a gun to someone's head to force them to drink raw milk from this guy's farm. They know the operation and are obviously satisfied that it is safe to drink. He's not putting it into the commercial marketplace. These people are doing it voluntarily and if they get sick, well, they knew the risk. I think a middle ground would be to allow the sale directly off the farm, i.e. NO distribution channels. So someone who WANTS raw milk can drive over to the place and buy it. JMO

We use raw milk from our goats and cows every day. In the many years we have done this, we have had no problems at all.

When we lived in Minnesota and did not have milking animals, we got about 5 gallons a week from a family that had cows. Never had problems there, either. But we knew them and they knew us. No questions as to 'safety'.

Now, if there was raw milk for sale in the store, I don't think I would buy it. It is too easy to cut corners and take chances when you don't know the people eating the food. People operating too close to insolvency might be tempted to do things they ought not to do. That milk gets pooled with other milk and it is off to the races.

Christopher

Why not just stop drinking milk? We get no health benefits from it. If we were meant to drink it we would suck it right out of the cow,go ahead and try that and see how far you get.

Then what do I dip my cookies in, mix with ice cream, put on my oatmeal and make cereal with? I grew up on raw milk,I buy 2% now. I probably drink too much but I like it and have never broke a bone. Coincidence? You tell me!