California Raw Milk Dairies Win TRO, Suspending AB 1735 Coliform Standard

The Complete Patient ^ | March 19, 2008 | David E. Gumpert

[davidgumpert]

Like a fighter down for the count who gets back on his feet at the last moment, and then stuns spectators by knocking the opponent back on his heels, the team of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. and Claravale Farm scored a big win in a California courtroom today.

Superior Court Judge Harry J. Tobias rejected the state’s heavy hitters from office of the Attorney General and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and granted OPDC and Claravale a temporary restraining order prohibiting enforcement of AB 1735 and its ten-coliform-per-milliliter standard that had threatened to shut the dairies down.

[davidgumpert]

California's two raw milk dairies won a major victory in convincing a state judge to issue a temporary restraining order against enforcement of AB 1735, the coliform standard that threatened to put the dairies out of business.

[gondramB]

>>OPDC and Claravale had argued that AB 1735 threatened to put them out of business, for the sake of enforcing a bacteria standard that had no relationship to raw milk’s safety or the possible presence of pathogens.<<

E coli seems like a reasonable thing for the agency charged with regulating safety to check.

[Iron Munro]

This is how the dairy co-ops and agri-business dairies have forced the small dairy farmer out of business all over America in the last 50 years.
Government colludes and passes the bills they write into law to put their competition out of business.

[Katya]

good news. If people want to purchase raw milk and raw milk products,they should be allowed to...let dairies can label it and warn against potential risks.

[Huntress]

Interesting. What are the potential health benefits of raw milk, what are the risks, and how do they stack up against one another?

[BGHater]

Good news. If you can smoke cigs. and drink alcohol, ya should be able to purchase raw milk.

[BGHater]

http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/raw_milk_health_benefits.html
You can start here.

[PAR35]

Suspending AB 1735 Coliform Standard

Oh good. By the way - do you know what coliform is usually associated with? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coliform_bacteria

[papasmurf]

This is great news! Late, but still, great.

[goodnesswins]

"OPDC and Claravale had argued that AB 1735 threatened to put them out of business, for the sake of enforcing a bacteria standard that had no relationship to raw milk’s safety or the possible presence of pathogens. California’s Attorney General had argued on behalf of the CDFA that the coliform standard has been widely adopted around the country as an important way to determine dairy cleanliness and as an indicator of potential pathogens."

[papasmurf]

How many e-coli cases have they had in California in the last 45 years?

[calcowgirl]

Excellent! Congrats to the dairies!

[gondramB]

>>Suspending AB 1735 Coliform Standard

Oh good. By the way - do you know what coliform is usually associated with? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coliform_bacteria<<

I believe the short answer would be “poop.”

[Octar]

We drank and used raw milk for many years. I don’t know if it has any special benefits, but it never made us sick. It tastes much better than pasteurized and homogenized milk and yogurt made with it is lightyears better.

[redhead]

"good news. If people want to purchase raw milk and raw milk products,they should be allowed to...let dairies can label it and warn against potential risks."

My family and I have been drinking raw milk for some time with nothing but GOOD effects. I recommend it most highly, especially if it is the rich, full-cream whole milk.

[gondramB]

>>How many e-coli cases have they had in California in the last 45 years?<<

In the last 45 yrs? I don’t know. There are about 70,000 year nationally.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/escherichiacoli_g.htm

[JRochelle]

With raw milk you can make your own cheeses. The end product is pasteurized in the cheese-making process.

I'm sure some people have other uses for it.

[Paleo Conservative]

E coli seems like a reasonable thing for the agency charged with regulating safety to check.

So long as non-pasteurized milk is clearly, labeled, I don't have a problem with it being sold. Personally, I wouldn't drink unpasterized milk, but I might consider some milk products. There are lots of european cheeses that can't be sold in the US due to being made from non-pasteurized milk.

[Hiddigeigei]

During WWII we kept cows and drank raw milk. Pasteurization was initiated to prevent TB. My grandfather, who was a bacteriologist, was one or several people involved in promoting Pasteurization. Another was Emil Berliner, the man that invented the phonograph disc. If you have one or two cows, there is little risk, but if you have many farmers with hundreds or thousands of cows selling milk to a large dairy, you run considerable risk if only one of cows is infected. TB used to be a much greater threat than it is now. My grandfather and father died from TB, and many children in cities used to be infected with TB from the milk they were given.

[gondramB]

>>So long as non-pasteurized milk is clearly, labeled, I don't have a problem with it being sold. Personally, I wouldn't drink unpasterized milk, but I might consider some milk products. There are lots of european cheeses that can't be sold in the US due to being made from non-pasteurized milk.<<

If it were labeled with appropriate warnings - like with the results of the Health and Human Services study and why interstate transportation is banned...and people still choose to assume this risk as adults. It shouldn't be legal to give to children.