Page 84 - Spring2010

A Campaign for Real Milk

RAW MILK GETS A RAW DEAL
by Tom McNaughton

A growing number of people who under- if I request the cheese ahead of time, the cheese
stand the benefits of eating real food want to views it as an arranged marriage and is happy.
buy raw milk, but can’t—at least not legally in Curious about which states have outlawed
many states. Some manage to find it anyway. To raw milk, I checked the state-by-state listings on
get an idea of the effort this requires, check out a Weston A. Price site, The Campaign For Real
this blog post: Milk. Perusing the state laws confirmed one
“Just as promised, I found the milk in the of my most deeply-held and cherished beliefs:
fridge. ‘Nelson’ was printed neatly on the glass governments are inherently stupid. Here are a
with indelible ink on an otherwise unlabeled jar. few examples:
No one was around except for a dog, who sur-
veyed my intentions and went back to guarding IDAHO
the cows. I left the money on the counter and Even though state law permits the sale of
departed with my contraband. raw milk if the farmer obtains a retail raw milk
“This was actually the least secretive ele- license, in practice the Idaho Dept. of Agriculture
A Campaign ment in my quest to find raw milk. Getting here balks at giving a license to anyone to sell raw
for Real Milk had required everything short of a secret hand- milk. Until very recently, there had not been a
is a project of shake. retail raw milk licensee in the state for fifteen
the Weston A. “After delicately putting the word out that I years.
Price was looking, I was interviewed by a local gate- That’s an interesting way of handling it.
Foundation. keeper who gave me the name of someone else Maybe California could use that technique to
who would send me in the right direction. In reduce traffic congestion.
To obtain order to get that far, I had to prove my bona fides. “Sure, it’s legal to drive here, but you need
some of our The gatekeeper wanted to know my experience a license.”
informative with raw milk, an attempt to ascertain whether “Okay, where do I get a license?”
Real Milk I was a state health official operating a sting.” “Sorry, we don’t actually issue any.”
You’d almost think some of these state
brochures, regulators have confused raw milk with heroin. “But. . . I need to drive!”
“Then you’d better get a license.”
contact the In fact, it’s probably easier to score heroin.
Foundation at In Tennessee, raw milk seems to be semi- ILLINOIS
(202) legal. Some farmers sell it openly at the farmers’ Raw milk sales are legal on the farm if the
363-4394. market, but the farmer we prefer can’t—because farmer complies with the following conditions:
Check out our his farm is forty miles away. But if we request it
ahead of time by sending an email, he can legally 1. No advertising the sale of raw milk.
website, sell it to us. 2. Customers must bring their own individual
www. When I heard that explanation, I tried several containers.
RealMilk.com times to make sense of it, then stopped when I 3. The customer must put the milk from your
for additional thought my head was about to explode. Appar- container into their container.
information ently, if the farmer drives a cooler full of raw-
and sources milk cheese forty miles and then sells it to just Okay, I see. . . the farmer has raw milk in
anybody who wanders buy, the cheese will feel a container. If I take it home in that container,
of Real Milk slutty and throw a temper-tantrum that results the milk will be contaminated. But if the milk
products. in an explosion of salmonella bacteria. However, is poured from his container into a plastic milk
84 Wise Traditions SPRING 2010