VICTORIA – A dispute between raw milk enthusiasts and health officials is taking a sour turn in British Columbia.
At the centre of the storm is Home on the Range Farms, a dairy in Chilliwack, B.C., that produces raw milk, yogurt, butter, cream and cream cheese and distributes them to 400 Lower Mainland families and individuals.
Home on the Range owner Alice Jongerden is to appear in B.C. Supreme Court Feb. 1 to fight efforts to stop her from distributing unpasteurized milk.
Its sale is illegal in Canada and is defined as a health hazard in B.C.’s Public Health Act.
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“They don’t want raw milk flowing,” Jongerden said, referring to what she called well-financed milk marketing boards and their members who feel threatened by her operation.
She said farmers spend a lot of money on quota and are worried that if she can successfully market her milk, other producers will get the same idea and erode quota share.
To get around laws that forbid the sale of raw milk, Home on the Range operates as a cow share ownership. Shareholders buy one refundable cow share for $125 and pay a $17.50 weekly maintenance fee.
For that they receive one gallon of milk a week or the equivalent in other products, such as butter and cream cheese.
Meanwhile, an Ontario farmer was found not guilty Jan. 21 of 19 charges related to selling unpasteurized milk using a similar cow share method.
Michael Schmidt of Durham, Ont., defended himself. He argued that the charges infringed on his constitutional rights.
Like Jonerden, Schmidt allows his co-op members to own a portion of the cow to acquire raw milk.
Jongerden distributed her products at six locations, including a pharmacy. However, B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall said the Fraser Health Authority issued cease and desist orders in January to stop distribution of Home on the Range products.
Jongerden said one distributor, a North Vancouver restaurant-deli, was later told its business licence would be pulled if it continued to distribute Home on the Range products, while an Abbotsford farm was fined $245 for serving as depot for the products.
Milk continues to be distributed from a private residence and the farm, she added.
Jongerden, who started her farm three years ago, obtains 75 gallons of milk a day from 10 cows, primarily Jerseys.
Problems started in December when a customer informed Jongerden that her milk had an odd taste.
She suspects the problem occurred when milk was moved from the parlour to milk room through a hose that had been cleaned with chlorine. The hose had a kink that may have trapped milk or chlorine.
Since that discovery, she said milk is moved from the parlour to the milk room in cans.
“I’m not opposed to being accountable,” said Jongerden, who grew up on an Ontario dairy farm.
However, on the heels of the taste problem, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control advised Jan. 5 that consumers with unpasteurized dairy products from Home on the Range should get rid of them because five samples from the dairy tested positive for fecal contamination.
The tests were prompted after an 18-month-old child caught a gastrointestinal illness, Kendall said.
Raw milk was the suspected cause, but tests did not pinpoint exactly what caused the child’s sickness.
The cease and desist orders issued to the six distribution outlets soon followed the health alert.
However, Jongerden questions the veracity of the tests.
When the lab received the milk, she said, it was already several days old and its temperature was 5 C. In California, milk isn’t tested if it’s warmer than 4 C, she added.
She also said the contamination concerns have nothing to do with the reliability of raw milk.
“It’s not the milk, it’s the management of the milk.”
However, she conceded the contamination may have occurred after she changed her cows’ bedding from sand to sawdust in early December.
Kendall said cows can have infections that aren’t detectable, and teats can be contaminated with feces that aren’t visible to the naked eye.
As a result, E. coli, listeria and salmonella can end up in unpasteurized milk.
In California, health standards allow no more than 750 coliforms per millilitre in raw milk.
Kendall said Home on the Range’s milk had tens of thousands coliforms per mL.
High levels of coliform bacterium in raw milk suggest unsanitary conditions or practices during processing or packaging, he added.
Kendall said it’s not possible to stop adults from drinking unpasteurized milk, but there must be protection for children who may not have a choice in what they eat or drink.
The cease and desist orders and the court injunction are intended to ensure it stops, he added.
Gordon Watson, a Vancouver resident who has been drinking raw milk for 10 years and was one of Home on the Range’s first shareholders, said 29 U.S. states allow raw milk distribution. It was a legal commodity in B.C. until 1996, he added.
“Milk marketing boards are using this health furor to demonize raw milk.”
Watson said consumers realize how tasteless store-bought milk is after drinking unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk. He doesn’t deny that people can get sick from raw milk, but said it’s nonsense to deny the health benefits.
Kendall disagreed.
“There’s no substantial evidence that raw milk has benefits,” he said.
Characterizing raw milk drinkers as “well-intentioned but misguided,” Kendall said the fight to access raw milk probably won’t cease.
The case for pasteurization
- By law, milk must be pasteurized to be sold in Canada. During pasteurization, heat is applied to kill organisms that can cause disease, while keeping the milk’s nutritional properties.
- Raw or unpasteurized milk has not been pasteurized and can have bacteria that can cause foodborne illness, such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria.
- Although it is illegal to sell raw milk, people have become ill after drinking raw milk when visiting farms.
- Health Canada says any possible benefits from drinking raw milk are outweighed by the risk of illness. It tells consumers that if they are not sure if the milk is pasteurized, they should avoid it.
Raw Milk Cheese
- Health Canada says cheese made from raw milk is allowed for sale because the production process helps eliminate harmful bacteria.
- However, it recommends that pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems avoid it.
Source: Health Canada
The case for raw milk
- Supporters of raw milk contend that micro-organisms, including beneficial ones that aid in digestion and metabolization, are killed by pasteurization.
- Pasteurization enables the milk industry to raise cows in high density barns, which they say are less healthy because high volumes produced mean there is potential for a single disease incident to affect large numbers of people.
- Pasteurization destroys enzymes and diminishes vitamin content.
- Supporters say raw milk better protects against asthma and allergies, and is linked to better immune systems and growth in infants. It is also less likely to cause problems with lactose intolerance, ear infections, gastro-intestinal problems, diabetes and a range of other conditions, they say.
Source www.realmilk.com
