Raw Milk

[Karinda]

http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2009/AG_sues_Laclede_Co_couple_for_raw_milk_sale_violations/

November 23, 2009

Attorney General Koster sues Laclede County couple for raw milk sale violations
Springfield, Mo. - Attorney General Chris Koster has filed a lawsuit against a Laclede County couple for violating a Missouri law that prohibits the distribution and sale of raw milk unless a person purchases or requests delivery of raw milk or cream directly from a farm.

Koster said Armand and Teddi Bechard, d/b/a/ Bechard Family Farm, sold raw milk in the parking lot of Mama Jean's Natural Market in Springfield to two undercover investigators with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

Koster said the Food and Drug Administration, as well as other federal and state health agencies, have long warned of the risks to human health associated with ingesting raw milk. He said FDA and state health agency studies have established a direct cause-effect link between gastrointestinal disease, including e-coli contamination, and the consumption of raw milk.

"Because of the known health risks involved in drinking raw milk, Missouri lawmakers saw fit to require that milk sold from distribution points - such as grocery stores, convenience marts, or farmers' markets - be pasteurized," Koster said. "The law does not prohibit Mr. and Mrs. Bechard from selling raw milk, but it does prohibit them from selling it from a parking lot."

Koster filed the lawsuit after the Bechards refused to sign a consent judgment requiring them to abide by the raw milk statute. He is asking the court to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting Mr. and Mrs. Bechard from selling raw milk or raw milk products in violation of the law and to require them to pay the cost of the lawsuit.

This just makes me angry, they are going after the American Farmer. Mama Jean's is where I buy my food. I don't even drink raw milk, but I get my eggs and turkey from the Bechards. Best turkey I ever had, raised right in organic pasture!

[Freeski]

We all want safe food, yes, so the only question is HOW do we ensure our food is safe?

a) let the government do it for us
b) get someone else to do it for us, on our own terms
c) inspect it ourselves

I say both b and c. The free exchange of goods and services and a healthy does of personal responsibility.

[HealthWyze]

It is incredible that a federal agency can prohibit the sale of an unmodified, natural food.  We definitely need to get rid of the FDA, and give powers back to the people.  That sort of legislation just seems insane.  I would never buy raw milk from a grocery store, even if they did sell it. 

You see, other than pasteurization and homogenization, there is another big difference between raw milk and store bought milk.  Raw milk is always from cows that are grass fed, and allowed to roam the pasture.  Store bought milk, in most cases, is from cows that never even see the sunlight, live inside sheds with concrete floors, and eat a diet of corn.  The levels of bacteria is store bought milk is so much higher than that of raw milk. I can't imagine buying raw milk from a regular grocery store.  *Shudder*

[Edgar]

In Utah you can buy Raw Milk from a store you just need to register and sign a consent form. If anyone would research they find out that raw milk is the only way to drink milk, otherwise you are wasting you time with milk, also it is much safer.

[Thermionic]

They're trying to ban raw milk sales here in SD. Interesting how they're starting this campaign in a state with a virtually nonexistent dairy herd....

[luckee1]

OMG RAW MILK, BLASPHEMY!  THROW THE BOOK AT THEM!


Jeeze, we got rapists murderers and bangsters stealing the nation but these gits have to arrest someone for Raw Milk!

[Thermionic]

Raw milk needs to be banned because it isn't fortified with Vitamin D...............or Vitamin rBST.

[hilary_155]

  All through junior high and high school, I would get up at 5 am and feed and milk the goats before I went to school.  The milk rarely lasted more than 24 hours in the fridge (meaning it was consumed).  We drank it raw.  When we fed it to one batch of peeps, they grew into huge chickens that easily weighed as much as turkeys. 

  The revolution has already begun.