"No soup...er...Milk for you!!"

How can this be? I want to have some fresh milk, I mean straight from the cow's udder. However, my government tells me it's "dangerous" for me and everyone else. So what do they do? They make it ILLEGAL for farmers to sell fresh, unpasteurized milk to consumers in the State of North Carolina. Well, how 'bout that?

Not only that, one used to be able to purchase a 'cow share'. This was a practice where you would take part ownership of a dairy cow, it would be stabled, fed, and cared for by a dairy farm/pasture of your decision. The farmer would milk the cow on his land/dairy/pasture and you get the milk. My wife's Grandmother and friends took part in this practice years ago and reaped the benefits of healthy Fresh Milk from their own cow for years, none the sicker and all the more wise! This is now illegal as well (since 2004.)

Just recently a passage of House Bill 2524 was enacted to removed charcoal dye that was added to "pet milk"; which is milk to be used for milking newborn animals (orphaned or otherwise in need) - the charcoal bit was actually added because Agriculture Dept. officials noticed that farmers and consumers were partaking in sales that both sides were aware that were intended for human consumption.

So how did ultra-fresh milk (I won't call it raw milk for reasons about to be explained) become the ONLY Illegal food in North Carolina (and several other states)?? There are some great articles HERE and HERE. This report from the CDC is about a 2001 outbreak of Listeriosis Monocytogenes, from 'raw' goat cheese (queso fresco) in North Carolina.

I call it Fresh Milk because'raw milk' is the phrase that the government uses to categorize ANY milk that is unpasteurized. Whether it has been produced on a manufacturing style farm that is pasteurizing milk or a private farm that produces only dairy that is pasture fed and cared for, where the milk is fresh and not intended for pasteurization.

What's the difference? To me, the proof is in the pudding so to speak. If one looks at the milk of a large scale farm that is producing milk for a pasteurization process line, this milk is full of...well anything! If it's meant for pasteurization processes, the milk need not be 'clean' or withing limitations in terms of bacterial counts. I believe it's 100,000 bacterium per liter. Why so high? because when you pasteurize the milk (heating it to 161'F) you kill everything in it. Fresh Milk produced in a properly sanitized environment (which pasteurization cows/dairies DO NOT FOLLOW) which comes from a cow that is properly cared for and grazed on pasture land will produce milk that is HEALTHY AND SAFE for consumption for MOST people.
I do give credit to the fact that Fresh Milk is likely not for ALL people, that being said neither is pasteurized milk (see lactose intolerance). Though, in fact there are many cases (see www.realmilk.org) where lactose intolerant individuals have tried Fresh Milk and are now able to drink this milk...except you can't get it legally in North Carolina because it's dangerous.

It's an interesting situation that begs the question - why Milk? Why not spinach, tomatoes, or pasteurized milk products (by-the-way, all of which outnumber properly prodcued Fresh Milk in reported illnesses and deaths)? What is it about milk that it needs to be governed by Federal legislation to 'protect the people'? Who started this whole party? See federal legislation, lobbyists, dairy commissions, pharmaceutical companies, Agricultural commissions. Check their pockets if you know what I mean.

Well there is definitely more research to be done. Don't let me or the milk producers, farmers, your cousin, Louis Pasteur himself (highly suggest some intense study of that man) or especially not anyone from Mainstream media lead you down the primrose path. Do your own investigation on what goes into your mouth; and look at who's hands are in the pockets of the producers of that product. I think it's quite true that one doesn't bite the hand that feeds you, so if farmers** are subsidized by government to grow certain things under certain conditions...how likely are they to call a foul when something is run-a-muck? (**insert, chemists, FDA,CDC,USDA,Big BEEF, Big Dairy etc)

Good luck -