Traditional dairies lobby against raw milk in West

In November we reported more states were considering allowing raw milk sales to help struggling dairies. In Colorado, the product is growing in popularity with state help. Colorado is one of 29 states, with Wisconsin to join them, with "cow-share programs that use communal ownership to get around laws forbidding the retail sale of raw milk," Jason Blevins of The Denver Post reports. Sixty Colorado dairies now offer straight-from-the-cow milk, but that hasn't stopped traditional dairy interests from lobbying against its consumption.

"Eating should not be risky behavior, and we know better now," Judy Barbe, a dietician and senior director of nutrition affairs for the Western Dairy Association, comprising farmers in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, told Blevins. "The protection provided by pasteurization is too great to forgo." Raw-milk advocates say pasteurization removes some of the drink's natural health benefits. "I have more faith in Meg, my farmer, than FDA officials who are being lobbied by industrial food lobbyists," Michael O'Brien, whose Fort Collins family gets its milk directly from a Windsor dairy, told Blevins.

"What is happening nationwide as advocates push for raw milk and it becomes more mainstream, you are going to see more outbreaks and more illnesses and you will see more sick or dead kids, and that will create a pushback effect on raw milk," Bill Marler, a food-safety attorney who represents food-poisoning victims and helped form the website realrawmilkfacts.com. "Governors and legislators are going to be facing more difficult choices with raw milk, addressing issues of personal freedom versus science." Mary Blair McMorran, executive director of the Raw Milk Association of Colorado, counters that the concern is misplaced. "The conventional dairy industry produces milk designed for pasteurization. That milk will certainly get you sick if you drink it raw," she said. "We design milk for drinking." (Read more)