Setbacks and Bizarre Turns in the Raw Milk Saga
4th August 2012
For fans of raw milk and those who, like me—a non-consumer of either raw or pasteurized dairy milk—fight for food freedom in all its forms, the past year or two have been notable for several setbacks on the unpasteurized dairy front.
The FDA has increased pressure on states to crack down on raw milk within their own borders. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently stepped up its efforts against raw milk after the agency claimed its recent analysis “found that the incidence of dairy-associated disease outbreaks caused by nonpasteurized dairy products was 150 times greater per unit consumed than that from pasteurized products.”
So what? Relative incidence isn’t significant unless the absolute numbers of incidents are significant, and there’s no evidence that they are. Neither is there any evidence that these diseases are communicable, failing which it’s difficult to see what business it is of the CDC — or the FDA, so long as the products are clearly labelled (and you can just bet that the FDA would see to that).