If some activists get their way, the outbreak of E. coli that killed at least one person and sickened nearly 200 last month may have long-lasting effects on American farms. As it stands now, we have no rules about testing foods like spinach for things like E. coli. The recent outbreak has highlighted the vulnerability of our food supply, and now food safety groups are demanding that the Food and Drug Administration put in place tighter controls, including testing.
All this was rolling around in my head last week as I read a long story about raw milk in the Washington Post Magazine. Thomas Bartlett's story-which didn't mention spinach-described how
raw milk devotees and earnest dairy farmers struggle with a Draconian FDA that makes milk straight from the teat sound more terrifying than the Taliban. Bartlett quoted a mother who credited raw, unpasteurized milk with saving the life of her undernourished infant; a dairy farmer who had been drinking her own raw milk her whole life; and a nationally known raw milk guru who believes pasteurizing milk destroys nearly all of its valuable enzymes. He also quoted FDA officials who compared drinking raw milk with playing Russian roulette and selling the stuff with dealing heroin.
Virtually all milk sold in this country is pasteurized; it is briefly heated and then quickly cooled to kill bacteria (good and bad). Raw milk is not pasteurized or homogenized (meaning cream will still rise to the top of it) and therefore not legal for sale in DC's neighboring Maryland and Virginia, or most other states in the country. But what about New Mexico?
Alf Reeb, dairy division director of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, reports that New Mexico is one of the few states that does allow the sale of raw milk. In order to get away with not pasteurizing their products, dairies must get special permits and submit to additional, frequent inspections that include testing for bacteria levels. If the bacteria levels are too high, they can't sell the milk.
Oh, and they have to label their products with this exact phrase: "RAW MILK IS NOT PASTEURIZED AND MAY CONTAIN ORGANISMS THAT CAUSE HUMAN DISEASE." That warning also has to be posted on a sign in the refrigerated case next to the raw milk, which cannot be stored next to pasteurized milk. Needless to say, although the dairy industry in New Mexico is pretty big, there aren't many dairies selling raw milk.
Bartlett reported that the FDA couldn't positively identify a single deathly case of raw milk-related illness in the past 20 years. "I used to be a dairyman myself," NMDA's Reeb says. "I drank my own milk and never got ill from it, but now, 25 years later, I might get a little something."
Luke Woelber, who runs a Belen dairy, Haw Farms, says although there is a risk of serious illness, the more likely scenario is what he refers to as "Montezuma's revenge." As several industry folks explained to me, as you consume raw milk over time, your body becomes accustomed to the bacteria in it, building up a healthy tolerance. Unfortunately, that tolerance only applies to the particular bacteria in the milk, not to bacteria in other milk or other products.
Years ago, when an Albuquerque dairy was selling raw milk in retail stores, Reeb grew accustomed to taking Monday morning phone calls from cranky customers. "People would go and drink one, maybe two gallons [of raw milk] in a weekend, and then they wanted to blame the dairy because they got sick," he says. "I would go through my whole story [about building up a tolerance] and it wouldn't make them feel better physically, but at least they'd understand what was going on."
Woelber says he grew up drinking raw milk and understands its appeal, but it's not something he'd consider for Haw Farms-purely for business reasons. "Can you imagine trying to get into Wal-Mart with raw milk?" he asks.
These days, only one New Mexico dairy sells raw milk. Patrice Harrison-Inglis runs Sweetwoods Dairy in Peña Blanca (near Cochiti Lake). Best known for her flavored goat cheeses, Harrison-Inglis began selling raw goat milk several years ago after developing a goat yogurt. In order to sell the yogurt, NMDA required that she follow the same rules for selling raw milk. For years, customers had been asking her for raw milk, and for years she felt guilty telling them no while she and her family drank it daily. So she took the plunge.
During the summer months, when milk production is high, you can buy raw Sweetwoods goat milk at the Santa Fe Farmers Market (sorry, no more milk until spring). "We sell it from my hand to yours," Harrison-Inglis says, explaining the only way she believes raw milk works. "It requires a local dairy that's going to go to a lot of trouble…a dairy operator who cares, and nobody in between you and the mother who's pouring that milk for her kid," she says.
Meanwhile, think again about that bagged spinach that gets shipped all over the country without any mandatory testing for bacteria. Seems pretty scary now, doesn't it? "Our main job is public health," Reeb says. Referring to the contaminated spinach, he predicts that "tougher rules are going to be coming soon" for the produce industry.
Tell me where to eat! I need your input. Send all of your tips, gripes and raves to
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