Raw Milk, What is So Bad About It?

Posted by Jeff Carter
on July 28th, 2010

In the US, the Food and Drug administration bans the sale of raw milk to the public. This not only affects liquid milk sales, but affects the cheese market as well. US cheese makers must use pasteurized milk, or age their raw milk cheeses for over 60 days before they get to market. Before people with either Bush/Obama derangement syndrome blame either of them-they had nothing to do with the ban. The ban is decades old.

My palate is crying.

In Europe, raw milk cheeses are plentiful. If you have never been there you are missing a wonderful delight. Raw milk cheeses are incredibly complex. They explode on your tastebuds. They are readily available in all small towns and big cities across Europe and in the UK. I went to a cheese shop in Paris once. It was incredible. Marie Cantin opened my eyes up to the potential of cheese.

The Pork Network recently wrote this editorial about raw milk and cheese.
There is a pretty hot debate in agriculture and in health circles about the benefits, or dangers of raw milk.

Certainly, factory farmers are against its production. It cuts into their market. Factory dairy farmers in the US are a cartel. But this regulation limits consumer choice, limiting freedom too!

I propose a compromise. If they want to fight like goats and cows over liquid milk consumption, fine. If I were a benevolent dictator, I would allow the sale of it-but have a big label on it saying it was unpasteurized. Monitor the consumption of it. If lots of people start to get sick, well, the FDA might have a point. I don’t think that will happen.

However, lets allow all the cheese production in as many forms as we can invent. France leads the world in cheese, but American innovation and ingenuity can catch up and beat them. But, it only can if we unhinge the harnesses that are holding innovation back.

For America, it is a quality of life issue!

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