Raw milk buyers devise odd strategies to work around absurd laws and regulations

The new Prohibition

I don’t mean to alarm you, but there are criminals lurking among us. They look innocent enough. A lot of them live in the suburbs, some even drive Minivans. But make no mistake…they are scofflaws.

Their crime: an underground railroad (of sorts) in…raw milk.

Yes, you read that right. These dangerous criminals are trafficking raw milk. And they will stop at nothing.

A few years ago I told you about a community gardener in Manhattan who transported raw milk into the city from New Jersey. Crossing a state line to sell raw milk is a federal offense, so he would only sell it to a small group of raw milk aficionados who had to meet in secret. (Do we have a prison strong enough to hold this guy?!)

Raw milk “clubs” like that are not uncommon. But according to a recent NPR report, the raw milkers are getting even more creative.

Be afraid…be very afraid

In Florida (where sale of raw milk is banned) close to 50 dairy farms have registered to sell raw milk as “commercial feed.” You see, it’s completely legal as long as you and the seller agree that you’re buying the milk for your dogs, cats, giraffes — any creature except humans.

Very clever. But the FDA and state officials are fully aware that this is an underground supply chain that delivers raw milk to more people than pets. So it’s only a matter of time before that loophole is cinched up tight.

But don’t think that’s the end of the line for these dedicated raw milkers. Other options are still open. For instance, with a “cow sharing” technique, a farmer will sell or lease shares of individual cows. Part-owners of a cow also become part-owners of the milk produced by the cow. So the milk is never sold, it’s simply distributed to its rightful owners.

And if The Man shuts down those schemes, then maybe your garden could use a raw milk spritz. Some gardeners use a milk spray to control mildew on flowers and vegetables. Milk is an ideal fungus control, and it’s also completely organic when raw milk is used.

Rise of the Raw Milk Nation

So why go to all this trouble for something you can easily get in a slightly different form from any grocery store?

If you consume milk products and you want your food to deliver high quality nutrition, there’s no contest — raw is far superior to the processed milk products at your local grocery.

Ideally, raw milk comes from cows that have fed on fresh grass that’s organically grown. So no traces of pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers end up in the milk.

What IS in the milk is conjugated linoleic acid. As I’ve mentioned before, CLA is an essential fatty acid that’s been shown to help reduce abdominal fat and boost the immune system while lowering insulin resistance and triglyceride levels.

Organic raw milk contains FIVE TIMES more CLA than commercial milk.

Meanwhile, pasteurized and homogenized commercial milk comes from cows raised mostly on factory farms. The animals feed on grains, not grass, so there goes the CLA and other valuable nutrients.

Factory farm cows are often given hormones to unnaturally hype up milk production. This creates health problems for the cows that are then treated with antibiotics.

And finally, to top off all those good reasons, diehard raw milkers say the milk just tastes better.

State and federal regulators, stop trying to protect raw milkers from themselves. There are much more dangerous criminals out there putting us all at risk.

Sources: 
“A Legal Loophole For Raw Milk Lovers: Call It ‘Pet Food'” Maria Godoy, NPR, 10/13/11, npr.org

“Moo-nshine: Resistance to FDA Regulation of Raw Milk” Alex Sundstrom, LEDA at Harvard Law School, April 2005, leda.law.harvard.edu