Nose stretcher alert: Whole Foods explains why it stopped selling raw milk in Florida
Whole Foods Market has terrible food safety advice, blames consumers for getting sick, sells raw milk in some stores, offers up fairytales about organic and natural foods, and their own CEO says they sell a bunch of junk.
Whole Foods in Florida has officially dropped raw milk from its shelves. Until Thursday, Whole Foods market sold raw milk with a pet food label. Human drinkers bought it for their personal consumption.
During an interview published yesterday by the Miami New Times, Russ Benblatt, Whole Foods regional marketing director for Florida, said,
“This was a decision that was made here at the regional level. I can't get into too many details, but it was purely a business decision to stop selling the raw milk, and I can't get into the specifics of it. … We made a decision to stop selling it as a pet food. We've never sold it for human consumption. … We're a grocery store we try not to get involved in politics. … If we're involved in politics then I'm not aware of it. We're not involved in any lobbying or political action committees in the state of Florida.”
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Just a grocery store. Uh-huh. There isn’t a foodie cause Whole Foods wouldn’t embrace to peddle a few more dollars worth of crap.
Raw milk sickens 11
A Colorado dairy has been shut down after 11 people were sickened by campylobacter, believed to be associated with the consumption of raw, unpasteurized milk, reports The Denver Post.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has shut down the Kinikin Corner Dairy LLC after 11 people were sickened by campylobacter, a common food-borne bacteria. State authorities say at least 10 people who have gotten sick since March 10 reported drinking raw milk, eight of them getting milk from Kinikin…The dairy has been ordered to stop raw-milk distribution until further notice.
A table of raw dairy outbreaks is available here, and an op-ed Doug and Brae wrote, here.
Raw milk: 'media coverage far beyond its importance'
Here’s the most important point in a column written by long-time Toronto Globe and Mail medical reporter Andre Picard:
The trial of Ontario raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt has garnered media coverage far beyond its importance.
Oh, and the outcome is largely irrelevant.
It seems somewhat absurd to jail a man for selling a product that clients desperately want and which, on the surface at least, seems harmless. But, hey, it happens to pot dealers every day.
What is not harmless is Mr. Schmidt's attack on pasteurization and on food-safety regulations more generally.
Under the guise of civil liberties and freedom, he and his supporters have uttered all kinds of nonsense and portrayed themselves as martyrs for pure food. …
Farmer Schmidt and his acolytes can suckle the milk from the teat of a cow, a goat, a cat, or any other lactating mammal to their hearts' content.
Their rights and freedoms are in no way compromised.
What the law restricts is the commercial sale of raw milk.
Mr. Schmidt tried to circumvent this fact by selling "cow shares" and arguing that his clients were actually proprietors and free to consume raw milk from their own cows.
Whether that little manoeuvre exempts him from the law is up to the courts to decide. But it seems unlikely. After all, bar owners tried this technique to sidestep anti-smoking laws, selling "shares" in their establishment and arguing that patrons were smoking in a private club. Judges saw through the subterfuge. …
Another argument is that meat - which can also contain pathogens - is sold raw, so why not milk? The practical reason for this is obvious. It is easy and efficient to pasteurize milk; it is not practical to cook meat before selling it, but its refrigeration (designed to minimize the growth of bacteria) is mandatory and regulated.
6 cases of campylobacter linked to raw milk in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is warning consumers who purchased raw milk from Dean Farms in New Castle, Lawrence County, doing business as Pasture Maid Creamery, LLC, to immediately discard the raw milk due to potential bacterial contamination.
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Recently, individuals who consumed raw milk purchased from Dean Farms were found to have gastrointestinal illness due to Campylobacter, a bacterial infection. Since January 23, a total of six confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection have been reported among raw milk drinkers in four unrelated households in western Pennsylvania. The investigation is ongoing.
The Department of Health today recommended the owner stop selling raw milk for human consumption, and the owner has agreed to stop selling at this time. In cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, the dairy is providing raw milk samples to be tested for bacterial pathogens.
Raw milk is really boring - except for the kids who barf
I try and take baby Sorenne and the dogs out every day for a three-mile walk. The dogs get to run off-leash on the trail, and I get to work on burning off that baby weight.
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Sorenne usually conks out after 15 minutes of walking, and then I catch up on phone calls. It’s my kind of multi-tasking.
A reporter called a few days ago while out on one of these walks. She asked me about raw milk, I said I don’t care, it gets far too much attention and that public health folks have better things to do.
I also told her I had baby brain and was having trouble articulating. There’s a reason people have kids when they’re young -- like I did with the other four – and not when they’re 46. Ah but it’s fun (see the video clip below – and I do compost).
The Canwest News Service story reporting that interview showed up tonight, and has the usual raw milk stuff, with me saying it is difficult to change the minds of people who hold "hocus-pocus scientific theories about the nutrient benefits of raw milk."
Amy laughed at that.
"From a public health point of view, it's a no brainer, don't drink it," Powell said. "From a consumer point of view, why not make raw sprouts illegal because there is the risk of Salmonella or E. coli?"
Powell said he doesn't take issue with adults choosing to drinking raw milk, but it's usually children who get sick because of their parents dietary choices.
What I would have added is that with sprouts and other foods, there’s no simple control like there is with raw milk – pasteurization.
A table of raw dairy outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/1138/Raw_Milk_Outbreak_Table.pdf
And here’s an op-ed Brae and I wrote a couple of years ago that predated barfblog.com. But the video at the end is far more interesting.
About Choice
Michael Schmidt, Ontario’s raw milk lord along with his evangelical disciples, maintain that their crusade is about choice.
Choice is a Good Thing.
But the 19th century English utilitarian philosopher, John Stuart Mill, noted that absolute choice has limits, stating, "if it [in this case the consumption of raw unpasteurized milk] only directly affects the person undertaking the action, then society has no right to intervene, even if it feels the actor is harming himself."
Excused from Mill’s libertarian principle are those people who are incapable of self-government – children.
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In September, two children who drank raw milk from a Whatcom County dairy in Washington State became ill with E. coli O157:H7. At the same time, four children, including two eight-year-olds in San Diego County, Calif., were hospitalized with E. coli infection after consuming raw milk products.
In December 2005, 18 people in Washington and Oregon, including six children, were infected with E. coli O157:H7 after drinking an unlicensed dairy's raw milk.
Two of the kids almost died.
In April 2005, four cases of E. coli linked to unpasteurized milk were reported to Ontario health officials -- in this case, from an individual who routinely sold raw milk from the back of a vehicle parked in the city of Barrie. Dozens of other outbreaks are listed at: http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara can obliviously insist that "raw milk is safely distributed in parts of the United States and Europe" but politicians are expected to spin facts.
So are lobbyists. Thus it was that the Toronto contact for an organization strongly advocating raw milk successfully passed himself off in the National Post this morning as a food safety researcher.
Schmidt, celebrity chefs and the wannabe fashionable can devoutly state that grass fed cattle is safer than grain-fed by spinning select scientific data, except cattle raised on diets of grass, hay and other fibrous forage do contain E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in their feces as well as salmonella, campylobacter and others.
Poop happens, especially in a barn, and when it does people, usually kids, will get sick. That's why drinking water is chlorinated and milk is pasteurized.
From Kansas, this looks like an awfully familiar clash of science and faith. But it's not so simple as natural is good, and science -- in this case pasteurization -- is bad. Science can be used to enhance what nature provided; further, society has a responsibility to the many -- philosopher Mill also articulated how the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the one -- to use knowledge to minimize harm.
There are lots of other foods that make people sick. On the one-year anniversary of the Ontario salmonella-in-sprouts outbreak that sickened 650 people, raw sprouts are widely available and no one seems to notice. After being banned for three weeks, raw mung bean sprouts were back on grocery store shelves and being placed ever so gingerly on gourmet, supposedly healthy sandwiches.
This fall, it was spinach, lettuce and tomatoes sickening hundreds across North America. So why aren't Ontario government-types, who treat an outwardly eco-friendly and holistic health product like raw milk as a major biohazard, setting their sights on fresh produce?
Part of the answer is that the risks associated with fresh produce have only been recognized in the past decade; the risks associated with raw milk have been recognized for over a century. Further, unlike fresh produce, there is a relatively simple and benign solution for producing safe milk: pasteurization.
And perhaps that is why health officials are adamant that a ban stay in place: there simply isn't the resources to manage all the microbial food safety outbreaks that strike down 11-13 million Canadians each year, let alone someone proselytizing the virtues of raw milk while flaunting the law.
The only things lacking in pasteurized milk are the bacteria that make people - especially kids - seriously ill. Adults, do whatever you think works to ensure a natural and healthy lifestyle, but please don't impose your dietary regimes on those incapable of protecting themselves … your kids.
67 sick from raw milk cheese in Kansas
For all the fawning media coverage and energy expended, I figured there would be millions of Americans drinking raw milk.
A story in the Dayton Daily News pegs the number at 500,000.
That’s nothing when it comes to food dollars. And there are reasons why the numbers are so low. As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report today,
“On October 26, 2007, a family health clinic nurse informed the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) that Campylobacter jejuni had been isolated from two ill persons from different families who were members of a closed community in a rural Kansas county. By October 29, 17 additional members of the community had reported gastrointestinal illness and visited the clinic within a week. All 19 persons reported consuming fresh cheese on October 20 that was made the same day at a community fair from unpasteurized milk obtained from a local dairy.
"This report summarizes the findings of an investigation by KDHE and the local health department to determine the source and extent of the outbreak. Eating fresh cheese at the fair was the only exposure associated with illness (relative risk [RR] = 13.9). Of 101 persons who ate the cheese, 67 (66%) became ill. C. jejuni isolates from two ill persons had indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, and the isolate from a third ill person was nearly identical to the other two. Although all samples of cheese tested negative for Campylobacter, results of the epidemiologic investigation found an association between illness and consumption of fresh cheese made from unpasteurized milk. To minimize the risk for illness associated with milkborne pathogens, unpasteurized milk and milk products should not be consumed."
Unpasteurized milk poses health risks without benefits
With disease outbreaks linked to unpasteurized milk rising in the United States, a review published in the January 1, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases examines the dangers of drinking raw milk.
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Milk and dairy products are cornerstones of a healthy diet. However, if those products are consumed unpasteurized, they can present a serious health hazard because of possible contamination with pathogenic bacteria. An average of 5.2 outbreaks per year linked to raw milk have occurred in the United States between 1993 and 2006—more than double the rate in the previous 19 years, according to co-authors Jeffrey T. LeJeune and Päivi J. Rajala-Schultz of the College of Veterinary Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. …
Raw milk advocates claim that unpasteurized milk cures or prevents disease, but no scientific evidence supports this notion. Testing raw milk, which has been suggested as an alternative to pasteurization, cannot ensure a product that is 100 percent safe and free of pathogens. Pasteurization remains the best way to reduce the unavoidable risk of contamination, according to the authors.
Raw milk crusader Michael Schmidt: A thoroughly modern Marie Antoinette
Amy and I went to Versailles last summer while touring around France, and I’ve seen that Marie Antoinette movie so I consider myself well-versed in the French aristocracy of the late 18th century.
Toronto Globe and Mail columnist John Doyle explored the same themes this morning in a review of a documentary about Ontario raw milk crusader Michael Schmidt which is being broadcast tonight on Wallyworld – sorry, Newsworld, Canada’s cable news program.
It's a fascinating documentary with many passionate declarations on whether farmers should be allowed to sell raw milk and the public should be allowed to consume it. It's rich in irony.
It's also an enraging program, largely because the real issue is the existence of the urban bourgeoisie's delusion of invincibility, ignorance about science and tendency to posture in order to justify selfishness.
Schmidt himself is a fascinating character, self-mythologizing relentlessly and shrewdly. He's always in a hat or cap and presents himself as an artist. No doubt his little farm is clean and well-run, but when Schmidt and his cabal of celebrity-chef supporters appear together and prattle on about taste and claim to be against "big business," they're just nitwits. …
The vulnerability of children is a key issue. Sure, adults are entitled to choice - but allowed the choice of giving unpasteurized milk to children, who have no choice? Call me peculiar, but the safety of children has nothing to do with the "nanny state" interfering in some alleged gourmand's taste for dangerous foods. One reason the nanny state exists is to protect the young, the elderly and the vulnerable. …
Watching Schmidt and his supporters, I was reminded of the one of the phenomena of the Romantic period in Europe - all those pastoral elegies of the 1700s, in which the poet idealizes rustic life, especially the shepherd, for the enjoyment of aristocrats.
That phenomenon peaked, I suppose, in France, in the late 18th century, when it was a fad at the French court to play at being part of the pastoral world. Marie Antoinette liked nothing better than to pretend she was a shepherdess (that's her Versailles farmhouse, right and below). It was an indulgent fantasy, very far removed from the reality of rustic life. Then came the Revolution. And little wonder. The raw-milk issue is about today's Marie Antoinettes.
Do Michael Schmidt's cows 'produce wonderful abstract-expressionist paintings in their off hours'
The Owen Sound Sun Times has had enough of raw milk evangelist Michael Schmidt.
The Ontario paper correctly observes that the Ontario government does not have the capacity to ensure that unpasteurized milk is safe to distribute and Michael Schmidt does not have the right to pick and choose which laws he wishes to obey.
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Schmidt's raw-milk operation may be the most sparkling-clean in all of Ontario. His methods of storage and transport may be beyond reproach. His milk cows may be grass-fed, free-range, pest-free and of above average intelligence. For all we know they may produce wonderful abstract-expressionist paintings in their off hours.
That does not change the fact that drinking raw milk brings with it a heightened risk of salmonella, E. coli and Listeriosis. Nor does it change the fact that pasteurization saves lives.
Anyone who doesn't believe this should ask someone old enough to remember the days before pasteurization was introduced.
If selling raw milk were legal, it would in short order become a big business. The Ontario government, knowing the statistical risks of raw-milk distribution, would be legally and morally responsible for ensuring that no one got sick as a result.
That is a chance no responsible, reasonable government can or will take.
Therefore, Schmidt's crusade will fail. It should fail.
One man, however impassioned, cannot set health policy for all Ontarians, in the face of medical evidence that doing so would put people at risk.
If these people are experts, what's a consumer to do?
I cringe every time I’m called an expert.
I know a little bit about how to coach girl’s hockey, I know how to make graduate students cry, I know a few other things involving chocolate. I’m amazed at what I don’t know about food and food safety.
But we’re all experts cause we all eat.
The Boston Globe asked some alleged experts about their food concerns.
Dr. Anita Barry of Hingham, director of the infectious disease bureau for the Boston Public Health Commission, says she focuses on washing all produce and she only uses plastic-made cutting boards because wooden ones can have germ-trapped cracks.
Washing produce removes little in the way of pathogens – has to be minimized on the farm – and wooden cutting boards are fine.
Zach Conrad of Brighton, a former co-odinator at the nonprofit Center for Food Safety in Washington, D.C., believes that today's organic farmers take greater care around sanitation and safety issues.
Sorry Zach, absolutely no evidence for that.
Lilian Schaer has a unique theory on why there is an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with a Harvey’s restaurant in North Bay, Ontario.
“At Harvey’s, frozen beef patties are grilled once you place your order - and there is plenty of room for error in that process, especially if the restaurant is busy, there isn’t enough staff, or staff aren’t trained or supervised properly.”
So why aren’t there other outbreaks at Harvey’s across Canada? Lilian also says farmers are great and bad handling is where things go wrong. Today she called E. coli O157:H7 a virus. Lilian is a communications specialist, apparently trained at Guelph.
Gina Mallet reacted to the Michael Schmidt raw milk conviction today by saying
“Michael Schmidt's raw milk has never been found to have listeria or e coli, none of his customers have turned up in intensive care. People who buy raw milk know there's an outside risk of a pathogen in unpasteurized milk.
"But no one who ate the listeria laced deli meat and now, the e-coli burgers from a North Bay Wendy's knew they were dicing with death when they ate processed and fast food. … Fact is, and the government knows it, that the dirty human hand is a greater danger to our food than not pasteurizing milk.”
It’s a Harvey’s in North Bay. And Gina, you don’t know if Schmidt’s milk has made someone sick or not. It’s OK to say, I don’t know. The dirty hand? Sure, but I follow the poop, some of which is on the hand, some elsewhere.
Ontario Farmer Michael Schmidt found guilty of contempt of court in raw milk case
An organic farmer accused of ignoring a court order to stop selling unpasteurized milk was found guilty of contempt of court Monday morning in Newmarket, Ont.
Michael Schmidt has run a co-operative organic dairy farm near Owen Sound, Ont., for more than 20 years.
Contempt charges were sought by York Region officials, who fear there are health risks for people consuming the raw milk, including the risk of spreading salmonella, E. coli and listeria.
Schmidt also still faces 20 charges laid by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Grey-Bruce Health Unit. That trial is expected to begin in early 2009.
A table of raw dairy outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
and an updated one here.
Raw milk sickens three in Vermont, including toddler, with E. coli
Officials with the Vermont Health Department say raw milk from a local producer is the only epidemiological link involving three cases of E. coli illness.
Patsy Kelso, an epidemiologist with the health department, said,
"We didn't find any other common exposure. It's strong evidence, but it's not conclusive. It's still not absolute proof because we didn't get a hold of any of the raw milk to test."
The name of the raw milk producer is not being released, because the state cannot be sure that the milk was the source, she said.
The state doesn't have the regulatory authority to force a recall even if a source is pinpointed with proof. Besides, the batch of milk that possibly was the source has already been consumed or discarded, she said. Raw milk has a short shelf life.
Two of the three people ate ice cream made from raw milk at a picnic. The third person drank raw milk from the same producer, but not at the picnic. One of the three recent cases involved a toddler who had kidney problems.
Schwarzenegger vetos Calif. raw milk bill
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a proposal to let the state’s two raw milk bottlers bypass bacteria standards that treat raw milk like pasteurized milk, saying,
“This bill weakens food safety standards in California, something I cannot support. … Looking past the lobbying techniques, public relations campaign, and legal maneuvering in the courts, one conclusion is inescapably clear: the standard in place has kept harmful products off the shelves and California’s raw milk dairies have been operating successfully under it for the entirety of 2008.
"Based on fears with no basis in fact, the proponents of SB 201 seek to replace California’s unambiguous food safety standards for raw milk. Instead they have created a convoluted and undefined regulatory process with no enforcement authority or clear standards to protect public health.”
A table of raw dairy outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
Raw milk with campylobacter sickens at least seven across Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is warning consumers who purchased raw milk from Hendricks Farm & Dairy of Telford, Montgomery County, to immediately discard the raw milk and any items made with the raw milk due to potential bacterial contamination. Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized.
Recently, individuals who consumed raw milk purchased from the dairy were found to have gastrointestinal illness due to Campylobacter, a bacterial infection. Since September 1, a total of seven confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection have been reported among raw milk drinkers in seven unrelated households in Pennsylvania and a neighboring state. Other individuals in these households have also experienced similar gastrointestinal illness. The investigation is ongoing.
The Department of Agriculture today suspended the farm's raw milk permit and instructed the owner to stop selling raw milk for human consumption until the permit is reinstated. The Department of Agriculture will require two raw milk samples drawn at least one day apart to be tested negative for bacterial pathogens before raw milk sales may resume.
For more information about Campylobacter, visit the Department of Health at www.health.state.pa.us or call 1-877-PA-HEALTH.
In addition to showing up in Sarah Palin’s Alaskan peas via bird poop, campylobacter was found in a sample of Grade A raw cream produced by Organic Pastures in California. Fortunately, no illnesses have been associated with the poop in raw California cream.
Whole Foods and Martin Sheen flog raw milk
Hollywood heavyweight Martin Sheen is lending his voice to the battle to protect consumer choice, as a measure to help keep safe, well-regulated raw milk on California store shelves heads to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for signature.
At least that’s what the press release from California State Senator Dean Florez, D-Shafter, says. Sure, consumers can have choice. And lawyers like Bill Marler and the victims of foodborne illness have the choice to litigate against those who peddle poop. Whole Foods may as well paint a bullseye on its logo.
The Connecticut Department of Agriculture has a comprehensive report on its most recent investigation of raw milk related illness at
http://www.ct.gov/doag/lib/doag/marketing_files/bulletin/Wednesday_Augus t_20_2008_issue.pdf
On July 16th, 2008 the Connecticut Department of Agriculture began an investigation of a possible link between several reported illnesses and the consumption of Retail Raw Milk (unpasteurized milk). Recently we concluded that investigation. The investigation was prompted when the Department was notified by Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) Epidemiologists of 2 reported illnesses in which both patients had consumed Retail Raw Milk from a dairy licensed to produce Retail Raw Milk and pasteurized milk and milk products. The patients were aged 2 and 7, one was on dialysis. After notifying the dairy of the investigation, the dairy voluntarily stopped sale of all milk. Soon after the initial 2 reported illnesses, DPH reported 2 additional cases linked to the dairy. By the time we concluded our investigation a total of 7 known individuals were sickened from consuming Retail Raw Milk and several were hospitalized. The Retail Raw Milk implicated in this incident was purchased from 2 separate national, natural food, chain store locations and directly from the farm. None of the reported illnesses were linked to pasteurized milk and milk products produced at this dairy. The individuals sickened had acquired a condition known as Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) and one case of Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP). HUS is a disorder that occurs when an infection in the digestive system produces toxic substances that destroy red blood cells. …
After extensive testing of milk, milk contact surfaces, water sources, the environment in and around the farm and processing plant and, analysis of feces from each milking aged animal, the department obtained a genetic fingerprint match between E. coli O157:H7 recovered from the feces of 1 cow and E. coli O157:H7 isolated from 3 patients. Approximately 170 separate samples and specimens of milk, water, feces and swabs of milk contact surfaces were analyzed by the DPH Public Health Laboratory in a 3 week period. …
The department has concluded that the most likely cause of this food borne illness outbreak was the consumption of Retail Raw Milk contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. While good sanitation and management practices can lower the incidence of pathogens in raw milk we believe and studies support the position that pasteurization is the only proven way to eliminate pathogens from raw milk.
Ontario man hospitalized 34 days with listeria from raw milk cheese(?) Wife calls for warning labels
Jockie Loomer-Kruger of Kitchener, Ontario, writes in a letter to the K-W Record today that that she and her husband holidayed in Quebec City this June and delighted in sampling many specialty cheeses made from raw milk. Then the husband became ill.
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After 34 days in hospital with listeria infection, her husband came home.
Loomer-Kruger says,
"it may be time that unpasteurized milk and milk products carried the same kinds of warnings seen on cigarette packages, products that contain nuts, or on toys with small choking-hazard parts.
"For example: "WARNING! This raw milk product may contain dangerous bacteria which could cause serious illness or death. At risk are the very young, pregnant women (potential miscarriages or stillbirths), the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, or those with artificial body parts such as heart valves or replaced joints. CONSUME AT YOUR OWN RISK."
Raw milk sickens infant; lawsuit filed
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As a father with four daughters and a fifth on the way, I relate to the let’s not make kids sick aspect of raw milk.Proponents of raw milk say that is just so much statistical shit, and that hardly anyone gets sick from raw milk.
Except it is entirely preventable, and well-meaning people get sucked in by nutritional gobbledygook.
Like Angela Pedersen, who says her almost one-year-old Larry contracted E. coli O157:H7 from raw milk she bought at the Herb Depot and Organic Market in Monett, Miss.
"It was a living hell. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. I don't know how many days I would look at my son and I didn't know if he was going to take another breath.”
The family's now suing that business. Pedersen says back in April she went to the store to buy almond milk. She says she was then told about the benefits of raw milk.
"We were approached and told that the goat's milk would be a better alternative. It's healthier than breast milk and it would be wonderful for him. We agreed to try it," says Pedersen.
Casey Jacob: Dr. Phil's germaphobic mom
There were multiple specimens alive and well in Jennifer’s house (as with most any house), according to swabs by microbiologist Carolyn Jacobs, who sampled several frequently contacted surfaces, such as light switches and the TV remote. In the kitchen, she targeted the sink and what she felt was one of the dirtiest areas in the home: the can opener.The show’s M.D. identified bacillus and staphylococcus strains in samples from the can opener, but claimed they were “completely benign and can’t hurt you at all.” To prove his point, he grabbed a spoonful of the red stuff in the dish in front of him and smiled as he took a bite. Fortunately, it was only red Jell-O.
However, he reasoned, human immune systems serve a purpose and are meant to encounter microbes in everyday life. Jennifer admits, “I have this huge fear of my (six-month-old) daughter getting sick and dying,” from the bacteria and viruses she knows are everywhere.
The M.D. is right in saying that human bodies are built to deal with microorganisms—both harmful and benign. However, as in the case of consuming raw milk, some members of society are better equipped for them than others, and children may not be as well prepared to fight off tough pathogens.
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Jennifer is right to worry… a little.That attitude of compulsive cleanliness could do a lot of good for food handlers in the farm-to-fork distribution chain that lie beyond mom’s kitchen: fry cooks, butchers, servers, fruit pickers, slaughterhouse managers, and even even cheerleaders at lemonade stands. Something to think about.
Casey Jacob is the married version of former barfblogger Casey Wilkinson, and continues to work with Doug in various capacities.
Raw milk sickens four in Conn.
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The Hartford Courant reports that the dairy has stopped producing and selling milk and milk products indefinitely. Lawyer Bill Marler is representing several raw milk victims across the U.S. Unfortunately, he may have some more clients.
A table of raw dairy outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
Raw milk: Should the state ban it? Or drink it up?
“Although the number of cases nationwide is low, contaminated raw milk can contain a strain of E. coli that sometimes causes hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication that can cause kidney failure and death.It took a 2005 outbreak of E. coli in raw milk that sickened 18 people in Washington and Oregon and put two children on life support to get all the players -- the dairy and raw milk communities, lawmakers, the state agriculture and health departments -- together to try to figure out what to do, Gordon said.
Last week, the owners of the dairy that sold the tainted milk, Michael and Anita Puckett, pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle to the charge of distributing adulterated food.
Claudia Coles, food safety manager for the state Department of Agriculture, agreed that something had to done, that "in these outbreaks, it is almost always the children that become the victims."
The state's options for trying to control the sale of raw milk products were limited. In other states where it was banned completely, a black market flourished. So the question facing regulators is whether public health is better protected by regulating, testing, licensing and inspecting the raw milk or just by banning it so it goes underground with no oversight.
Doug Powell says he's not surprised that government health officials denounce the dangers of raw milk then turn around and license the sale of the same milk.
"In part, it's because of the almost evangelical way people talk about raw milk and that America is founded on consumer choice," said the associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University.
"The numbers of illnesses from outbreaks caused by unpasteurized milk are not that high. You could very easily make the cases that 'Wow, maybe tomatoes should be regulated a whole lot more than we do now because the numbers of cases of salmonella saintpaul are up to 550 now,' " said Powell, who is also scientific director for the International Food Safety Network.
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"I don't care if people drink raw milk. What I'm particularly concerned about is them then imposing their choice on their kids, because they're the ones who get sick. People have the right to sell a product, but if it makes people sick, they have a right to sue."Seattle food safety lawyer Bill Marler is up to his neck in many of those lawsuits. He grew up drinking raw milk on the farm "because that's what my dad wanted us to do," he said. He has tried injury suits stemming from most of Washington's raw milk outbreaks and is now handling similar cases in California and Missouri.
"The entire raw milk debate is so emotionally charged that there's no common ground at all," Marler said. "The reality is if you poison a little child by selling a product that could easily be pasteurized, you're going to have to deal with the legal issues surrounding that," he said.
Raw milk risk
On September 18, 2006, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) was notified of two children hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). One of the patients had culture-confirmed Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection, and both patients had consumed raw (unpasteurized) cow milk in the week before illness onset. Four additional cases of E. coli O157:H7 infection in children who had consumed raw cow milk or raw cow colostrum produced by the same dairy were identified during the following 3 weeks. In California, intrastate sale of raw milk and raw colostrum is legal and regulated. This report summarizes the investigation of these cases by CDPH, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and four local health departments and subsequent actions to prevent illnesses. As a result of this and other outbreaks, California enacted legislation (AB 1735), which took effect January 1, 2008, setting a limit of 10 coliforms/mL for raw milk sold to consumers. Raw milk in several forms, including colostrum, remains a vehicle of serious enteric infections, even if the sale of raw milk is regulated.
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Six cases were identified; four persons had culture-confirmed infections, one had a culture-confirmed infection and HUS, and one had HUS only. The median age of patients was 8 years (range: 6--18 years), and four of the patients (67%) were boys. The six cases identified during this investigation were geographically dispersed throughout California. All six patients reported bloody diarrhea; three (50%) were hospitalized. Illness onset occurred during September 6--24, 2006. Isolates from the five patients with culture-confirmed infections had indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. The PFGE pattern was new to the PulseNet (the National Molecular Subtyping Network for Foodborne Disease) database and differed markedly from the pattern of the E. coli O157:H7 strain associated with a concurrent multistate outbreak linked to spinach consumption (1). Four of the five E. coli O157:H7 isolates were subtyped by multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) according to a protocol used by CDPH laboratory and were found to have closely related MLVA patterns (2).Five of six patients reported they had consumed brand A raw dairy products in the week before their illness onset; the sixth patient denied drinking brand A raw milk, although his family routinely purchased it. Among the five patients who consumed brand A dairy products, two consumed raw whole milk, two consumed raw skim milk, and one consumed raw chocolate-flavored colostrum. Four of the five patients routinely drank raw milk from dairy A. One patient was exposed to brand A dairy product only once; he was served raw chocolate colostrum as a snack when visiting a friend. No other food item was commonly consumed by all six patients. No other illness was reported among household members who consumed brand A dairy products.
Using purchase information supplied by the patients' families, investigators determined that the patients consumed raw milk from lots produced at dairy A during September 3--13, 2006. Milk samples from these production dates were not available for testing. Fifty-six product samples from several lots with code dates of September 17, 2006, or later were retrieved from retails stores and dairy A and were tested for aerobic microflora, total coliform, fecal coliform, and E. coli O157:H7. The outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 was not found in any product samples. However, standard aerobic plate counts and coliform counts of collected samples with code dates of September 17 through October 9, 2006, were indicative of contamination. Colostrum samples had high standard plate counts and total coliform counts, and fecal coliform counts of 210--46,000 MPN/g. California standards limit standard plate counts for raw and pasteurized milk to 15,000 CFU/mL and total coliform counts for pasteurized milk to 10 coliform bacteria/mL. At the time of this outbreak, California did not have a coliform standard for milk sold raw to consumers. California also classifies colostrum as a dietary supplement, for which it has no microbiologic standards, rather than a milk product.
Raw milk from dairy A was the likely vehicle of transmission, but the exact mode of milk contamination in this outbreak was not determined.
Asymptomatic cows can harbor pathogens and cause human illness by shedding pathogens in untreated milk or milk products. These findings suggest that if raw milk had been subject to the same coliform standard as pasteurized milk in California, milk from dairy A might have been excluded from sale and this outbreak might have been averted.
From 1998 to May 2005, raw milk or raw milk products have been implicated in 45 foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, accounting for more than 1,000 cases of illness (CDC, unpublished data, 2007). Because illnesses associated with raw milk continue to occur, additional efforts are needed to educate consumers and dairy farmers about illnesses associated with raw milk and raw colostrum. To reduce the risk for E. coli O157 and other infections, consumers should not drink raw milk or raw milk products.
Camembert Wars: if this is progress, I'll take mine pasteurized
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The AFP is reporting today that “real” camembert makers can rejoice. In addition to reducing the geographic boundaries of the camembert region, now the only camembert makers that will be recognized with the prestigious AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) label will: - use only raw milk;The grazing restrictions are new to the AOC conditions. I find them particularly surprising as research has shown that grass-fed or not, all cows can carry E. coli O157:H7.
- have at least half of the cows providing the milk from Normandy origin; and,
- ensure that their cows graze on Normandy pastures for at least 6 months of the year and fed hay the remainder of the time.
The “real camembert” supporters apparently found the decision to be “undeniable progress.” Lactalis and Isigny-Sainte-Mère, two large companies that previously produced more than 80% of AOC Camembert, decided last year to begin heat-treating their milk as a safety measure.
Francophiles, can read today's original story for themselves. The French clearly articulate that the raw milk camembert has a velvety taste compared to the pasteurized version, but that the traditional methods are more onerous because they require various testing measures to avoid pathogens such as listeria. According to my favorite food safety advisor, you cannot test your way to safe food. The new and improved camembert will have enhanced risks.
Raw milk and crypto in pools -- policy choices and public health
And they often don't say much.
But there are examples of officials doing their jobs and being accountable to the public they serve. In the aftermath of the first case of homegrown bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Canada in May, 2003, Brian Evans, the chief veterinarian for the government of Canada, did an excellent job of explaining here's what we know, here's what we don't know, here's what we're doing to find out more, and whatever we find out, you'll hear it from me first.
Two public health officials have stepped out in the past two days and offered their analysis on a couple of persistent health risks: raw milk and parasites in swimming pools.
Yesterday, Dr. Stephen Ostroff, director, Bureau of Epidemiology, Pennsylvania Department of Health, wrote in the Lebanon Daily News that,
"In light of recent discussions pertaining to raw-milk health issues, the Pennsylvania Department of Health continues to advise consumers that raw milk is an inherently unsafe product regardless of how it is produced. While the permitting process unquestionably enhances the safety margin of raw milk, and we strongly endorse this program, it is not a substitute for milk pasteurization.…
Last year, an outbreak of salmonellosis due to consumption of raw milk sold in south-central Pennsylvania produced 29 illnesses. Sadly, many of the victims were children who had no choice in the kind of milk their parents purchased for them. Indeed, the department is currently investigating another raw-milk-associated outbreak of campylobacter infections. So far, more than 54 illnesses have been reported.
While standard hygiene and production practices can reduce the risk from consuming raw milk, they simply cannot eliminate it. In a 2006 survey of Pennsylvania dairy farms, pathogens were found in 13 percent of bulk tank raw-milk samples. Therefore, the department believes it is necessary to warn consumers about the risks associated with raw milk and to urge persons with immune disorders, pregnant women and young children to avoid consuming this product in the interest of protecting the public’s health."
Today, David N. Sundwall, executive director of the Utah Department of Health, wrote in The Salt Lake Tribune that,
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"The UDOH, along with our partners at Utah's local health departments, carefully considered whether to restrict young children from pools. Young children are more likely to become ill from crypto and more likely to leave poop in the pool. While it might seem like common sense to ban them, we cannot say that they caused the outbreak or that banning them would prevent another one.Children have been swimming in public pools in Utah in past years when outbreaks didn't occur. To our knowledge, no state bans children from public pools. Older children and adults, who have control of their bowels when healthy, are also susceptible to "leaking" if they swim with diarrhea.
We chose to continue to allow children to swim with swim diapers and waterproof swim pants. We believe this will help prevent contamination of the pool, but it isn't foolproof.
Parents of young children need to act responsibly and with common sense. They need to monitor their children and give them frequent potty breaks. Most important, they need to keep them out of the pools when they are ill with diarrhea and for two weeks afterward.
The UDOH takes seriously its responsibility to protect people from health threats like cryptosporidium. After last summer's outbreak, we considered multiple measures to help prevent a recurrence this summer. Preventing crypto transmission will require a combination of changes at pools and changes in behavior."
Both Ostroff and Sundwall are too be commended. You may not agree with what they say, but at least you know why they came to the positions they advocate. Public health types, please speak out.
Raw milk thought to sicken one with E. coli O157 in Missouri
Mom says raw milk made kids sick
"What began as a two-night getaway at a farm in Lancaster County, Pa., turned into a calamity of nightmarish proportions for me and my two kids when we drank raw milk.
My friend and I took our children to a working farm during spring break. They milked cows, fed bottles of milk to calves and ran free on acres of land - a rarity for these city kids.
They also drank the milk that was on the breakfast table, a milk I might add, that was the most silky and delicious any of us had ever tasted. We were told it was unpasteurized, but made to believe it was safe. (I assumed it was at least boiled).
A day after returning home, we knew we had made a terrible mistake. The first to fall ill was my five-year-old daughter, who had a high fever, then stomach flu symptoms, then my four-year-old son, then me.
My friend and her family had become violently ill as well. We spent seven days worried that our kids could dehydrate and forced them to drink gallons of Gatorade. My friend did get dehydrated and needed intravenous fluids in order to return to her job as a nurse.
After a week of this torture, medical tests showed we had contracted campylobacter, a bacterial food poisoning that can be found in unpasteurized milk. The six of us were prescribed antibiotics.
Thankfully, we're all going to be OK.
To be fair, campylobacter can also be spread by contact with raw or undercooked poultry, as the farm owners later told us, but the likely culprit according to my doctor was the raw milk."
Does magic food make kids barf?
So says Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
She adds.
"Without the green grass, you're missing a lot of vitamins. Also, it's much safer. When cows are eating green grass, you don't find pathogens in their milk."
With such statements, public advocacy becomes public health risk.
The natural reservoirs for E. coli O157:H7 and other verotoxigenic E. coli is the intestines of all ruminants, including cattle -- grass or grain-fed -- sheep, goats, deer and the like. The final report of the fall 2006 spinach outbreak identifies nearby grass-fed beef cattle as the likely source of the E. coli O157:H7 that sickened 200 and killed 4.
A table of raw dairy outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
Kids are often the ones that get sick.
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Raw milk BS
The advertisement masquerading as a story about raw milk in the March 23, 2008 Boston Globe magazine (Got raw milk?) should have noted that the author is an advocate for raw milk, which may help explain the statistical cherry picking throughout the story – like comparing confirmed illnesses from raw dairy products to the overall estimated illnesses from food.
A table of raw dairy outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
Yes, lots of foods make people sick. And people should be free to choose what they ingest.
The 19th century English utilitarian philosopher, John Stuart Mill, noted that choice has limits, stating, "if it [in this case the consumption of raw unpasteurized milk] only directly affects the person undertaking the action, then society has no right to intervene, even if it feels the actor is harming himself."
Excused from Mill’s libertarian principle are those people who are incapable of self-government – children.
Science can be used to enhance what nature provided. Further, society has a responsibility to the many -- philosopher Mill also articulated how the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the one — to use knowledge to minimize harm.
Adults, do whatever you think works to ensure a natural and healthy lifestyle, but please, don't impose your dietary regimes on those incapable of protecting themselves: your kids.
Dr. Douglas Powell is scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University
Child sickened by raw milk; Marler sues
According to the lawsuit filed Feb. 6, Chris developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a common cause of kidney failure, due to E. coli infection.
Hospitalized from Sept. 7 to Nov. 2, 2006, Chris "suffered life-threatening injuries that have left him permanently injured," the suit states. The Martins have incurred more than $450,000 in medical bills.
The suit says the source of the E. coli was raw milk produced at Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno and sold by a Sprouts store in Temecula.
Sprouts store owner Linda Watson was quoted as saying,
"There is no information I know of that any E. coli in any raw milk was sold at our store, or anywhere else for that matter."
A table of raw-milk related outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
Mark McAfee, owner of Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno, said there is no proof that his company is at fault, as also alleged in the lawsuit, adding,
"When a person sues for a food-related illness, they must be able to show a connection between a product and the person. There isn't a connection here. … Because there isn't any connection, we feel confident we have a very strong defense."
Seattle attorney Bill Marler who is representing the Martins in their lawsuit, said,
"Under California law, the whole distribution chain is strictly liable. We don't have to prove the store did anything wrong or was negligent, just that it was in the product. Selling unpasteurized milk is a risk stores shouldn't be willing to take. … The message here is, whether it is raw or pasteurized milk, you have to be willing to take the responsibility of making sure your product is safe for your consumers."
Tony Martin was further quoted as saying,
"We live in a society where people are not that concerned with getting a pathogen and they need to be," and that some proponents of raw milk are "zealots" in the ways they push the product.
Do happy cows make happy milk?
Are humans safer when they’re happy? Are you? Ok. Now follow this logic…
Are cows?
I’m willing to go along with the California Cow commercial that claims “Great cheese comes from happy cows” and maybe even the only happy cows in the world come from California. Why not – the weather is nice and the people are laid-back. But does that necessarily mean their milk is safer?
In a post today on http://wewantorganicfood.com/
author, Lynn Cameron says, “If there could be a master key to safe raw milk, I think it would be contented cows.” The author contends that today, some raw milk is unsafe because some cows spend their days indoors, “living on field corn and soybeans to the degradation of their milk and the degeneration of the nation’s health.” I guess this is something akin to the cubicle complex.
Call me a skeptic, but I really need some science to back up this happy feeling. It’s nice to think that happy cows frolicking on the hill cannot produce anything bad. The author of the article rightfully makes a call to our nostalgia – to a happier time before farming was industrialized. Nostalgia is nice, but it does not make food safer. While Cameron says, “It’s not complicated science to understand that quality of life as well as diet affects cows’ milk quality,” her inability to produce that uncomplicated science leaves me completely unconvinced. This kind of thinking, that cows “raised entirely outdoors on green grass and/or hay, their milk is proven time and again greatly reduced in pathogens (bad bacteria),” has really not been proven as explained by David Renter in September 2006. “Cattle raised on diets of ‘grass, hay and other fibrous forage’ do contain E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in their feces as do other animals including deer, sheep, goats, bison, opossum, raccoons, birds, and many others.”
I’m completely in favor of good conditions and happy cows – who wouldn’t be? But even in the best conditions, microbiological contamination can happen – just as it happens in very happy homes with very content cooks. “Confinement cows” or “happy cows,” the only scientifically proven measure to reduce the risk of dangerous pathogens in milk is pasteurization.
The Amazing Race: Who's ready to work up a thirst?
On the Amazing Race tonight, the teams traveled to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso where their challenge was to milk a camel and then drink a bowl full of raw camel milk. I was anxious to see if any of the teams would reject the challenge, as it can be a health risk. Yet, the only risks they were worried about were getting stepped on, the flies, the bugs, and the smell related to the warm milk. One of the contestants simply flipped out.The first to finish, TK, said he had some trouble getting the milk down, “It was a little grainy. A little sweet and a little warm.”
