Comments on: Got Fake Milk? http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/index.php/2008/12/got-fake-milk/ Planting, harvesting, and sharing information about local food Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:31:44 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Sophie http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/index.php/2008/12/got-fake-milk/comment-page-1/#comment-159 Sophie Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:40:24 +0000 http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/?p=658#comment-159 Biblioholic: I didn't mean to imply tainted milk was a raw vs. pasteurized thing. What I meant to imply was the rest of the story that goes along with being a locavore that chooses to drink raw milk, and that is that the work involved in finding local sources of foods also includes vetting. I meant to imply that I know the farmer or know someone who knows the farmer, but rarely more than two degrees of separation. By going raw, I can only go with a small local family farm. They live or die and feed their families by their reputations. I know that my milk comes from Jersey cows who have never been given growth hormones or antibiotics. As a locavore, I have a relationship with my farmers. I know them. They know me. Our hands actually touch in the trade. So, if the local dairy in China is counting on his reputation to make the next sale and feeding his milk to his own children, I doubt that the locavore living next door is getting tainted milk. Seriously, I suspect that the tainting happens later in the industrial chain. As for the safety of raw milk, the reality of our time is that no matter where you're getting your food, you have to do the vetting. Don't count on the FDA. Check out the <a href="http://www.realmilk.com/why.html" rel="nofollow">Campaign for Real Milk at the Weston Price Foundation</a>. Click the icons on the left to progress through the story. Biblioholic: I didn’t mean to imply tainted milk was a raw vs. pasteurized thing. What I meant to imply was the rest of the story that goes along with being a locavore that chooses to drink raw milk, and that is that the work involved in finding local sources of foods also includes vetting. I meant to imply that I know the farmer or know someone who knows the farmer, but rarely more than two degrees of separation. By going raw, I can only go with a small local family farm. They live or die and feed their families by their reputations. I know that my milk comes from Jersey cows who have never been given growth hormones or antibiotics. As a locavore, I have a relationship with my farmers. I know them. They know me. Our hands actually touch in the trade.

So, if the local dairy in China is counting on his reputation to make the next sale and feeding his milk to his own children, I doubt that the locavore living next door is getting tainted milk. Seriously, I suspect that the tainting happens later in the industrial chain.

As for the safety of raw milk, the reality of our time is that no matter where you’re getting your food, you have to do the vetting. Don’t count on the FDA. Check out the Campaign for Real Milk at the Weston Price Foundation. Click the icons on the left to progress through the story.

]]> By: Mangochild http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/index.php/2008/12/got-fake-milk/comment-page-1/#comment-158 Mangochild Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:50:52 +0000 http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/?p=658#comment-158 I'll join in that WOO-HOO!!! Loud and clear, this is just another highlight of eating locally and supporting our farmers. While there might not be *no* chance of us suffering from the food, there is an infinitely *less* chance of it when we know our small farmers and their safe, sustainable practices. And that's a great thing :-) I’ll join in that WOO-HOO!!! Loud and clear, this is just another highlight of eating locally and supporting our farmers. While there might not be *no* chance of us suffering from the food, there is an infinitely *less* chance of it when we know our small farmers and their safe, sustainable practices. And that’s a great thing :-)

]]> By: TheBiblioholic http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/index.php/2008/12/got-fake-milk/comment-page-1/#comment-156 TheBiblioholic Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:55:06 +0000 http://www.latebloomersfarm.com/?p=658#comment-156 Watering down milk and tainting it with melamine to offset the reduction in protein count isn't necessarily a raw vs pasteurized milk issue so much as criminal behavior on the part of the milk sellers in China. Seems to me that the "locavore" living in China next door to the dairy that was tampering with the milk might have been at some risk. Speaking of raw milk though, how safe is it? See http://www.foodsafety.wisc.edu/consumer/fact_sheets/FACTrawmilk1.pdf. Watering down milk and tainting it with melamine to offset the reduction in protein count isn’t necessarily a raw vs pasteurized milk issue so much as criminal behavior on the part of the milk sellers in China. Seems to me that the “locavore” living in China next door to the dairy that was tampering with the milk might have been at some risk.

Speaking of raw milk though, how safe is it? See http://www.foodsafety.wisc.edu/consumer/fact_sheets/FACTrawmilk1.pdf.

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