Ontario farmer guilty of selling raw milk

[alp227]

Source: CBC News

The Ontario Court of Justice has found Durham dairy farmer Michael Schmidt guilty on 15 of 19 charges of selling and distributing raw milk.

The decision, which overturns a January 2010 acquittal of all 19 charges by Justice of the Peace Paul Kowarsky, was released Wednesday.

While it's legal to drink unpasteurized milk, selling it is against the law in Canada because of the risk of E. coli, salmonella and listeria.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/09/28/toronto-raw-milk-appeal.html

[Seedersandleechers]

1. I've gone to a local farm

to buy free range chickens/eggs and also raw milk. Wonder if it's illegal here as well.

[Goldom]

3. As far as I know,

in US, it is legal to sell in person, but not to distribute. But it may vary by state, not sure.

[WhiteTara]

4. Yes, but you can buy it as PET MILK

so if you are ever asked why you have raw milk, that should be your answer. You won't have a problem, your farmer will go to jail and they will confiscate the farm.

[WhiteTara]

5. Yes, but you can buy it as PET MILK

so if you are ever asked why you have raw milk, that should be your answer. You won't have a problem, your farmer will go to jail and they will confiscate the farm.

[Archae]

2. Good.

Raw milk producers always, ALWAYS, pass the buck when someone gets sick or even dies from their contaminated milk.

[Seedersandleechers]

6. I've been drink raw milk

for a few years and have never had any problems. I guess it depends on the farmer and how aseptic his technique is.

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. I heard raw milk affects one's ability to use proper verb tenses nt

[Seedersandleechers]

9. Not raw milk,

but possibly chardonnay. :toast:

[NickB79]

10. I grew up drinking raw milk

But now that I know better, there's no way I'd give it to my daughter until she's much older, if ever. It offers no significant, scientifically proven improvements over pasteurized milk that make the increased danger of illness worth the risk.

[Scruffy1]

13. Having a background in the veterinary business these people scare the crap out of me.

My father spent his life educating people on public health issues and worked hard to implement better disease control in the human animal food chain. To me these people are just anti science and logic. Much like the faith based fundies. I remember the case of a farmer who didn't "believe" in vaccinations and contracted tetanus. Amazingly he lived and became an advocate for vaccinations. These people are dangerous and play right into the corporate deregulation agenda. Besides listeria milk can carry tuberculosis and brucellosis. No matter how "clean" a dairy operation is only pasteurization kills these diseases. It has no affect on the quality of the product.

Heres a link to a recent listeria outbreak that has killed 16.http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/listeria-canteloupe-outbreak-could-get-worse-health-officials-warn/2011/09/29/gIQAjTbS7K_story.html

[Archae]

15. And the so-called "benefits" of raw milk are pure woo.

We had a raw milk seller here in Sheboygan who skipped town after he was found to be selling raw milk at more than double the price of dairy milk, and several people got really sick from his contaminated milk.

Raw milk is a scam.

[AngryAmish]

19. It is impossible to make mechanized milk production aseptic.

Even doing it by hand is damn hard to be clean. Why? Cows poop whenever they want to, even while being milked. And if said poop gets in the milk you can't see it. Cows poop has lots of nasty critters in it.

[PavePusher]

8. What would be wrong with a simple disclaimer?

Or just some fucking "common" sense and individual responsibility on the part of the consumer?

[Javaman]

11. Show me one example where I person has gotten sick from raw milk in the last 10 years.

I have been drinking here in Texas for the past 4 years. While there as been zero issues with raw milk here, there have been several by factory farm milk corporations.

[KurtNYC]

12. Here

California 2008

"Shortly after drinking raw milk, Tardiff came down with symptoms consistent with a campylobacter infection, such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever and vomiting. Afterward she developed a form of Guillain-Barre syndrome, which caused her to become partially paralyzed and forced her to stay in an intensive care unit in Medford, Ore., where she was placed on a mechanical ventilator. "

http://www.triplicate.com/2008101695741/News/Local-News/State-releases-raw-milk-report

[Red Mountain]

14. That would be one too many

http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/

http://www.realrawmilkfacts.com/

Always better to educate yourself and make your own decisions. That said, we milk our own cow for home use and ALWAYS pasteurize. Even if I could (and I can't in NC) I wouldn't sell raw milk to the general public for human consumption. If you spend much time around cows you realize shit happens. I'd never take the risk that I might make some kid sick either because I wasn't clean enough or the milk was mishandled after leaving my property.

It happens. A neighbor up the road has a goat dairy. He has listeria issues but I wouldn't trust him not to sell raw milk if it were legal.

[Javaman]

16. I'm big enough to say I was wrong

However, I won't stop drinking it. The place I get mine from is inspected by the USDA.

many people don't do their research and will buy raw milk from just about anyone.

[KurtNYC]

18. I looked into recently because there is a raw milk seller locally

and I am creating gourmet gelato so we are experimenting with every variation of ingredients -- mostly organic stuff with minimal processing: turbinado sugars, raw sugarcane, different honeys, goats milk, etc. The raw cow milk just seemed too risky for a start up operation like us.

Does it taste better than pasteurized? What would you say are the differences in taste and mouth feel?

[NickB79]

20. The issues with factory milk corporations is that they FAILED to properly pastuerize

Pasteurization is like pregnancy; you can't be just a little pasteurized. If the system fails at some point and you don't get the milk up to the required temperature long enough (20 sec. @ 161F), you are in essence drinking unpasteurized milk.

Almost all of those factory farm milk corporation illnesses you saw were due to UNPASTEURIZED milk reaching consumers.

[Psephos]

17. Is there any further proof necessary that we need the death penalty?

:sarcasm:

[vanbean]

21. I drink raw milk everyday, but I heat it slowly in a double boiler to 145 degrees for forty minutes

first. Then, I plunge it into a big bowl filled with ice water, and when it is down to about 40 degrees, I put it in the fridge. That is the best way to consume milk.

[mainegreen]

22. ha. Not very raw is it then?

That made me chuckle.

:)

[vanbean]

23. Glad to get a chuckle. Truth is I can't digest milk anymore, which is a bitch, 'cause I love it.

[NickB79]

24. That's miles away from raw milk; it's even more pasteurized than store-bought milk

The federal requirements for milk pasteurization are only that it must be heated to 161F and held there for 20 seconds.