Food Rights Network

Raw Milk in the News

September 10, 2011

• Wisconsin Judge Rules in Favor of the State Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in Craig and Zinniker Cases: On August 12th, in the cases of Kay and Wayne Craig and Mark and Petra Zinniker (which had been consolidated into a single case), who sought to distribute raw milk to herd shareholders through farm stores, Judge Patrick Fiedler ruled against them on all counts. Read the ruling here.
• Raw Food Co-op Is Raided in California: During the week of August 1st, police confiscated $70,000 worth of raw, organic produce and dairy products from Rawesome, a private food club in Venice Beach, California. On August 4th, proprietor James Stewart and two farmers who work with Rawesome were “arraigned on charges of illegally making, improperly labeling and illegally selling raw milk products, as well as other charges related to Rawesome’s operations.” The “over excessive use of force, and the exuberant sums of the initial bonds drew the ire of many club members and local residents.” This was the second raid in the span of a year.
• York County Dairy’s Milk OK’d by FDA; No Bacteria Found: Raw milk from Tucker Adkins Dairy that had been implicated in a Campylobacter outbreak in North Carolina in June was found by the FDA to be free from the pathogen. “On July 16, the FDA issued a ‘foodborne outbreak’ notice associated with the raw milk from the dairy, urging people to drink pasteurized milk and dispose of any raw milk from the dairy.” According to David Gumpert, “the FDA. . . paid big bucks to a public relations service to issue a national press release–on a Saturday, no less–warning the world of dangerous raw milk coming from the Tucker Adkins dairy in South Carolina, based on three illnesses from campylobacter tied epidemiologically to the dairy. The FDA’s action was of dubious credibility from the beginning, simply because the milk in question hadn’t been distributed even regionally.”

Filed under: In the News