Wisconsin Governor Sours on Raw Milk
Food safety advocates scored a victory today when Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle vetoed legislation that would have permitted sales of raw milk on state dairy farms.
Doyle was under pressure from advocates of unpasteurized milk who protested loudly about liberty and choice. But public health professionals in every corner of the state lobbied for continued prohibition against public sale of raw dairy products because disease-causing bacteria is inherent without pasteurization as a kill-step..jpg)
Joining the medical lobby was Wisconsin's $26 billion dairy industry, which feared image problems from inevitable raw milk outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter and Listeria.
Food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen was on the winning side of the debate, arguing in editorials that the state's obligation is to prevent food poisoning whenever possible, saving lives. If Governor Doyle had signed the raw milk bill, he would have gone against the scientific advice of his own state health department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
Besides protecting the state's consumers, Doyle set an example for other states besieged by activists who push legalization of raw milk based on junk science and free-choice rhetoric.
