Raw Milk Safeguard in Vermont Leads Agriculture Agency to Halt Classes
A Vermont group advocating for the use of raw milk to make butter, cheese and other solid fare received a warning letter from the state agriculture agency that its demonstration classes are against the law. The group, called Rural Vermont, canceled the classes in lieu of paying fines, but voiced objections.
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Raw milk is a nationally recognized public health threat that leads to outbreaks of E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and other potentially deadly human pathogens. Vermont adopted a law in 2009 legalizing raw milk sales of up to 160 quarts daily, but farms can only directly sell to consumers for "fluid consumption.'' A warning letter to the advocacy group states that the workshops "encourage farmers to break the law." The intent of the enforcement action is to honor the state's “buyer beware” stance on raw milk, Vermont House Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Partridge told the Burlington Free Press newspaper. The statute also aims to protect Vermont’s highly branded dairy industry from a consumer backlash that might follow a rash of dairy-related illnesses and raw milk litigation.
In Pennsylvania last year, a man who legally bought raw milk from a 'healthy" foods retailer was left paralyzed from an infection of Campylobacter -- one of several victims of an outbreak that officials linked to the raw milk producer, Pasture Maid Creamery. The man is represented in a raw milk lawsuit by national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A. The firm is one of the few in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation and has collected tens of millions of dollars for victims of food poisoning while also working to prevent outbreaks.
Founder and president Fred Pritzker has watched tensions grow between raw milk enthusiasts who make unproven health claims about the product and professional health and science organizations who understand the scientific reality that harmful microbes in unpasteurized milk inevitably make people sick and endanger lives, including the lives of children. Suing raw milk producers for the millions of dollars of damage they cause is an increasing important deterrent against the spread of raw milk.
