Ban on raw milk hurts Humboldt County

My Word by Xandra Manns
Eureka Times Standard

Thank you for the State of the Industry Dairy Report, April 15. The organic foods market has indeed boomed, and the dairy and eggs component is growing fastest of all. People are buying organic because of their desire for good health and because it tastes better and because it is good for the environment.

It is good that Humboldt County has identified the organic dairy and specialty cheese niches as an economic driver that is fueled by two of our historic assets: pasture lands and cattle.

However, relying on a market for a product (milk) that most doctors tell you should not drink very much of, is not sound economic planning. I am not hinting that the dairy industry is not a viable industry. I am saying that the writers have overlooked the huge potential of economic growth from a factor of the industry that they completely ignored: raw dairy.

* The Dairy Report completely ignores the fact that the State of California certifies raw milk, and that raw milk is sold in most California counties.

* The Dairy Report completely ignores the fact that every week many people in Humboldt County are spending $12 per gallon to purchase raw milk in Fresno County and have it trucked to Humboldt because it is not available here.

* The Dairy Report completely ignores the fact that almost every dairy farmer in Humboldt drinks raw milk and feeds it to his children and yet the public has to buy pasteurized, homogenized milk.

* The Dairy Report completely ignores the booming raw cheeses industry in the U.S., recognized internationally, where the U.S. has already established a reputation for its “extraordinary hand-crafted raw milk cheeses that highlight the unique flavors of the land , soil and climate where they originate as well as the uniqueness of the individual producers” from California, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin. (Carlo Petrini, “The Slow Food Revolution”)

* The Dairy Report completely ignores the fact that many doctors recommend that you not drink milk because they believe that it is bad for your heart or causes allergies. They probably do not know that raw milk is full of all the enzymes, lecithin and vitamins that nature intended for us and that are destroyed through the process of pasteurization ... Ask any chemist if homogenized and pasteurized milk (organic or not) is good for you.

As Jordan Rubin tells us in “The Maker's Diet”, all the beneficial organisms in milk are removed by pasteurization. As Kevin Trudeau tells us in the N.Y. Times best-seller “Natural Cures”, homogenized milk is a leading cause of heart disease. Other leading health writers encourage the Diet of the Ancients when foods were eaten in more natural, untreated ways and people were healthier.

So, come out of the box and do Humboldt County a favor with a dairy report about our growing dairy industry that has just joined the organic revolution and give a preview of what it can become if raw milk and raw cheeses are included in the picture. Otherwise, we will keep buying raw dairy in the Bay Area or Fresno County.

Humboldt County's ban on the sale of raw milk will keep us from developing a first-rate dairy industry, so important to our economy.