Pete Kennedy supports what he calls a growing “back-to-local food” movement in America, and considers drinking raw milk one of the biggest parts of it, he said on Friday.
In spite of the latest bacterial outbreak, which originated at a south-central Pennsylvania dairy, and warnings from public health officials about the dangers of unpasteurized milk, many people continue to believe it contains “helpful bacteria” and other nutrients that pasteurization kills.
“People drink it for the health benefits and the taste, and it is growing in popularity,” said Kennedy, a Sarasota attorney with the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund in Virginia. The organization works to “protect the rights of farmers and consumers to engage in direct commerce.”
The latest rash of Campylobacter jejuni bacteria is linked to The Family Cow farm in Chambersburg. The milk sickened 38 people, including 31 in Pennsylvania, said Holli Senior, state Department of Health spokeswoman.
One person in Allegheny County became ill, Senior said. She said the department expects additional cases.
Edwin and Dawn Shank, owners of The Family Cow, said the milk was bottled Jan. 16 and carried a “best by” date of Jan. 31.
“So now the wondering, suspense and uncertainty is over for our family and farm crew and is replaced by humiliation and embarrassment,” Edwin Shank said in a statement on the farm’s website. “Dawn and I have shed a lot of tears over this. ... It was us. We are very sorry.”
The Family Cow website said its raw milk is third-party tested for Campylobacter and other bacteria. It sells the milk at its farm store and at markets around Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley and south-central Pennsylvania.
The state Department of Agriculture permits 153 of Pennsylvania’s more than 8,500 dairyfarms to sell raw milk, said department spokeswoman Samantha Krepps. The department inspects facilities before permitting and conducts four unannounced inspections a year, Krepps said.
Federal officials have said unpasteurized milk is unsafe because of pathogens cows can encounter.
Supporters of raw dairy products range from those with libertarian beliefs to so-called “real food” advocates. The movement is gaining attention among people with interest in organic foods and concerns about hormones in traditional dairy products.
Turner’s DairyFarms in Penn Hills pasteurizes an average of 35,000 gallons of milk daily, said Nicholas Yon, marketing director. Federal mandates specify that milk be brought to a temperature of 161 degrees for 15 seconds to pasteurize it and kill pathogens, said David Graham, quality assurance manager at Turner’s.
Turner’s uses a pasteurization process that brings milk products to 173 degrees for 25 seconds before bringing it back to 36 degrees, Graham said.
Graham said he grew up drinking raw milk on a dairyfarm in Cranberry Township but would not allow his children to do the same.
“It’s just dangerous,” he said.
