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It’s legal to drink raw milk in all 50 states. But it’s legal to sell it in only 28 states.
Congress has never passed a ban on raw milk. Yet the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has used its regulatory authority to raid farms and prosecute farmers for distributing raw milk.
It’s time to protect farmers from raw milk raids, and make it legal and easy for consumers to buy raw milk.
This week, Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) introduced the Interstate Milk Freedom Act (H.R. 5410), a bill that prohibits federal interference with the interstate traffic of unpasteurized milk and milk products that are packaged for direct human consumption.
It’s legal to drink raw milk in 50 states. But only 28 states allow raw milk to be sold legally.
Congress has never passed a ban on raw milk. Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has used its regulatory authority to raid farms and prosecute farmers for distributing raw milk.
Back at the start of his campaign for president, in September 2016, Donald Trump argued that the government could save well over $1 trillion by doing away with many food safety and environmental regulations. The campaign’s web site stated: ““The FDA Food Police… dictate how the federal government expects farmers to produce fruits and vegetables and even dictates the nutritional content of dog food...
In the decade between 2006 and 2016, prescriptions in the U.K. for infant formula for babies with cow's milk allergy rose sixfold, resulting in a sevenfold increase in National Health Service spending on nondairy specialty formulas, yet there's no evidence that the true prevalence of the condition has increased. So, what's going on?
States are allowed to write their own laws governing the sale of raw milk. But thanks to a 1987 ordinance passed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), all milk sold across state lines, even between two states where raw milk sales are legal, must be pasteurized.
We think that’s wrong. So, on September 26, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) will join our allies at the Real Food Consumer Coalition, the Organic and Natural Health Association and the American Grassfed Association to bring the truth about raw milk to Congress.
Would you love to visit a grass fed family farm where you can fill up a glass bottle with farm-fresh raw milk from a vending machine explicitly made for this purpose? In the U.K., this is not at all unusual. In fact, raw milk vending machines are becoming increasingly popular, including the one recently installed at Home Farm, a dairy farm in Hassop, England.
In a very quiet decision that received surprisingly little media attention even within the natural foods industry, the board of directors of Organic Valley recently voted 4-3 to ban the farmers which make up its 1600 small farm cooperative from selling raw milk to consumers on the side.
Exciting news! The first ever Congressional debate and vote on raw milk happened in the U.S. House of Representatives last week.
Unfortunately, Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky)’s amendment to the Farm Bill, intended to overturn a 1987 ban on interstate sales of raw milk, was defeated.
So what’s next? We push the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to exempt raw milk farmers from regulatory enforcement if they provided a clear warning label and instructions for milk pasteurization.
TAKE ACTION: If your member of Congress voted against Massie’s amendment to allow interstate sales of unpasteurized milk, send him or her a letter that provides more information on why consumers should have the freedom to buy raw milk.
If your Member of Congress voted to respect your right to drink raw milk, send him or her a letter to say “thank you, now please take the next step.”
On the side of the road in an unmarked white van, the award-winning investigative journalist Nelufar Hedayat, known for her global stories about women’s rights and cultural issues, such as The Traffickers, meets an undercover reporter working for the animal advocacy organization Compassion Over Killing. The unidentified man shares secret clips from his time spent on a dairy farm in the Northeast.
