Free to consume

I expect lawyers to use words carefully.  And I expect the ABA Journal to use words carefully, even when the words are written by a freelance writer who is not a lawyer.  Imagine my disappointment and surprise, then, to read that the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund had sued FDA and HHS claiming that "the various federal regulations that ban the sale and consumption of [non-pasteurized] milk violate constitutional rights to privacy, travel and due process."

In fact, no federal regulation prohibits the consumption of raw milk.  For that matter, no state regulation prohibits the consumption of raw milk.  It is the sale of raw milk in some places or the placing of it into interstate commerce that is banned under various state and federal regulations.  The federal regulation challenged in the lawsuit is 21 CFR 1240.3, which provides, in part,

that "no person shall cause to be delivered into interstate commerce or shall sell or otherwise distribute” any milk or milk product “in final package form for direct human consumption” unless the milk or milk product has first been “pasteurized or is made from dairy ingredients (milk or milk products) that have all been pasteurized.”

This language is taken from FCLDF's complaint, which gets this part right, at least. There are very, very few acts of consumption that are actually prohibited.  Drinking raw milk is not one of them. 

(Disclaimer: I am a vegan. I do not drink milk.  This is not a rant about raw milk; it is about inaccuracy.)

Raw milk and a queso fresco recall

Food Safety News has posted another essay about the dangers of raw milk.  This piece comes from the International Food Information Council Foundation, a body which purports to be objective and unbiased, but which seems to speak for industry.  On the IFIC Blog, Food Insight, for example, are pieces in support of genetic engineering and approved herbicides and pesticides as solutions to weed and pest problems.  See In the Weeds -- – What’s a Minor Annoyance in Your Flower Beds is a Major Headache for Crop Farmers.

So it is no surprise that this was the source of a piece called Raw Milk: Clear Risks, No Benefits.  I do not promote any benefits of raw milk.  I am a vegan and do not use any dairy products myself. Humans do not need dairy products, and most of the world's population gets by just fine without them.  And while I think people should be free to consume whatever they please (and for the most part, this is true), I'm not sure adults should be free to feed children whatever they please.  But articles which deny all validity to the claims of raw milk proponents no longer seem credible to me. 

There are certainly risks. Milk can become contaminated, and it does.  Just this morning I received a notice of a queso fresco recall in New York state due to a positive test for Listeria monocytogenes.  Queso fresco is a soft cheese made from milk and aged not long at all (if at all). It can be made from pasteurized milk, but is often made from raw milk where that is permitted.  I have never tried it.