Of all the health crazes over recent years, raw milk is likely the most controversial.
Its proponents claim organic and properly produced raw milk contains enzymes, proteins and beneficial bacteria that builds immune systems and makes people healthier.
Its detractors say it can be dangerous.
Despite the controversy, there is normally a healthy crowd of folks lining up to purchase raw milk products from Organic Pastures at the Wednesday downtown farmers market. Organic Pastures has all the certifications a raw milk aficionado should look for: it’s certified humane and organic. The cows are not only grass fed but rotated on the pasture to prevent overgrazing. They are never given hormones or antibiotics. The milk is even kosher.
“It’s the way it’s been done since people have been drinking milk, basically,” said employee Cece Blackstock while handing out cream samples on a recent Wednesday. She has worked for the farm for the past eight years.
“Originally, they started doing just really high-quality milk,” Blackstock said of the owners. “Then the other big raw milk producers stopped doing raw milk and they were receiving visits from people in Los Angeles at the dairy up in Fresno and they were requesting it raw.”
Nearly twenty years later, Organic Pastures is thriving.
Blackstock and other raw milk proponents say active ingredients in unpasteurized milk help humans digest lactose. They argue the pasteurization process, where the milk is heated to kill harmful bacteria, also kills essential, living aspects of milk. Instead of pasteurization, Organic Pastures sends samples of every batch of milk to a lab for testing before the product is bottled.
In other parts of the country, it can be difficult to find raw milk, even at the farmer’s market. California is one of about a dozen states that allow the sale of raw milk products off the farm.
The Centers for Disease control calls raw milk one of the “riskiest” foods for illness, citing harmful bacteria and germs that “can make you very sick or kill you.” The CDC warns illness can occur from the same brand and source of raw milk that people had been drinking for a long time without becoming ill. There were 144 hospitalizations and 1,909 reported illnesses between 1993 and 2012 related to drinking raw milk.
“Illness-causing germs thrive in the environment of dairy farms, even if the farms or barns are kept clean and the farmers are careful when milking,” said the CDC’s guidelines on raw milk. “Farmers cannot guarantee that their raw milk and the products made from it are free of harmful germs - even if tests indicate the raw milk does not contain harmful germs.”
Last week, the state of New York shut down a raw cheese company whose products were linked to a multi-state Listeria monocytogenes outbreak that infected 8 people, killing two. In that case, the FDA said the products were prepared, packed and/or held under unsanitary conditions where the food may have been contaminated with filth.
Sales of raw milk have increased in several western countries. In New Zealand, the government recently issued a warning to consumers, recommending they boil the raw milk at home for one minute to kill any bacteria before drinking.
Acknowledging the risks, ten years ago, Organic Pastures collaborated with top researchers to develop a food safety program to ensure safe milk. Their procedure includes daily lab testing, tracking batches from cow to shelf and having a dedicated on-farm safety auditor. The milk is bottled or used to make cheese, heavy cream, butter or kefir.
Organic Pastures products are available at the Wednesday downtown farmers market and the Co-Opportunity at 1525 Broadway.
Santa Monica has four weekly farmers markets including the Wednesday Downtown market on Arizona Avenue between 4th and Ocean from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the Saturday Downtown market on Arizona Avenue between 4th and 2nd Streets from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the Saturday Virginia Ave. Park market at 2200 Virginia Avenue from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and the Sunday Main Street market at 2640 Main Street from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
kate@www.smdp.com
