Milking It - for what it’s worth important article

[Guest guest]

Someone might say it's "water under the bridge." But, perhaps it's "milk down the drain". As you may know, Azure carried Organic Pastures Dairy raw milk and raw butter from cows (for cats and dogs) for almost 2 years. Oregon law prohibits the sale of unpasteurized milk from cows for human consumption. (Raw goat milk and sheep milk, as well as raw cheese from cows are legal for sale in Oregon). The Oregon Department of Agriculture's Food and Safety Division Administrator had written a letter and email to Organic Pastures Dairy saying Oregon law did not prohibit the sale of raw cow milk products for cats and dogs and gave their approval for Organic Pastures Dairy to label the products with "Cat or Dog Food Only - Outside California." But, in early 2007 the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) embargoed a pound of frozen, raw butter at Azure's warehouse, and thus began a legal battle for Azure to continue to sell raw dairy products labeled for pet use only.Azure requested a hearing on the legality of the embargo. Then, in late December 2007, an Oregon judge issued a Proposed Order that the raw butter was lawfully embargoed by ODA . Azure has chosen not to appeal the Proposed Order, which according to Stelzer was, "lost on a technicality." The costs of continuing with the litigation were more than what felt he could afford considering the pre-embargo sales figures.So that's the short version of the story, and the basic facts. But, this is my opportunity to share with you the real "truth behind the headlines" I'm going to do just that… I'm going to fill you in on the natural "treasure" we're losing when raw milk is not available, and express my dismay that one cannot obtain justice without money — and lots of it.Even though Azure will not be offering raw cow milk for sale in our catalog until Oregon's laws are changed (which we'll discuss a little later), I'm going to go ahead and tell you about raw milk anyway. Sounds a little strange maybe, but, the original objective of Azure Standard was to provide the best healthy food available (organic, unprocessed, etc.), to our customers. We wanted to provide the best and not be just another food distributor. Although perhaps Azure's "mission" has changed somewhat over the years, from a ministry to more of a service, it's still our goal to provide you with healthful information, even if it's not popular. It's true, there are products that Azure sells that , his family, and some of the staff do not consider "healthy." But, we still carry them because they're considered "mainstream health foods" and if you continue to ask for them and buy them, well, we'll usually try to stock them. That's how business works: You demand it, someone will supply it.Which brings me closer to the subject at hand. What if the most healthful products are outlawed?! It becomes not just an issue of boycotting the bad and supporting the good… the good has been made unavailable.Yes. Raw milk is good."Oh, but that's not right!" I can hear some of you saying. "Raw milk is dangerous… it's like drinking poison! I wouldn't let the stuff touch my lips!" Guess what? You've been lied to. Now it's time to diligently search for the truth. I think you'll be surprised.Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that drinking milk is very important for good health — particularly for the calcium content. You'll find many reasons to increase your calcium in the book, The Calcium Factor, by Barefoot and Reich. If you're part of the crowd that doesn't think you need to drink milk for calcium because calves don't continue to drink milk when they've grown up, remember that cows get their calcium from about 40 pounds of grass daily. So, if you want to quit drinking milk, you'd better start eating 20 pounds of calcium-rich spinach every day!1 Well, no, that won't work either, even if you could do it. The calcium binds with oxalic acid in spinach, causing problems.2 Even other foods high in calcium, such as sesame seeds, can't provide enough absorbable calcium in easily consumable quantities. So, back to milk — but only the best milk!Criteria for Good Milk#1 First, buying organic milk is of utmost importance. If it's not organic the cows have possibly been treated with rBST, a genetically engineered growth hormone that increases milk production (to the peril of the animals' health). This and other hormones get into the animal, and can cause hormonal changes in the people who eat non-organic meat, or drink non-organic milk. Same goes for the antibiotics given to animals… humans up the food chain get a dose of it too. So, organic is highly important for any milk product.3#2 Second, buy milk that has not been homogenized. Yes, buy whole milk with the cream on top. If you prefer low-fat milk, then skim the cream off the top (but, please be aware that butter fat has excellent health qualities, so be sure to eat that too! — use it as coffee creamer, make whipping cream or make your own butter.) The homogenization process changes the fat molecules so that they integrate with the rest of the milk and the fat doesn't rise to the top. One of the very things that makes milk a potential health problem is not the milk itself — it's the homogenized fat molecules that the body can't handle and instead packs into the arteries. Perhaps that's an overly simplistic explanation. The Untold Story of Milk devotes a whole chapter to the subject: "Milk Homogenization and Heart Disease."4Another note about skim milk. It may not be the healthy choice after all. You may want to find The Milk Book, by , which is frequently quoted in Nourishing Traditions:"Calcification of the arteries (arteriosclerosis), the joints (degenerative arthritis) and the [pineal] gland may be due to the excessive intake of fractionated milk, i.e. skim or lowfat milk. On the advice of physicians, millions of people have switched to lowfat milk under the mistaken belief that avoiding the milk fat will enable them to avoid hardening of the arteries. Drinking fractionated milk may cause exactly the opposite effect!"Many other millions are drinking lowfat milk to avoid weight gain…. Do you know how a farmer fattens his hogs? He feeds them skim milk."5#3 Third, buy only liquid milk, not powdered milk. Actually, powdered milk should be avoided even in products such as non-fat yogurt, and low-fat milks where it is often added to give creamier texture and body. Why? Because powdered milk contains damaged cholesterol (damaged by exposure to heat and oxygen). "This damaged or oxidized cholesterol seems to promote both injury to the arterial cells as well as pathological buildup of plaque in the arteries."6 Undamaged, natural cholesterol in the diet is not a cause of buildup in the arteries. You may be interested in finding the book entitled, The Cholesterol Myths, by Uffe Ravnskov. Damaged cholesterol is not only prevalent in non-fat dry milk, but other powdered milk products, and particularly in powdered eggs. Meats and fats fried at high temperatures can also have damaged cholesterol.Another negative to powder eggs and milk:"High temperature drying also creates large quantities of cross-linked proteins and nitrate compounds, which are potent carcinogens, as well as free glutamic acid, which is toxic to the nervous system."6#4 Fourth, buy milk that comes from cows who are allowed pasture grass (instead of just grain). This goes for milk and eggs because when they're pasture fed, their meat, milk, and/or eggs contains more Omega 3's (good fats), and naturally reduces the Omega 6's (perhaps an inflammation stimulator).7Pasture grass also increases the very beneficial CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) that has anti-cancer effects, naturally promotes milk production in nursing mothers, and reduces deposition of fats.8#5 But, believe it or not, those qualities aren't enough. The last quality, and perhaps the most important quality for your good health is that the milk should be raw, unpasteurized, unprocessed, and to strict sanitary standards as upheld by Organic Pastures Dairy.There are several things that make Organic Pastures Dairy products unique. Not only are the animals allowed to roam the pasture, eat grass and soak up natural sunlight (something that increases milk production naturally by 15%)9 and are not confined indoors in an automated facility, they also get special treatment for milking. These special, individually named cows don't have to stand on concrete for long hours, or slop through manure bogs to get to the milking barn. These cows have the milking machine come to them… in the field! This special milking "parlor" not only is beneficial for the animal's health, but has the equipment on-board to instantly cool the milk. There's no time when the milk is sitting out at room temperature — no, this milk is special. So special in fact, that according to Mark McAfee, the inventor of mobile milking and founder of Organic Pastures Dairy, they have never had a pathogen detected in their milk. That says a lot! This is animal-friendly, and milk that's straight-from-the-healthy-cow. (Check it out at www.organicpastures.com)History SpeaksSo, if this is such "clean" honest-to-goodness wonderful stuff, why have we been taught that raw milk is so dangerous? Why do so many states have laws against raw milk?10 Why is raw milk treated almost like illegal drugs or marijuana?I'll bypass this opportunity to discuss conspiracy theories. They're probably true, but here I'll address the biggest issue for me when I was first given the opportunity to try raw milk. What about tuberculosis?You can find the whole history of modern milk production in a very interesting and informative book, The Untold Story of Milk. But, briefly, in my words, the story goes like this: Before refrigeration, dairy producers had to be close to their customers in order to deliver a fresh product. As cities grew, and people became detached from the traditional farm, dairy producers had to move their cows to town. Dairy cows were often kept in basements of city buildings, with no sunshine, and deplorable, filthy conditions. (For the full detailed story, including how dairy cows were fed swill, a byproduct of whiskey distillation in the early 1800's, read Chapter 3 in The Untold Story of Milk, entitled "Bad Milk: The Distillery Dairies"11). The animals got sick — tuberculosis being one of many diseases stemming from the deplorably unsanitary conditions the cows were forced to live in. These diseases were passed to humans, and thus a serious problem. (Because this subject is so important, Chapter 15, of The Untold Story of Milk, "The Safety of Raw versus Pasteurized Milk" is must-read material.)Pasteurization (cooking the milk), became the answer because it killed the tuberculosis and other pathogens. While this seems beneficial in the short term, it was actually a license for dairy producers to reduce their vigilance, and then sell the milk from sickly cows (even with cases of mastitis), and not have to worry about it… just cook it (pasteurize it) and sell it. No need to take care of the animals, or ensure the quality of the milk. Just cook it. That's the sad but true history of why raw milk got such a bad rap (and deservedly so, at the time), and modern pasteurized milk is not as "pure" as we're led to believe.Keep in mind though, that not all pasteurized milk is the same. We already discussed pasteurized/non-homogenized milk (the best choice among cooked-milks). There's regular pasteurized/homogenized milk with it's serious health concerns, but then there is Ultra-Pasteurized milk (so called when it's sold refrigerated) and UHT milk (which stands for Ultra High Temperature, and is so called when it is sold as a shelf-stable, non-refrigerated product in aseptic packages). Ultra-Pasteurized milk and UHT milk are basically the same - the difference is the packaging. Although the current organic milk market seems to be flooded with these high temperature processed milks, ultra-serious concerns have been raised about this sterilized milk. The advantage to these milks is long shelf-life (so it's not soon-to-be out-of-date by the time the consumer gets it), but at what cost? Please research this very carefully before continuing the drink Ultra-Pasteurized or UHT milk.** A good place to read about Ultra-Pasteurization and UHT milk problems is the website of the Weston A. Price Foundation. www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/ultra-pasteurizedmilk.htmlPasteurized vs. RawBut, cooking the milk does other things too. 1) It changes the protein in milk, causing gut problems and allergies. 2) It ruptures the cell bodies of the natural bacteria in milk, which releases histamines. This causes many milk drinkers to suffer allergic reactions. "The high levels of bacteria permitted in milk intended for pasteurization are still found in pasteurized milk; they are just dead and not removed by the process."12 Gross! 3) It kills the natural enzymes that work on your behalf to digest the milk. For example, because raw milk contains naturally occurring lactase (the lactose-digesting enzyme) many people who are lactose intolerant find that they can drink raw milk!As as side note, this is one of the main reasons it is such a shame that Azure is not able to offer raw milk for your pets anymore… dogs and cats will get sick with diarrhea if given pasteurized milk. They need the natural enzymes to be able to digest milk properly.Asthma - Folks who suffer from asthma have found relief by switching from pasteurized milk to raw milk.Heat Sensitive Vitamins - Raw milk retains all the natural occurring vitamins including B12. Many vitamins are destroyed by heat, but the B vitamins are particularly important. Here's an interesting quote from Nourishing Traditions:"Recent studies have revealed that vitamin B6 or pyridoxine, found mostly in animal products, contributes to the proper functioning of over one hundred enzymes. Deficiencies of B6 have been linked to diabetes, nervous disorders and coronary heart disease. They are widespread in the US because excess B1 and B2, added to white flour, interferes with B6 function and because Americans no longer have access to one of the best sources of this heat-sensitive nutrient - raw milk."13Probiotics - And perhaps one of the best qualities of raw milk — it is a natural probiotic! Many people who suffer from bowel problems have found relief by consuming only raw milk - not pasteurized milk. Why spend lots of money on little pills promising to deliver probiotics to your gut when you could just drink raw milk — nature's perfect probiotic?Jordan Rubin, author of The Maker's Diet and the new Perfect Weight America, and founder of Garden of Life is a strong advocate for raw milk because of his healing experiences with it. You will find lots of helpful information in Sally Fallon's book, Nourishing Traditions also.Carefully note, when you read reports that "milk" is "bad" for you, that they usually don't say what kind of milk was used in the study… unless specified otherwise, the milk used in "milk studies" is always pasteurized. No wonder the studies frequently show "milk" to be bad - they're talking about pasteurized milk!So, how does raw milk taste? It tastes great! If you haven't tried it, you certainly should, because you're missing out. It's like the difference between frozen orange juice from concentrate, and fresh squeezed… the difference is remarkable.Not for SaleNow that we've determined that your body needs the calcium in milk, and the milk from Organic Pasture's Dairy is superb because it's organic, non-homogenized, pasture-raised, and raw (uncooked, not pasteurized)… the next question on your mind is probably this: "Why have you told me all these good things about raw milk, when Azure won't be offering it?"The answer is simple. If Oregon law says that raw cow milk cannot be sold for human consumption, then the law needs to be changed and you are in a position to make that happen. (Hey, if raw goat milk and sheep milk can be sold in Oregon, why not cow milk?!) If you live in Oregon you have a voice — please use it to defend your right to buy quality food. If you don't live in Oregon, please start a raw milk campaign in your state. There are many resources at the Weston A. Price Foundation www.westonaprice.org with their Campaign for Real Milk. (www.realmilk.org) The more states that support raw milk, the more pressure there will be on other states. Support candidates this year that are trying to protect your rights to have access to good food. Search them out!And a quote from the book How the World Works concerning those elected:"Decadence occurs in a political society only when the politicians themselves lose their way, which occurs most readily when they come to believe that a set of ideas exists which must be forced on an unwilling electorate for its own good."14Not So FreshBut, some of you may not like to drink milk or have chosen not to drink milk for various reasons. Does this mean you shouldn't support the cause for raw milk? To the contrary, you should strongly push for access to raw milk even if you never intend to drink it yourself. Why? Because your favorite food could be next!! That's right. I'm sure you've heard the issue of raw almonds having to be pasteurized. Yes, you read that right — Pasteurized Raw Almonds. It's an oxymoron. Irradiation of spices and other foods is another encroachment on your freedom to buy truly raw food. Green leafy vegetables could be next.What if it was illegal for someone to sell you fresh strawberries? What if all meat had to be cooked before it could be sold to you? Ridiculous, you say? No, it's just a matter of degrees. Raw milk was first, and if you don't stand up for it, you'll lose access to other foods as well.I find it very sad that so many people are willing to give up their rights in exchange for the false sense of safety from the government. Many people suffered and gave their lives so we could have the freedoms we do, and yet we give them up at the first sign of uncertainty. But, uncertainty is part of freedom… freedom doesn't always have a safety net.It's a sad state of affairs when foods with a proven track-record of safety and health for thousands of years (such as raw milk) are outlawed, but "foods" with questionable safety such as meat from cloned animals and soy (which doesn't even have GRAS status**), are winked at, or given a government stamp of approval. This is backward.** GRAS stands for Generally Regarded as Safe. (For more details on serious health questions about soy, I suggest the book The Whole Soy Story, by Kaayla T. )So, even though Azure Standard will not be offering raw milk or raw butter in our catalog (even for your pets) until Oregon's laws are changed, I hope you'll step up to the plate and work to bring raw milk back to people's tables. It could bring health to this country, reduce disease and discomfort, and prolong life - quality life. Do as much as you can. And Azure will be ready to carry raw milk again when the law matches up with scientific research and common sense.References1) The Calcium Factor, by R. Barefoot and Carl J. Reich, copyright 2002 by R. Barefoot, p. 562) Nutritional Almanac, Third Edition, by Lavon J. Dunne, copyright 1990 by D. Kirschmann, McGraw-Hill, p.673) Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, copyright 2001 by New Trends Publishing, p. 34.4) The Untold Story of Milk, by Ron Schmid, copyright 2003 by Ron Schmid. Chapter 14 "Milk Homogenization and Heart Disease," p. 237. New Trends Publishing.5) Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, copyright 2001 by New Trends Publishing, p. 212.6) Ibid. p. 13.7) Ibid. p. 34 and 436. Ibid. p. 559.9) The Calcium Factor, by R. Barefoot and Carl J. Reich, copyright 2002 by R. Barefoot, p. 5810) The Untold Story of Milk, by Ron Schmid, copyright 2003 by Ron Schmid. Chapter 17 "Raw Milk Today: Green Pastures, Contented Cows and Contentious Issues," p. 333. New Trends Publishing.11) Ibid. Chapter 3, "Bad Milk: The Distillery Dairies". p. 3112) www.organicpastures.com/faq.html13) Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, copyright 2001 by New Trends Publishing, p. 38.14) The Way the World Works, by Jude Wanniski, copyright 1983 by Jude Wanniski, Simon & Schuster, p. 17