Just Something I Found.

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http://www.mercola.com/fcgi/pf/article/organic_pastures_letter.htm

The Safety of Raw Milk - A Letter to the Colorado Department of

Public Health

by Mark McAfee

Dear Sirs,

I have been requested to share with you our commercial organic raw

milk production and sales experience. For the last four years Organic

Pastures Dairy www.organicpastures.com has produced a full line of

raw organic dairy products for retail sale (300 stores including

Wholefoods) and consumption here in California. The state of CA (

CDFA ) monitors and tests all of our raw dairy products multiple

times per month. The state has never found one pathogen (Salmonella,

Ecoli 0157 or Listeria) in any of our products. Even more interesting

is the fact that not one human pathogen has ever been found in the

hundreds of environmental swabs that have been taken in our plant

facility.

Dr. Caterina Berge DVM and PhD candidate at UC tested our milk

cows' fresh manure and did not find any human pathogens. That's right…

no Salmonella. She was able to show that when antibiotics are not

ever used on the herd (organic standards) that cows that are not

stressed (grass fed and kept healthy) they simply do not slough

pathogens in their manure. The data collected at OPDC was quite

different than what was found at other dairies. The typical

conventional milk tank had either Salmonella or Ecoli 0157 detected

about 30% of the time. In comparison, OPDC has never had one pathogen-

-ever.

To study this issue further, OPDC contracted with BSK labs in Fresno

to perform multiple challenge and recovery tests on our raw milk and

raw colostrum. When 7 logs (10 million counts) of pathogens were

added to a one ml samples of organic raw milk they would not grow. In

fact they died off. The salmonella was so badly out competed that it

could not be found in less than 24 hours. The listeria drop was less

dramatic and was similar to the ecoli 0157 samples that were studied,

but they also did not grow and declined substantially over time.

The lab concluded:

" …organic raw milk and colostrum do not appear to support the growth

of pathogens.. " .

During the period 2000 through 2004 there were several listeria

related food recalls in California associated with pasteurized milk

products and icecream. During this same period more than 12 million

servings of OPDC products were consumed and not one person complained

of illness and not one pathogen was ever found either by the state,

FDA or OPDC.

This begs the bigger question. What is it that causes raw milk to

kill pathogens? The FDA just in the last 24 months has approved

Lactoferrin as an approved method of treatment for pathogen reduction

in beef slaughter plants. Raw milk naturally has levels of this

enzyme based pathogen killer. Pasteurization actually inactivates

this and other enzymes that kill pathogens. These enzymes include,

lactoferrin, xanthine oxidase, lactoperoxidase, lysozyme, and nisin.

There are other interrelated enzymes and beneficial bacteria that

also act on the pathogens to inhibit their growth. All of these

systems are destroyed by pasteurization. It is no wonder that dairy

plants that pasteurize must be kept absolutely spotless. There are no

remaining safety systems in the processed milk.

I will be presenting my experiences and the factual references that I

have mentioned here during my verbal address in Colorado on May 19th.

Our company ships product all over the world. We have been inspected

by the FDA and the FDA has also never found a pathogen. It may seem

strange to say or claim this, but Mother Nature is right, her blue

print is right on point. It is mankind that has added variables that

cause much of the concern for pathogens in our current market

systems. Our consumers are made ill by pasteurized milk products and

the additives and processing methods. Our consumers share their

testimonials with us every day. Asthma, allergies, arthritis, immune

related disorders, autism, ADD, Chrones Disease, rare enzyme

deficiencies…the list goes on and on. In each of these cases raw milk

or raw dairy products makes a dramatic improvement in health. There

have been cases when patients have been written off by modern

medicine only to return to perfect health after drinking raw

colostrums and raw dairy products. Please see www.makersdiet.com for

a story of one persons recovery from near death using raw dairy.

It is imperative that the citizens of our nation, not just California

have an informed choice in foods. If raw milk was so horrible then

why is it that raw milk has such an incredibly safe record here in

California and in Colorado. I would argue that since we have been in

business there have been many listeria recalls and food outbreaks

with pasteurized milk…but not organic raw milk. As an American we can

buy raw eggs, raw meat, raw fresh juices, why not raw dairy products.

Show us one case of disease related to natural raw dairy products in

Colorado or California. They are very hard to find. They are nearly

all related to pasteurizer failure not raw dairy products intended

for consumption.

The dairy industry does not understand what I have explained here in

detail. What the dairy industry believes is that raw milk

contaminates pasteurized milk. This is not the case. Pasteurized milk

kills the safety systems that control pathogens in raw milk and

therefore permit unlimited growth of dangerous bacteria if present.

Our products have what Mother Nature intended… a diversity of good

bacteria and a wide range of essential enzymes including lactase for

lactose digestion and phosphatase that is essential for the

utilization of calcium.

Please call 1-877-Raw Milk and I would be happy to discuss these

experiences and the hard data that backs them up. Feel free to call

CDFA and ask for the lab tests results. You will find zero pathogens

detected at any time from any test.

I look forward to your questions. I am dedicated to sharing

information, education and the building of understanding

relationships. In fact we place our most sensitive bacteria data at

our website for all the world to see. www.organicpastures.com. I have

medical background having served as a certified paramedic and medical

educator for the Fresno County Health Department for 16 years, and

having run more than 14,000 911 calls.

See you on May 19th. I do have a special request, can I please have

10 minutes for presentation of information. I will be traveling

especially for this event and would appreciate the exception to the 5

minute rule. I am the only creamery operator in North America to

produce the products at issue and believe my experience and tests are

absolutely on point.

Most kind regards,

Mark McAfee

Founder OPDC

Tony R.

Who is wondering if anyone knows what the name of this song by spin

doctors is that's stuck in my head as I'm studying proper sentance

structuring out of my writing for dummies manual it goes like this:

I hope them cigarettes are gonna make you cough

I hope you heard this song and it pissed you off

I take that back I hope your doing fine

And if I had a dollar I might give you ninety-nine

Minneapolis, MN

Where raw dairy sales are permitted on the farm.