WA State Dairy Regulations

[Guest guest]

Hi Folks,

This is Chrys from Washington State. I work with the Washington Sustainable

Food and Farming Network on developing new markets for organic and

sustainably produced farm products (www.wsffn.org). I'm also a micro-scale

organic farmer. I've raised dairy goats in the past and am slowly gearing

up to do dairy goats again.

A lot of my work revolves around regulatory issues. I work closely with the

Washington State Dept. of Agriculture Small Farm & Direct Marketing Program

(SFDM). This new program has as one of its goals to remove regulatory

barriers that prevent or restrict market access by small farms. Over the

past couple of years, we worked with SFDM to host a series of meetings

around the state for small-scale poultry producers to identify and address

such regulatory barriers as perceived by those producers.

Preliminary conversations are taking place now to facilitate similar dialog

between regulators and small-scale dairy producers. The announcement of

WSDA's proposals to revise the WA State dairy law provides the opening and

timeframe for these potential discussions.

I'll try to answer some of the questions raised by Angel in Kirkland, WA:

Raw milk sales are legal in WA but only from Grade A dairies that follow

the sanitary requirements of the federal Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO)

and some special requirements for raw milk established by WSDA (these can

be obtained from WSDA in their licensing packet for Grade A dairies). There

are very few WA dairies selling raw milk and all are on a small-scale. It's

not widely available. Producer/distributors of raw milk are required to

test monthly for bacterial count, somatic cell count, coliform

determination and cooling temperature.

Apparently, while WSDA recognizes that owners of cows may consume the milk

without being licensed facilities, WSDA interprets current dairy and food

laws such that WSDA deems un-licensed shareholder dairies to be illegal. So

far, no enforcement action that I know of has occurred against existing

shareholder dairies in WA. This is not an acceptably secure regulatory

environment for the state's shareholder dairies.

I would like to see the creation of a set of criteria that would allow

shareholder dairies in WA to operate without Grade A licensing while

enjoying official recognition as legal. These criteria might address

organizational structure, sales volume, equipment & facilities and

sampling/testing. Success in this regard is by no means assured. Nothing

would prevent a shareholder dairy from becoming Grade A if it desired.

I'd also like to see official recognition of limited on-farm milk sales to

the general public by producers without Grade A licensing. Criteria for

this category of milk sales might address sales volume, equipment &

facilities and sampling/testing. Again, success in this regard is by no

means assured.

At the same time, I would like to see producers and regulators sit down and

hash out how it might be possible to take a look at current Grade A

requirements and adjust them, if necessary, to make compliance with Grade A

requirements more attainable by small-scale and micro-dairy producers. The

proposed changes in bottling and capping requirements are a step in this

direction.

I'm hopeful that engaged involvement by producers, as well as consumers, in

this process of dialog and negotiation with WSDA will result in a more

favorable regulatory environment for all dairy producers in the state.

As far as labeling, currently, the Washington State Administrative code

calls for this warning label on Raw Milk

" WARNING: This product has not been pasteurized and may contain harmful

bacteria. Pregnant women, children, the elderly and persons with lowered

resistance to disease have the highest risk of harm from use of this product. "

A new Food Code has been adopted by the Washington State Board of Health

that will come into effect on May 2, 2005. Beginning at that time, the

following rule will be in effect regarding raw milk and raw milk products

(note, this is only for " Food Establishments " as defined in WAC 246-215.

Facilities licensed by USDA or WSDA are not affected by this rule, so the

above label would be the one to use. Some USDA or WSDA licensed facilities

might require additional licensing as " Food Establishments " to sell some

products to the public):

" NEW SECTION

WAC246-215-051Public health labeling.

(1) Whenever unpasteurized milk and foods containing unpasteurized milk are

offered for sale at a food establishment, except hard or semi-soft raw milk

cheeses properly fermented and aged for a minimum of sixty days in

compliance with 21 CFR Part 133, the permit holder and person in charge

must ensure that:

(a) The product is conspicuously labeled " raw milk " or " contains

raw milk " ; and

( A sign is posted in a conspicuous manner near the product

stating: " warning: raw milk or foods prepared from raw milk may be

contaminated with dangerous bacteria capable of causing severe

illness. contact your local health agency for advice or to report a

suspected illness. " "

I hope this is helpful.

Chrys

Questions posed to the Raw Dairy email listserve at by Angel:

Ok, I read all that stuff on these new proposed changes. I am not really in

complete comprehension. Did anyone else read it? It seems to be saying that

raw milk for sale in the state of Washington will have to have warning

labels...what raw milk for sale? Does this mean there *will* be raw milk

for sale? It also says that bottling on farms will no longer have to be

done by machine, and will be able to be done by hand, it includes raw milk

when talking about this, and references to the warning labels again. I

cannot imagine they are referring to our current cow share program, as this

is not technically milk for retail sale, as is referred to in this

information. What is confusing is that nothing is really said about

changing the laws regarding raw milk sales, just about bottling and label

warnings. Anyone have a clue? Thank you for sending this.

Blessings,

-Angel

Kirkland Washington

....in response to an announcement of proposed changes to WA dairy law:

Information regarding the proposal is available on the WSDA website:

http://www.agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/Dairy/LawsRules.htm

Chrys Ostrander

Chrysalis Farm at Tolstoy

Grower of Organic Produce & Botanicals

33495 Mill Canyon Rd.

Davenport, WA 99122

chrys@...

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