In Congress, an interesting fight about milk is brewing in the House of Representatives. With the push to repeal the ban receiving bipartisan support, raw milk sales have the potential to become a campaign issue.
While Congress has addressed the national milk supply already in this session — primarily in regards to the Farm Bill and rising domestic prices due to increased global demand — the current debate over the 26-year-old ban against the interstate sale of unpasteurized milk has taken on a sense of urgency.
While it is unlikely that relieving the ban will lower milk prices, relaxing the prohibition may represent a symbolic victory among the growing libertarian and anti-governmental intervention communities.
Unpasteurized milk, or raw milk, is milk that has not been heat-treated to make it safer to drink by reducing the amount of harmful microorganisms. Milk is currently heat-treated via high temperature, short time (HTST) pasteurization, a process in which the milk is heated to 72 degrees Celsius (161 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 seconds, or ultra-heat treatment (UHT) pasteurization, which brings the milk to 138 degrees C (280 degrees F) for at least two seconds. The dairy industry is a strong supporter of heat-treating, as it significantly extends the shelf-life of milk.
Heat-treating also saves lives. In the years prior to pasteurization, drinking milk was dangerous, particularly for young children. Milk from sick cows, sheep and goats carries the pathogens of the diseased animal, potentially endangering the drinker. As destroying the animal could be costly for the farmer, many untrustworthy farmers would knowingly sell diseased milk, which led to numerous deaths.
While raw milk advocates feel that it is now possible to effectively safeguard the milk supply without pasteurization because of advances in microbial tracking and specimen testing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that 148 disease outbreaks have been reported due to raw milk consumption from 1998 to 2011, resulting in 2,384 illnesses, 284 hospitalizations and two deaths.
“If this measure passes, those most vulnerable to dangerous pathogens – children – are the ones who will suffer the most,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Productions Federation. “The benefits of consuming raw milk are illusory, but the painful costs of illness and death are very real.”
Raw milk advocates, however, argue that the heat-treating process destroys key nutrients in the milk and caramelizes the milk sugars, giving the milk an off-taste. This effect is mild in HTST-pasteurized milk, but it is more apparent in UHT-pasteurized milk — which many have noted to have a faint light brown or gray tint and a burnt flavor. In addition, pasteurized milk is usually homogenized, a process in which the milk fat is broken into fine particles that would be unlikely or incapable of clustering together. While this prevents the milk from separating, it also makes pasteurized or homogenized milk difficult to use for at-home cheese and butter processing.
More important to the current political debate, however, is the argument that individuals and families should have the right to choose what they eat. This new line of attack on the ban reflects the growing trend toward libertarianism and non-governmental intervention in the United States. “It’s nice to see that people are now advocating for their right rather than science,” said Baylen Linnekin, executive director of Keep Food Legal, to Politico.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced the two seemingly conflicting bills at the center of this fight. The “Milk Freedom Act of 2014” would overturn the ban on interstate sales of raw milk, while the “Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014” would allow the interstate shipment of raw milk only between two states in which raw milk sales are already legal. Currently, Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming ban the sale of raw milk and raw milk-made cheeses less than 60 days old.
The bills have almost 20 co-sponsors, including Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.). This represents a shift in position, as Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) attempt to attach an overturning to the ban struggled to receive any supporters.
Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Wisconsin allow the sale of raw milk, but only on the farm where the milk was produced.
“The right to choose argument is the only one that proponents have because they don’t have the science on their side,” said Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Productions Federation. “They don’t have the ability to talk about this from a health and nutrition standpoint.”