By Aisha Salazar

Raw milk has been a hot topic in the news lately, as several high-profile cases against dairy farmers make their way through the courts. In addition, there have been multiple outbreaks associated with raw milk.

Federal investigations into illegal sales of raw milk in Pennsylvania by the Food and Drug Administration have sparked consumer outrage. Farmers feel they are being unfairly targeted without just cause.

This past March, the FDA reported 12 new cases in the Midwest of campylobacter—a pathogenic bacteria that is commonly found in food animals, and if transmitted to humans infects the gastrointestinal tract and causes diarrhea, fever and cramps —that were linked to raw milk. In a separate incident, a man in Pennsylvania purportedly contracted Guillain-Barré Syndrome after drinking raw milk from Pasture Maid Creamery. Pasture Maid halted operation on April 5; news reports indicate the farm lost its license on April 8.

The milk from Pasture Maid tested positive for campylobacter, a pathogen that can be killed via pasteurization (the standard practice of heating milk to 161 F for 15 seconds).

But raw milk advocates don’t like what pasteurization does to the milk.

Drawing the Battle Lines
In April, Whole Foods and PCC Natural Markets of Western Washington discontinued sales of raw milk in retail stores. Yet, raw milk consumption is on the rise.

It is a growing trend, even in Virginia.

“In the last few years—especially the last two years—there have been more calls from people wanting raw milk than in the previous 10 years,” says John Beers, program supervisor of the Office of Dairy and Foods in the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDCAS).

Naysayers insist consuming raw milk can be dangerous, especially for pregnant women, children, the elderly and individuals with weakened immune systems. Yet the Washington, D.C.-based Weston A. Price Foundation—the leading advocate for raw, unpasteurized milk—bills raw milk as “nature’s perfect food, especially good for growing children and those who are recovering from serious illness.”

Both sides contradict and disregard each other; hence the ongoing debate.

Although the modern milking industry is safer than before, raw milk advocates do not recommend drinking raw milk from large, industrial, confined animal-feeding operations.

They consider factory-farm milk unsafe and agree it should be pasteurized.

Price’s Campaign for Real (Raw) Milk advocates “a return to humane, pasture-based dairying, small-scale traditional processing and direct farm-to-consumer sales.” Price only recommends “milk that is full fat, unprocessed and from pasture-fed cows” that eat grass, hay and silage.

Most raw milk advocates take the extra step and recommend only purchasing milk from antibiotic- and pesticide-free animals as well.

Price also encourages consumers to get to know their local farmers and visit dairies to determine the safety of the producer, and many dairy farms welcome visitors.

It’s the ones that don’t that should cause concern.

According to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, four states condone raw milk as pet food, nine consider raw milk sales illegal, 10 allow cow-share or cow-boarding (Virginia included), 10 allow the retail sale of raw milk, and 17 others recognize farm sales.

Meanwhile, the interstate sale of raw milk is illegal in all states.

Price fully endorses cow- and herd-share programs, particularly since several states balk at direct-to-consumer sales. Share programs protect the farmer from liability because the cow technically belongs to the consumer. Individuals interested in having their own cow- and goat-share operations can attend “Cow-Share College & Goat-Share University” teleseminars from the comfort of their own homes.

Still, Price spokeswoman Kimberly Hartke warns that some farmers can lose their Grade A license and be jailed for selling raw milk.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Sell
When asked how many farms produce raw milk or have cow-share programs, neither Virginia regulators nor raw milk advocates were willing to share too many specifics.

Beers says regulators do not go out of their way to search for share operations, citing a lack of resources as one major impediment. He notes, however, that although Virginia cannot regulate what you do with milk procured for personal consumption, regulators do want to ensure people have a vested interest in the cow or goat they are supporting.

Raw milk advocates, like Hartke, do not want to publicize farms for fear of government backlash. They feel they are losing their right to eat or consume anything they choose.

When pressed for a final tally of Virginia’s raw milk producers, both Beers and Hartke merely suggested conducting a search online. And both asserted that one could technically purchase milk from retail stores in Pennsylvania and bring it back to consume in Virginia—as long as they don’t try and resell the contraband beverage.

The Gourmet of Milk
Of the Northern Virginia farmers polled for this piece, one declined to have his dairy operation publicized or have any photographs or video taken. But he was willing to provide some background information.

A goat-share operation in Purcellville and a cow-share program out of Winchester, however, proved much less cloak-and-dagger.

Purcellville’s Chicama Run owner Dana Sacco regularly promotes her goat-share milking demonstrations on Facebook and main website.

During one such tutorial, about six people (including two families) came to learn more about Chicama Run’s goat-share program.

The milking “parlor,” or wooden table, was set up slightly under some trees. As Sacco hand-milked the goat, chickens wandered about. She wiped the goat’s teats and her hands with baby wipes before and after milking the goat, and explained how she checks for any cracks or cuts for the chance of mastitis, an infection of the udder. Milk sprayed into a stainless-steel pale and was then taken to her kitchen by one of her children. It was then placed in an ice bath and strained through a stainless-steel strainer.

It’s a small, 32-acre operation; Sacco only began the goat share program last year. She says she learned most of the milking basics via the Internet. The few goats she has are milked twice daily, producing around 1.5 to 2 quarts of milk per session.

Sacco says she believes it is “wrong to kill and add everything back into milk” and that she became a raw milk disciple after reading Sally Fallon’s book, “Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats.” Sacco predicts interest in raw milk will continue to mushroom, noting that she already welcomes a steady stream of customers from D.C., Alexandria and Arlington.

Excess milk is labeled “not for human consumption” and can be purchased for animal consumption in addition to the herd share. (Sacco claims some customers use it for dog breeding.)

Asked if she has any reservations whatsoever about raw milk, Sacco emphatically states, “I do it myself so I don’t fear getting sick.”

Although Sacco readily admits to having been somewhat nervous before that first sip—more so because of the taste than any potentially harmful effects.

Fellow raw milk purveyors Kitty Nicholas and her daughter, Shannon Triplett, from Hedgebrook Farm, run a larger, Grade A-certified dairy that has been in operation since 1948.

Nicholas personally milks all 19 of their Jersey cows (she’s named each of them, which seems to be a common practice on smaller farms), draining about 5 to 8 gallons of milk from each animal per day.

Nicholas says she “has nothing to hide” and is proud of their tradition and what she does.

During a recent tour of the farm, a cow-share client strolled over, hoping to find more milk. Nicholas had to inform her none was available—a predicament that prompted said customer to spontaneously profess how much she loves the milk, stating, “It’s good for making cheese and butter.”

Although Nicholas consumed raw milk as a child while growing up on the farm, Hedgebrook’s cow-share program didn’t start until a group of Northern Virginians came in search of raw milk in 2001. Nicholas quite naturally believes in her product—she affectionately refers to her unadulterated wares as “the gourmet of milk”—and agreed to host a cow-share.

Untapped Potential
Hartke says she started drinking raw milk after suffering a knee injury and hearing about the importance of animal fat in the human diet. She used Price as a primary resource and joined a local cow-share within a month.

Hartke says she believes that 90 percent of people who gravitate toward real milk do so after being struck by ailments traditional medicine cannot treat or cure it.

Some of the alleged health benefits of raw milk consumption include allergy, asthma, and arthritis relief and the prevention of tooth decay. According to Price, raw milk therapy is even on the rise in Germany.

VDCAS spokeswoman Elaine Lidholm, on the other hand, stresses that the dangers are many.

“Bacterial contamination in the milk can occur prior to milking in the udder due to mastitis. Or after the milking due to improper handling or milking technique,” she cautions. “If the process of pasteurization is performed properly it will work 100 percent of the time.”

Typically cases of human disease associated with consumption of pasteurized milk can be traced to either contamination after pasteurization or to improper time or temperature storage. Regarding Grade A dairy farms, Lidholm states that a number of quality standards have been established, including bacteria count (not to exceed 100,000 cells/ml), somatic cells (cannot exceed 750,000 cells/ml) to measure mastitis and cryoscope to test for added water. But it’s the little guys that keep her up at night.

“There are no tests that can guarantee or ensure the safety of raw milk,” Lidholm warns, asserting that raw foods, regardless of their origin, will naturally contain microbial contamination because food production does not take place in a sterile environment.

Into the Breach
In the end, the decision to embrace raw milk appears to be a perception of risk based upon the definition of safety. Raw milk enthusiasts assume safety to mean hormone-free, antibiotic-free, pesticide-free and humane animal treatment; while regulators fear the spread of pathogenic bacteria.

Up until the day I visited the two farms, I hadn’t drank a glass of raw milk.

I was hesitant to do so because of the lack of pasteurization. But when Nicholas poured me a glass, I decided to take the plunge. Nicholas wisely read the nervousness spreading across my brow; after one sip she told me I didn’t have to drink it all.

Quite honestly, I was underwhelmed. Everyone who I had interviewed had told me it was refreshing, thick and creamy. My milk tasted somewhat thicker than “normal” milk with a slight hint of grass.

Then again, I don’t even like whole milk.

I’m happy to say I survived, unscathed—but I did spend the rest of the day fearing the repercussions.

I’m perfectly content with my pasteurized milk.