Selling raw milk legal in California
January 30, 2009
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Mark McAfee has a hard time understanding the fuss over drinking raw milk in Canada.
The
47-year-old farmer from Fresno, California, owns and operates, Organic
Pastures, the largest raw milk dairy in the world. Each week, he ships
hundreds of bottles of farm-fresh milk across the state to 420 grocery
stores, where consumers can find it on shelves next to jugs of
pasteurized milk.
McAfee has sold more than 135 million servings
of raw milk since he turned his organic, pasture-fed dairy farm over to
raw milk production nine years ago. He made the switch after a van full
of movie stars, including Daryl Hannah, pulled up to his farm and
demanded milk straight from the cow.
"After that, people just
started coming," says McAfee. "Within a year-and-a-half, we were
producing over 1,000 gallons of raw milk a day."
Raw milk has
always been legal in California and McAfee sees no reason why a similar
regulatory system couldn't be put in place in Ontario. He says he
strictly follows state regulations, conducts his own tests five days a
week and insists no one has ever gotten sick from his milk.
The
farmer was in a Newmarket court this week to support Michael Schmidt in
his fight to legalize raw milk in Ontario. McAfee sat through two days
of testimony on the health risks and benefits of farm-fresh milk, and
chatted with other raw milk supporters, many of whom wanted to take his
photograph, during court recesses.
"I believe raw milk should
be regulated," he says, sporting a beige baseball cap embroidered with
a happy cartoon cow nestled in electric green grass.
"It
should be tested, it should be labelled properly, and have its own set
of standards. Then, you let the consumers make the choice."