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Raw milk, raw food popularity surges:

Is the FDA fighting against our health?
May 7, 12:48 PMSF

Health News Examiner

Jefferson Adams

Do American consumers have a right to access healthy, raw, nutritious,
natural foods from local growers and purveyors?

Not according
to the FDA. Photo: Courtesy Claravale Dairy

Are raw, living foods sourced from safe local producers better for your health and immune systems than processed, genetically modified, pasteurized, homogenized, or irradiated foods?

Do you have a right to decide for yourself, and to choose healthy, raw, nutritious, natural foods from local growers and purveyors?

Take raw milk as an example. Since California established the nation’s most stringent raw milk standards, more and more people are consuming raw dairy products. Many of those people tout what they view as raw milk’s beneficial properties. They claim that raw milk and cultured raw dairy products help to relieve symptoms of allergies, asthma, arthritis, and other digestive issues, including symptoms of celiac disease.

Speaking from my own experience, after switching to raw dairy about six months ago, my hay fever has disappeared, my nose is never stuffed up any more, my stomach loves me, and I have never felt better. Moreover, my nephew suffers from classic milk allergy. If he drinks milk, his mouth swells up and he has to take an antihistamine. Recently, after witnessing the disappearance of my own allergies, and after reading that raw milk is hypoallergenic, we took the plunge and had him drink a glass. mom anxiously waited to see if he would have an allergic reaction. He had none. Nothing. Felt fine. Since then, I’ve been treated like the wise uncle. But enough of my story.

Raw milk is also rich in natural probiotics such as bifidobacteria, which along with prebiotics, have been shown to reduce inflammation and lessen symptoms in people with celiac disease and associated inflammatory conditions.

For example, a team of European researchers recently demonstrated that dietary probiotics and prebiotics can improve quality of life for people with celiac and associated conditions, such as type 1 diabetes and some autoimmune disorders. Their results offer some of the strongest support for the idea that eating foods rich in probiotics and/or prebiotics, such as raw milk, yogurt, and kefir can help a number of patients with celiac disease reduce inflammation and lessen symptoms of celiac disease.

However, the rights of consumers to access foods on their own terms are under assault from powerful agribusiness and food manufacturers through their influence over the FDA. The Farm-to-consumer legal defense fund summarizes the FDA position on consumer food rights as follows:

*Consumers have no absolute right to any raw unprocessed food, unless the FDA says it’s okay

*There’s no right to good health, except as approved by the FDA

*There’s no right for citizens to contract privately for their food

That’s right, according to the FDA, we have no right to contract with a farmer to grow or produce food outside of FDA approval and control. Approval and control that is heavily influenced by major industrial producers.

These and other issues regarding raw milk and other raw foods are the subject of a recent Mercola.com interview with Mark A. McAfee, owner of Organic Pastures Dairy. McAfee was instrumental in resisting attempts by big dairy interests to prohibit raw milk, and in pushing lawmakers to establish the nation’s highest raw milk standards here in California. The article talks about the quality and standards for raw milk, and instructs consumers in what to look for when searching out raw dairy products.

A growing number of people who believe that raw, living foods provide health and immune benefits are organizing to fight what many regard as an assault on the commercial viability of these foods and their producers by major food manufacturers.

Many people who currently enjoy access to raw, living, biodynamic foods from local, sustainable growers and purveyors are concerned about what they see as an FDA that is using laws targeted at major manufacturers to obstruct, restrict, and prohibit small farmers and food purveyors, especially of raw, living, natural foods such as dairy, almonds, juices, eggs, etc.

Regarding raw milk, McAfee points out that only six states presently permit the retail sale of raw milk: California, Connecticut, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Arizona. However, it’s important to realize that each state sets their own standards. California, specifically, has its own special set of standards for raw milk for human consumption, in which farmers must meet or exceed pasteurized milk standards, without pasteurizing.

You can find raw milk retailers in California by using the store locator available at Organic Pastures.  For other areas, check out the Campaign for Real Milk Web site. You can also look here to find out the legal status of raw milk in the U.S. state or country where you live.

Bay Area consumers may buy raw dairy and other probiotic, biodynamic foods at: Rainbow Grocery; Falletti’s; Molly Stone’s; Berkeley Bowl; and The Foodmill in Oakland.

People who want to learn more about the campaign for raw milk access may read about it at RealMilk.com, or OrganicPastures.com:

Consumers may learn more about supporting farm to consumer foods, including raw milk by accessing the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

Read Full Story Here…

Kevin Brown is President of Liberation Wellness and co-author of the Liberation Diet. He serves as a Fellow on the National Board of Fitness Examiners, and is president of Visionary Trainers. Kevin and his wife Tracy are Chapter leaders for the Weston A. Price foundation, a non-profit organization that is helping restore real food to its rightful place in the American diet.