No maladies found linked to raw milk

Producers say sales good; state still warns of hazards

Four months after a state law took effect allowing the sale of unpasteurized milk, the Arkansas Health Department has yet to identify an illness “definitively linked” to consuming the beverage.

But the department is continuing an informational campaign about the risks associated with raw milk as sales from dairy farms across the state are increasing.

Arkansas joined 29 other states to allow the sale of raw milk when the Legislature passed Act 1209 despite the objections of the Health Department, which warned that it could lead to bacterial outbreaks and infections from Brucella, E. coli, salmonella and listeria.

The act allows farmers to sell up to 500 gallons of raw milk per month. But the actual amount sold since the law went into effect in mid-August is unknown because the Health Department does not regulate the sales, a spokesman said.

Theresa Schot, who operates Schot’s Slopes Farm in Bruno, said business has been good since she started offering raw milk for sale in mid-August. About a half-dozen customers go by at least once a week, picking up 1-6 gallons at a time. The farm sells an average of 50-60 gallons a month, she said.

Schot said she has had a few customers who are trying raw milk for the first time, and at least one customer has compared the rich taste with melted ice cream.

“The only complaint has been that they couldn’t buy more at one time,” Schot said.

Some Grade A milk producers in the state also have shown an interest in raw milk.

Rep. Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said he spoke with representatives from a dairy in his district who wanted to know whether the new law would allow them to sell it. Gillam said “it pays to know what your options are” and that the dairy wanted clarity about whether the sales could be an option in the future.

The attorney general’s office released a nonbinding opinion Dec. 20 in response to Gillam’s question. The office found that Grade A milk producers cannot sell raw milk because, unlike small dairy farms, Grade A producers are inspected and regulated by the Health Department.

The opinion pointed to a notice to sellers, required under the raw milk law, that they must state that neither the farm nor the milk sold by the farm has been inspected by the state.

“In sum, while [Arkansas Code Annotated] 20-59-248 does not expressly declare its effect on Grade ‘A’ milk producers, the statute’s context and notification provisions strongly suggest that the General Assembly did not intend the statute to apply to Grade ‘A’ milk producers,” the opinion states.

The Health Department has endorsed an AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics policy statement that called for a ban on raw milk. The academy wrote in the statement, published Dec. 16, that unpasteurized milk and raw milk products posed a particular health threat to children and pregnant women.

“Consumption of raw milk or milk products can result in severe and life-threatening illnesses such as miscarriage and stillbirths in pregnant women, and meningitis and blood-borne infections in both young infants and pregnant women,” Yvonne Maldonado, the lead policy author, said in a statement.

Health Department spokesman Cathy Flanagin said that if a person reports an illness that is associated with unpasteurized milk, he is asked to provide information about whether and when he had consumed raw milk. Doctors and laboratories in the state are required to report certain illnesses, including several tied to raw milk, to the Health Department.

“To date there have been no illnesses we have definitively linked to raw milk,” Flanagin said in an email.

Act 1209 requires sellers to post signs and label bottles to warn buyers that the milk has not been heated to kill bacteria and that the consumer assumes liability for health problems that may arise after drinking it.

But Allen Rhein, who runs the 17-acre Rhein-O-Ranch in Bismarck with his wife, said some of his customers have made the argument that raw milk is healthier because it is natural and unadulterated. Rhein said his customer base has grown since he started selling raw milk about a month ago and that “everyone has been extremely happy.” Rhein said he sells about 3 gallons of raw milk a day and continues to pick up new customers.

Rhein and Schot are both planning to add a cow to their current raw milk rotation to keep up with demand.

“Our customers have been coming in, bugging my husband, asking when the milk’s going to come …. I’m glad because I’m getting so tired of [drinking] tea,” Schot said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/06/2014

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