yeah you would think marijuana would be legal by now

regulations are in place to ensure your "perfectly safe to eat" food

follow them

Lemme guess, got milk?

Why do farmers hate America?

Penis?

FTA: Joel Salatin is a self-proclaimed "Christian-conservative-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic"

That is quite a mouthful.

Don't pay money, barter. With things like those engravings of Presidents.

What is 'beaver' Alex?

/hurrhurr

Good to see both Reason and Joel Salatin both getting some further exposure.

How dare he question the logic of governmental regulation! I have his SSN and I know where he lives. I will be monitoring this troublemaker very closely.

I love these Reason magazine links. No, really.


/not an Objectivist
//but I really like some tenants of objectivism
///neo-Objectivist?

Click for Reason?

His brother Joseph isn't laughing.

/ba-da chi

I'm currently taking parasitology in vet school. Trust me, inspection of meat is a good thing, unless you enjoy certain worms burrowing through your brain.

I wanted to stop by the Salatin's farm to get some food for the weekend since I'll be passing through there, but no dice. No one will return calls.

Someday I'll be back around there and I'll make sure. Nothing like fresh off the farm.

Sharkface217: I love these Reason magazine links. No, really.


/not an Objectivist
//but I really like some tenants of objectivism
///neo-Objectivist?

Tenants? Really?

2. Sell raw milk and other dairy products: "Officialdom believes that only pasteurized milk is safe. The fact that people have been drinking raw milk throughout human history, and still drink it all over the world and in 20-some states, means nothing to them."

Yes and the fact that listeria and other bovine diseases have killed thousands over the period of that time because the milk wasn't pasteurized means nothing to him.

I have no pity for this guy.

Joel Salatin is a self-proclaimed "Christian-conservative-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic"

Ahh, a throw back to crazy Christians of yore; the crazy that, you know, isn't actively trying to destroy/regress society.

I wish we had more of them.

Hey Subby,

Have you ever had a bad case of food poisoning? Most 'legal' businesses have plenty of liability insurance. If your little girl ends up in hospital after drinking contaminated goat's milk, you might see things a little differently.

I was all set with a 'You don't want to create demand for that' before realizing that it wasn't an article about consensual cannibalism.

Boy is my face red

The rate at which raw milk causes illnesses is magnitudes greater than the rate at which pasteurized milk causes illnesses.

Same with unpasteurized juices.

You wanna poison your family, then that's all good and well. The Gov't will laugh at you when you die of botulism. But if you make money off it, then that's a consumer protection issue and probably gets into interstate commerce. Oh, and clean slaughter? The photos I have here beg to differ.

/I work in food safety, so I'm getting a kick...

Imeant2dothat: What is 'beaver' Alex?

My favorite '70s porn star.

Darwin's Prophet

While I admit that government food inspection has been very, very beneficial, the underlying idea that the government is now too invasive in our lives is one that cannot be ignored. Should the FDA be cut? I'm not sure, but I'd settle for the repeal of the PATRIOT ACT first.

wtf is 'custom-slaughtered?'

do you get to pick a way in which your steak gets dead?

That guys book is called Everything I Want to do is Illegal.

It should come with a warning label:

"WARNING: The following book does not describe the life of a criminal anarchist mastermind who would like to rape, steal, murder, smoke weed, and jaywalk. This man is only interested in making jam."

you want it all but you can't have it
its in your face but you can't grab it
WHAT. IS. IT.

You want to sell it, your customers want to buy it, and it's perfectly safe to eat smoke, but state and federal governments say "Nope."

I say someone should try and go for the Reason trifecta.

Batewoman: 2. Sell raw milk and other dairy products: "Officialdom believes that only pasteurized milk is safe. The fact that people have been drinking raw milk throughout human history, and still drink it all over the world and in 20-some states, means nothing to them."

Yes and the fact that listeria and other bovine diseases have killed thousands over the period of that time because the milk wasn't pasteurized means nothing to him.

I have no pity for this guy.
Then don't buy his stuff.
But don't stop the organic freak shows from getting what they want.

Batewoman: 2. Sell raw milk and other dairy products: "Officialdom believes that only pasteurized milk is safe. The fact that people have been drinking raw milk throughout human history, and still drink it all over the world and in 20-some states, means nothing to them."

Yes and the fact that listeria and other bovine diseases have killed thousands over the period of that time because the milk wasn't pasteurized means nothing to him.

I have no pity for this guy.


For the vast majority of those diseases, their pathogens only killed people because of lack of care/antibiotics. I agree that pasteurized milk should be the only one sold on large scale, but people wanting to drink raw milk is minuscule compared to legal shiat people do to themselves everyday.

For the same reason cannabis should be legal, so should raw milk.

Jonathan Hohensee: Then don't buy his stuff.
But don't stop the organic freak shows from getting what they want.

What about the nearby families who buy it because they happen to be poor, and its cheaper then other methods of purchase? Who will help them when they get brain worms from bad meat.

They have the choice yes, but if it became common place, the masses or poor wouldn't think of the potential dangers as much.

Batewoman: Yes and the fact that listeria and other bovine diseases have killed thousands over the period of that time because the milk wasn't pasteurized means nothing to him.

Hey! If I want to kill myself with bovine disease, that's MY choice!

/summa cum laude - Bovine University

Sharkface217: Darwin's Prophet

While I admit that government food inspection has been very, very beneficial, the underlying idea that the government is now too invasive in our lives is one that cannot be ignored. Should the FDA be cut? I'm not sure, but I'd settle for the repeal of the PATRIOT ACT first.

If those infections stopped with the person who is infected by choosing to eat untested meat than I think you would have a point. But many of these infections can then be passed on to others through poor hygene, making it a public health concern. So yes, we do surrender a certain amount of freedom to protect the common good.

Jonathan Hohensee: But don't stop the organic freak shows from getting what they want.

Unfortunately for you and this idiot and fortunately for malinformed "organic freak shows", it is still illegal for farmers to potentially expose people to botulism, e. coli, and listeria.

If he wants to get an occupational license, he can sell his ready-made food but there is a good reason that other stuff is illegal.

Raw milk is the perfect medium for transmission of:

1) Cholera
2) Typhus
3) Tuberculosis

Before Pasteurization, it was the in the top three ways to pick up any one of those diseases. It's worked so well, people have forgotten why it was done in the first place.

God damn America's Science Education!

I come from a dairy farming family, and am a Republican. So it would be in my theoretical best interest to support the non-regulated sale of non-pasteurized milk. But the posters before me have made the salient points that show government regulation of foodstuffs is a GOOD thing.

This is not the nanny-state regulating your social activities and decisions. This is consumer protection, through-and-through. I think it should be legal for those producers that are licensed and provide proper notice of the risks of raw milk. However, THIS IS ALREADY THE CASE. The government is allowing this if you follow the framework of the license.

Seems pretty simple to me.

"The attitude is: The only thing that is safe to eat is something with a government stamp on it, unless you get it free. Exchange money, and it's somehow not safe."


Fail!

The government has no control over meat products which are at high risk of spreading disease if not produced under strictly controlled conditions. The government can mandate that only certified products be sold. Since the vast majority of people who would like to pass on their product to others would like to get paid for it, this controls the quality of the vast majority of produce consumed.

The government may not be in control of home produced goods which may be given away, but people are made aware of the risks (except this doofus) by the very fact that certification is required for a commercial product, and very few people are likely to give away what they deem to have value, so problems caused by unsafe produce are greatly limited in scale.

hmm, my ex-boyfriend suffered from brucellosis as a result of growing up on a farm and drinking unpasturized milk, so I imagine he would be weighing in on the "NO" side of this discussion.

in theory, I'm behind the "let the people have what they want" argument, but some regulations do exist for a reason

Grew up on raw milk, fresh produce. and freshly slaughtered meat (last 2 raised by my own hands). Never had a problem and all 3 taste a whole lot better.

Tartan69: I come from a dairy farming family, and am a Republican.

Clarification: Libertarian-leaning Republican

I just ate a T-Bone steak from a live cow bought at a county fair, and it was deee-licious.

/Two steaks, a scotch, and goat's milk for the boy

I drank raw milk for three years without illness. What do I win?

I used to work at a restaurant that did a lot of business with Polyface (though they are actually in Swope, not Charlottesville). The owner, Mike (I don't know his last name) is a pretty cool guy...their trucks run on bio-diesel, and their farm is one of the few farms I've seen with happy animals.

/Relevant? Not so much. Though they make some rad micro collards and pork belly.

stephen02tb: regulations are in place to ensure your "perfectly safe to eat" food

follow them

this.

I want the freedom to put whatever I want into my own body. its my body. I should be the one to choose whether I want to risk all the potential unpleasant results from drinking raw milk. or homemade jelly.


/cool refreshing glass of jelly
//may or may not have had a few too many cool refreshing glasses of beer this eveing...

Gigglecream: I just ate a T-Bone steak from a live cow bought at a county fair, and it was deee-licious.

/Two steaks, a scotch, and goat's milk for the boy

Isn't that a bit cruel?

I've seen people eat cuts from live fish, but a T-bone steak from a cow that's not even dead yet seems a bit much.

As my name implies, I'm getting a mad kick out of these replies...

"Christian-conservative-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic"

Yep, I think they got them all. Good job.

Eat your GMO pesticide, hormone laden, irradiated foods.