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  • From: "Norma Sutton" <sweetspringfarm@gmail.com>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] was:FDA Investigates Dairy Over, now Laws against raw milk
  • Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:53:40 -0400

Mark,
This was sent by my NO NAIS group today.  You might find what NC is trying to do interesting.  Would you eat BLACK cheese?
Norma

URGENT – TELL YOUR LEGISLATORS TO VOTE 'YES' for HB 2524 –
THE BILL TO STOP BLACK DYE IN PET MILK - Attend Rally Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 10 AM

NORTH CAROLINA RAW MILK ACTION ALERT
>From Ruth Ann Foster
Greensboro, NC Chapter Leader, Raw Milk Coordinator
June 14, 2008

BACKGROUND
North Carolina House Bill (HB) 2524 has been introduced to reverse the Department of Agriculture rule which will require that all raw milk sold as pet food be denatured with charcoal black dye.  HB 2524 is defined as a "disapproval" bill.  If this bill does not pass through both the House and the Senate by the end of this short session (estimated to end July 4th), the rule will go immediately into effect and become law.

We need our legislators to vote YES for HB 2524!

ACTIONS TO TAKE
CONTACT:
First - Contact your state representatives and senators to let them know about HB 2524.  Writing is most effective is. Email and faxes are preferable.  You may use the same brief "letter" for all. Follow up with a phone call.

Here is the link to determine your state reps: www.ncleg.net
Use the menu on the right side of the page where you type in your zip code, "Who represents Me?".  (Email me if you need more help.)

Second – Contact the members of the House Ag Committee where HB 2524 will be voted on this Wednesday, June 18th at noon.

ATTEND THE HOUSE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE MEETING:
We will need a HUGE crowd to let our representatives and senators know that HB 2524 impacts MANY citizens as well as our small farmers.  We will rally together before the meeting.  Everyone who can must attend!  I cannot overemphasize the importance of your presence!

DAY & DATE: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
TIME:             10:00 am
LOCATION:    1228 Legislative Building, (meet outside Room 2119)
16 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601 (919) 733- 7928

Parking is available on West Jones Street just past the building and next to the Science Center. There is also a garage on North Salisbury Street. Come early to get a spot.  I have found that before 9:00am works best.

TALKING POINTS FOR HB 2524 – RAW MILK FOR PETS
(We are only discussing raw milk for animal consumption not human.)
Safety
•    We want safe local food for our pets – many of us prepare all food given to our animals
•    Pets will not drink black milk
•    Many orphaned and rescued animals rely on raw milk – pasteurized milk makes them ill
•    Goat cheese makers use raw cows milk as a substitute for their goat kid milk
•    Farmers need unadulterated raw milk for young or orphaned animals, calves and foals
•    Zoos rely on clean raw milk for the same purposes
•    The NCDA has not addressed the safety issues of the chosen dye
•    What pet food would charcoal black dye be used for?

Economics
•    Consumers will not purchase a deliberately adulterated food for their animals but will travel to South Carolina where they may purchase raw milk on the grocery store shelf
•    Farmers rely on the extra income pet milk sales provide
•    NC farmers face tremendous financial strain
•    NC is number one in the nation for farm loss
•    Who will pay for and/or supply the dye?
•    Is penalizing and restricting our small farmers the most beneficial use of our tax dollars?

Necessity?
•    There are only two pet milk producers licensed with the NCDA (they were forced to sign under coercion by the department)
•    Both producers are organic
•    There is NO organic dye
•    Adulterating their organic raw milk with a synthetic dye would render it non organic and force them out of business

Representative Pricey Harrison would really like to emphasize the economic impact this rule will have on our farmers.  The following letter illustrates these points.  Please feel free to use them.  Rep. Harrison will be circulating this letter around the legislature.



LETTER FROM AN IMPACTED FARMER – KATHY DAVIS

Pricey,
Thank you for taking the time to help the farmers who sell raw milk as pet food.  The pending regulations concerning dyeing raw milk will financially harm our farm. The sale of raw milk as pet food accounts for approximately one half of our annual income.

We are one of the few suppliers of high quality replacement milk in North Carolina. Farmers who are concerned about the health and welfare of their calves would never agree to feed it milk that had a dye in it.  We also get calls from veterinarians who need fresh raw milk for foals, kittens, and puppies. Additionally we also supply the local market with high quality organic beef.  The demand for these products is high, but few farmers are producing them.

Additionally, we are a certified organic farm; we are prohibited from putting anything synthetic in the milk.  The only 'dyes' allowed in organic production are things such as turmeric (yellow color), beet juice, blueberry juice, etc.  The addition of these substances would drastically alter the chemical and nutritional make up of the milk preventing us from selling it to anyone except those needing a blueberry milkshake!

North Carolina Dept of Ag is focused on preserving farmland.  Our farm is a model for North Carolina farms. We have put our farm in the voluntary ag district of our local county, pledging to farm for at least 10 years.  Since my husband and I believe in saving good farmland forever, we gave up our right to develop the property by putting an agricultural easement on our entire property.  This ensures it stays in farmland.  We strive to increase our soil fertility by adding our own compost and restoring the trace minerals that conventional farming depletes.  

In closing, why the NC Dept of Ag would want to severely hamper this type of farming operation by forcing us to add a dye to our milk is hard to understand, especially when only two farmers in the entire state will be affected.  North Carolina should encourage the growth of our types of farm. 

We do appreciate your help with the removal of this rule of dyeing raw milk. 

Sincerely,
Kathy Davis



SUMMARY
Direct farm to consumer sales require, if not demand, greater involvement from the consumer.  Unlike anonymous food purchased in grocery stores, our responsibilities do not end at the cash register.  We are the ones who must be called to action - to defend our farmers and our rights.  To the legislators, a farmer represents only one vote, but consumers represent many. Large numbers of people get recognition. (Two hundred Georgia citizens protested in front of their Commissioner of Agriculture and successfully avoided black dye in their pet milk.) 

We must rally together in Raleigh if we want the same success in North Carolina.   Let your representatives and senators know we need them to vote YES on HB 2524.

See you ALL in Raleigh Wednesday, June 18th, at 10 am.  

(Anyone able can also visit his or her reps on Tuesday June 17th.)

Thanks again for your support and hard work.

Best,
Ruth Ann Foster
Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader,
Greensboro, NC

(336)286-3088
EatReal@gmail.com

On 6/14/08, mdnagel@verizon.net <mdnagel@verizon.net> wrote:
My comment about cheese making had to do with it neutralizing any potentially harmful bacterial affects rather than any legally harmful affects :-()  The point being that it is a fact that the consumption of raw milk CAN cause problems (though what's contested is how big of a threat this actually is); with cheese, however, from what I understand (please correct if wrong), any such problem does NOT exist; and, therefore, any conclusion that the sale of raw milk ALWAYS carries an end-user risk is false.  I guess my argument would be that it should be perfectly legal to sell raw milk for making cheese.  It's an issue of end use: what if I wanted to use it to paint my barn?  Go away government, go away!


-Mark Nagel
Everett, WA



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  • Re: [Livingontheland] was:FDA Investigates Dairy Over, now Laws against raw milk, Norma Sutton, 06/14/2008

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