FOOD SECURITY - When will we come together?

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There’s a good chance that you’ve seen some publicity recently on raw milk.

Here are a few key points that might have caught your attention:

1. The ”new” federal bill for interstate transport of raw milk.

2. The Pennsylvania legislature’s new effort to expand availability of raw milk in their state.

3. The most unfortunate and inaccurately portrayed Amos Miller case and his wild claims that he’s “allowed” to ship raw milk across state lines.

There’s so much happening with mixed and, sometimes malicious messaging.

What are the facts? And what does it all mean for those who want a more secure, local food system?

In this article my goal is to untangle the facts from the assertions, the truth from the lofty, unattainable aspirations and then show the relationships between these three items.

Buckle up, we’ve got a couple of history lessons, a little bit of politics, and a whole lotta brainwashing to overcome.

If you’ve not already read the History of Raw Milk in America, it is an extremely important background to make any sense of what’s going on. Take a few minutes to read (or listen to) that article and then bounce back over here to understand what’s going on today….

….Okay, glad you’re back.

Now let’s look at modern context for the above 3 items:

• Currently a small minority of Americans drink raw milk. (Credible estimates put it anywhere from 1-3%).

• Raw milk is simply not an issue that has a lot of political clout right now.

• People who drink raw milk or profit from the sales (either legit sales or black market sales), tend to be loud and vocal about the laws and regulations around raw milk whether or not they have a chance of passing.

• Many supporters enjoying increasing access to raw dairy oppose any government regulations or oversight in raw milk production or distribution.

• A fringe minority of raw milk producers and advocates actively and vociferously foment anti-government sentiments across the board and work to undermine progress or compromise in making raw milk more available.

• The raw milk “community” refuses to hold reckless and dirty producers accountable for the problems they cause. In other words, there is no internal governance, accountability or self-regulation that legislators, policy makers and consumers can count on.

I’ll be clear here on my bias: I am very much in favor of legislative or policy changes that give Americans greater access to clean, safe, and local raw milk.

I do not believe that it is in anyone’s best interests to have raw milk shipped across the country wholly unregulated while flouting all the traditional wisdom of sourcing raw milk as locally as possible.

Political realities mean that a law or regulation change takes an enormous amount of political will, grassroots efforts, and cooperation and compromise.

From my experience, raw milk proponents are unwilling to come to any type of compromise and so raw milk legislation or policy change stalls or is overturned many times when it needn’t be.

I also firmly believe that introducing legislation gives some publicity to an otherwise obscure topic for many Americans.

1. The new federal bill for interstate transport of raw milk

If you read the history linked above, you’ll remember that there is a federal regulation in place, 21 CFR 1240.61, that prohibits the interstate transport of raw milk for human consumption. (Read the history, for the full context.)

Whether or not you “think” raw milk sales *should be* prohibited across state lines is not the issue. 

The reality is that it’s currently a fully enforceable regulation.

The FDA’s choice to not enforce that right now is a curious choice, but it certainly doesn’t mean that federal regulator attitudes towards raw milk have changed.

In May, 2024, Congressman Thomas Massie reintroduced a bill (which he has introduced each session since 2014) that would change that regulation to allow for the interstate transport of raw milk for human consumption but only to and from states that already have laws for raw milk in place.

(States that allow for pet milk sales would not count for this bill.)

In other words, if you live in a state where raw milk is produced legally, you can transport your raw milk to another state where it is produced legally. But you would still have to follow all the laws and regulations of the state where it is produced.

Unfortunately, this bill doesn’t seem to have a remote chance of passing.

Here’s why:

1. Not enough people care about this issue. Again, 1-3% of Americans actually drink raw milk.

2. Many of those who do care about this issue are extremist in their views on government. They often don’t want ANY government regulation of their food (or anything), and thus would not support a bill such as this, on principle, where producers are required to adhere to their state laws for raw milk production.   

3. The bill is introduced by Congressman Thomas Massie, who seems to be vocal on multiple political priorities right now. This bill doesn’t have the focus and dedication needed to even bring it to a broader audience in my experience. I truly hope I am mistaken.

So if you’re hoping that this bill is going to somehow make a dramatic shift in our country’s attitude towards raw milk, or our raw milk policy, don’t hold your breath. If you’re encouraged to donate to the cause, perhaps explore a bit further where your money is actually going.

The best hope for that bill is that any publicity around it will inspire a few more American families to find a local farm they can personally verify and we can take small steps to improve our community food security one farm, one family at a time.

2. The Pennsylvania legislature’s new effort to expand availability of raw milk in their state.

With all the sensationalism that Amos Miller has generated in the past 6 months, one simple solution seemed to emerge for reasonable people: change the Pennsylvania state law so that Pennsylvania permitted raw milk farmers could sell value added products such as yogurt, cream and butter.

Several PA legislators jumped at the opportunity and introduced a bill which says that all farmers who have a permit for the sale of raw milk, can now offer value-added products under the same permit.

(Current PA law only allows for the sale of fluid raw milk under the PA raw milk permit. This alone is a flash point for all brands of anarchists to claim things such as “we don’t need government permission to decide which milk we drink.”)

This new legislative effort is led by a conservative, Rep Dave Zimmerman.

Pennsylvania has an interesting legislative process in place. Without the support of a key member of the committee, this bill is not likely to go anywhere. 

Does the bill have the support of those key people? I don’t know, but time will tell. I genuinely hope so.

How will Rep Zimmerman’s bill make the big difference we are all hoping for in the lifting of raw milk regs?

Does this bill have the political wind behind it to pass?

Unfortunately, like the federal bill, I don’t think so.

Here’s why:

In all likelihood, the PA legislators introduced this bill as a reaction to all the publicity surrounding the Amos Miller case.

Claims that a “poor small farmer was being persecuted by the PDA” fueled anti-government rhetoric whether or not these claims were even true.

So Pennsylvania politicians responded to PA voters and introduced a bill that would seemingly solve the problem.

But would it?

If this bill is supposedly to help farmers such as Amos Miller, let’s examine that.

When it comes to business conglomerates like Amos Miller, and others operating in what appears to be a full-on black market, it doesn’t seem that they would support something like this or comply with it, if it passed.

They’ve stood for so long on the principle that they don’t need the government’s “permission” to produce or sell raw milk. They claim that they have the “sovereign” right to produce and sell raw milk to anyone they want in whatever capacity they want.

They seem to be fundamentally opposed to the permitting process on principle.

Why would these farmers or their legions of “supporters” compromise those strongly held principles so that farmers who ARE operating within the law could make more profit?

They likely would not.

They are too dogmatic about it. It’s unlikely that at this point they could both support a bill like this and save face. People would notice their hypocrisy. 

Amos, and others in his camp, have fundraised so heavily on the premise that they have the right to sell whatever they want without any government permission whatsoever. What would compromising on those principles do to their fundraising schemes?

This is the ideological divide that some are unwilling to bridge. But until this gets solved, the government-regulated ideology will prevail, whether the anarchists like it or not.

Again, not enough people care about the raw milk issue or even see it as an issue worth fighting for to begin shifting the cultural perspective on it.

This publication works hard to shift the American mindset towards this once revered food by an open discussion of facts.

Even if this PA state bill passed, all the current black market farmers in PA would still have to contend with the regulation prohibiting the interstate transportation of raw milk for human consumption. The PA farmers selling black market, unregulated value-added products are not selling primarily to Pennsylvania consumers. And everyone knows that.

As well-intentioned as I think this bill is, how could it possibly pass with a fringe group of vocal radicals polluting the entire political process? 

3. Unfortunate and inaccurately portrayed Amos Miller case and his wild claims that he’s “allowed” to ship raw milk across state lines.

Characters such as Amos Miller–who demands a wholly unregulated approach to raw milk–are getting notoriety in certain circles.

All the while, he is, by all appearances, flouting the law and safety standards in ways that increase the risks of consequences or enforcement against any and ALL raw milk providers.

To clear things up for the uninformed:

No, Miller is not “allowed” to sell raw milk or ship it across state lines. Again, there is a federal regulation in place, 21 CFR 1240.61 that continues to prohibit the transport of raw milk for human consumption across state lines.

The judge’s caveat in his recent ruling on Miller’s case that he, the judge, is not responsible for enforcing the federal regulation, does not change the fact that the federal regulation remains in place and the fact that Amos Miller is vocally claiming that he is exempt from that federal regulation.

Just because he continues to flagrantly claim exemption from that regulation does not make that regulation non-existent or unenforceable. Nor does any claim of “Private Membership Association” nullify the regulation.

For those who want to rant and rave about “government interference in our food choices” and “overregulation of small farms” I get it. I really do. 

But the cultural ideology is a long way off from agreeing to that premise. And the dairy cartel is not about to buy into it or let loose one iota of the control they have over the current system.

Most Americans are not going to get on board with raw milk access unless and until we start holding dirty producers like Amos Miller accountable for shipping e.coli and listeria-laden raw milk all over the country, instead of blindly coming to his defense.

If you want to see LESS regulation over raw milk–and other local farm foods–then YOU need to step up and hold farmers accountable to practices with higher integrity. Not give them a pass because you want to spite “the government.”

That’s the biggest reason these bills more than likely won’t go anywhere–because the outlaws and profiteers making all the noise about not requiring safer food productions do not want people having easier access to clean healthy foods–it cuts into their profits.

So what’s the answer?

How can we get more access to healthy foods and food security without it turning into an unwinnable fight?

The VAST MAJORITY of Americans appreciate limited government involvement and oversight in food production, just less intrusive. That’s understandable, and achievable through the willingness to enter into meaningful discussion with the people who care. Sometimes that means that the advocates and agencies are on the same side. At the end of the day, we basically all want secure ways to access clean, safe food for our families.

Sometimes, people have different ideas of how to get there.

Equally important is educating the public about the history of raw milk and our food system and the facts about the ongoing cases and legislation without spiraling into sensationalism.

These three issues combined highlight the need for meaningful conversation about how to increase the products our raw milk farmers can provide in a sensible way. It’s time to support local farms, operating legally and with transparency to provide clean, safe food to their communities.

Repealing the ban on interstate transportation…that will come another day.

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About Raw Milk Mama: I believe that we can reclaim our food systems through direct action. But it takes your participation whether you’re growing food, processing, or willing to support those who are. And sometimes, it takes taking direct action or calling on your state or federal elected officials.

I’m dedicated to helping people understand our food system and how we each fit into it..

Here’s how you can be part of it:

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