Dairy defends raw milk

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, March 26, 2006

BELLINGHAM – The glass of milk on Joyce Snook’s table is creamy, frothy and sweet.

It’s also illegal in 22 states. But not completely in Washington state, where six farms are licensed to sell raw milk to the public. Two of those – Pleasant Valley Dairy in Ferndale, of which Snook is the proprietor, and Grace Harbor Farms of Custer – are in Whatcom County.

To some, raw milk is the healthy, natural dairy choice.

“It’s straight from the cow,” said Snook, whose family has owned and operated their 70-acre farm since 1963.

But public health departments warn against drinking it, and sale for human consumption is banned in many states because of the lack of pasteurization.

“It’s an extremely potentially hazardous product,” said Claudia Coles, food safety program manager for the state Department of Agriculture.

What makes the milk so controversial?

Raw milk can be contaminated with salmonella, campylobacter and listeria, as well as E. coli. In December, fears about raw milk were underscored by an E. coli outbreak that sickened 18 people, mostly children, who bought the product from Dee Creek Farm in Woodland.

Dee Creek Farm was unlicensed but selling the milk through a “cow share” program that allowed people to buy not the milk but a share of a cow.

The farm had been warned in August that its operation was illegal.

The Snook family’s farm went through an exhaustive licensing process to become one of six farms in the state officially allowed to sell raw milk to the public. You can drink the milk and then meet the doe-eyed cows – Rosie, Brianna, Trudy, Grace, Boots – who provided it earlier that morning.

The cows and farm are tested and surveyed for everything from bovine tuberculosis to the cleanliness of their milking room. Still, the cartons of milk the farm sells come with a bright warning label. They’ve never had anyone become ill from drinking their milk, Snook said.

While the mainstay of Pleasant Valley Dairy’s business is homemade artisan cheeses, (which are made with raw milk but aged three months, and aren’t required to carry a warning label), selling raw milk has brought new customers to the dairy.

Once people try it, they don’t want to go back, Snook says. They sell raw milk directly from their farm.