Beginning
in 2006, the agriculture departments of several large states-with
backing from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-launched a major
crackdown on small dairies producing raw milk. Replete with undercover
agents, sting operations, surprise raids, questionable test-lab
results, mysterious illnesses, propaganda blitzes, and grand jury
investigations, the crackdown was designed to disrupt the supply of
unpasteurized milk to growing legions of consumers demanding healthier
and more flavorful food.
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The Raw Milk Revolution
takes readers behind the scenes of the government's tough and
occasionally brutal intimidation tactics, as seen through the eyes of
milk producers, government regulators, scientists, prosecutors, and
consumers. It is a disturbing story involving marginally legal police
tactics and investigation techniques, with young children used as
political pawns in a highly charged atmosphere of fear and retribution..
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Are
regulators' claims that raw milk poses a public health threat
legitimate? That turns out to be a matter of considerable debate. In
assessing the threat, The Raw Milk Revolution
reveals that the government's campaign, ostensibly designed to protect
consumers from pathogens like salmonella, E. coli 0157:H7, and
listeria, was based in a number of cases on suspect laboratory findings
and illnesses attributed to raw milk that could well have had other
causes, including, in some cases, pasteurized milk.
David Gumpert dares to ask whether regulators have the public's
interest in mind or the economic interests of dairy conglomerates. He
assesses how the government's anti-raw-milk campaign fits into a
troublesome pattern of expanding government efforts to sanitize the
food supply-even in the face of ever-increasing rates of chronic
disease like asthma, diabetes, and allergies. The Raw Milk Revolution
provides an unsettling view of the future, in which nutritionally dense
foods may be available largely through underground channels.
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The Raw Milk
Revolution
Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David E. Gumpert
Chelsea Green, 2009
Order
a copy
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