Free Republic

Lactose-intolerant Policy Is Sour On Milk, Cheese, Yogurt Washington, D.C.— The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) expressed puzzlement and disbelief today after learning that the popular website Facebook has banned the promotion of dairy products. Facebook’s guidelines state that no promotions are permitted if the “objective is to promote any of the following product categories: gambling, tobacco, dairy, firearms, prescription drugs, or gasoline.” An additional policy also prohibits awarding promotional prizes that include dairy products. “It’s dumbfounding, and just plain dumb,” said CCF Research Director David Martosko. “Why would anyone lump milk with cigarettes and prescription painkillers? Does Facebook believe...

...Milk dumped on roads and farmland to protest drastically lower prices... European milk farmers have dumped three million litres of fresh milk onto pastures and roads in a massive, organized protest against lowered dairy prices. In Belgium, farmers spread milk across roads near the southern town of Ciney. Elsewhere, about 300 tractors dragged milk containers through plowed fields in southern Belgium, dumping a day's worth of milk production in that region. "It is a scandal to dump this, but we have to realize what the situation is," said Belgian farm leader Erwin Schoepges. "We need a farm revolt." Milk farmers...

ELKHART COUNTY — Dairy farmers across the country are being milked dry by rising production costs and falling prices. On Friday, the federal government unveiled a new plan aimed at providing "immediate relief." But, will it work? And, what will it mean for you at the grocery store? The U.S. Department of Agriculture plan will raise the price paid at commodity markets for milk and cheddar cheese. Administrators call it a "dairy price support program." Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says it will help the dairy industry weather "one of it's worst crises in decades." The price paid by dairy...

Dairy farmers in Northeast Wisconsin are feeling the pain at the pump...the milk pump that is. Mark Petersen, a third generation farmer ... tells that prices for his milk have plummeted on the market, and he's really feeling the pinch. Petersen says he's only getting around ten dollars per hundred pounds of milk produced right now. He was getting 20 dollars per hundred pounds not too long ago. And his operational costs exceed his revenue. Not good, of course. consumers have seen milk prices at the store come down, but it's not proportionate to what farmers are losing.

An Iraqi woman shows off the butter that was made on her family's farm near Mahmudiyah, June 23. Photo by Sgt. Mary Phillips, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team. MAHMUDIYAH — Soldiers with the 120th Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, and a family of Iraqi dairy farmers are spearheading a program to increase milk and cheese production in this community, the first dairy initiative the North Carolina Army National Guard Soldiers have started with the Iraqis. Capt. Sara Woods, Civil Affairs Team 31, said the intent is to revitalize the area's dairy industry.Using microgrants, the pilot farm will...

Canadian scientists are breeding a special type of cow designed to burp less, a breakthrough that could reduce a big source of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Cows are responsible for nearly three-quarters of total methane emissions, according to Environment Canada. Most of the gas comes from bovine burps, which are 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Stephen Moore, a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, is examining the genes responsible for methane produced from a cow's four stomachs in order to breed more efficient, environmentally friendly cows. The professor of agricultural,...

Greener diet reduces dairy cows' methane burpsBy LISA RATHKE Associated Press Writer Tuesday, June 23, 2009 COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) — Vermont dairy farmers Tim Maikshilo and Kristen Dellert, mindful of shrinking their carbon footprint, have changed their cows’ diet to reduce the amount of gas the animals burp — dairy cows’ contribution to global warming. Coventry Valley Farm is one of 15 Vermont farms working with Stonyfield Farm Inc., whose yogurt is made with their organic milk, to reduce the cows’ intestinal methane by feeding them flaxseed, alfalfa, and grasses high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The gas cows belch...

Losing immigrant workers would mean losing farms, cows and milk, according to a survey on the effects of foreign-born labor on dairy farms that was released June 4 by the National Milk Producers Federation. The estimated effect of a 50 percent loss of the immigrant workforce on America's dairy farms would mean about 2,266 farms would go out of business, cow numbers would drop by more than 670,000 nationwide and milk production would drop by 14.7 billion pounds, the survey said. "We estimated that with a 50 percent loss in immigrant labor, we would expect to see an increase in...

WAYMART - Joe Davitt's tone curdled as he discussed the trough in milk prices. "We're the only self-employed business that has no say in what we get paid," Mr. Davitt, 39, said Wednesday as he gazed at a cluster of Holstein cows feeding in the barn at his 145-acre farm. "I can't afford to quit because what the cows would bring wouldn't be enough to cover my debt." A slump in milk prices is taking dairy farmers to the woodshed. Expenses exceed milk payments at many dairy operations. "There were times before when the prices were low, but the costs...

We all know the story of the shepherd boy who found entertainment in telling villagers his flock of sheep was being attacked by a wolf. The first time the boy sought help, the villagers came running, only to find the boy was joking. The same thing happened a second time. Then, when a wolf finally did attack, the villagers ignored the shepherd, and he lost his entire flock to the wolf. Is a modern-day version of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” unfolding in New York? You decide.

For many, the mere mention of milk will be enough to invoke memories of nausea, bloating, cramps, diarrhea, and perhaps in some cases, jibes and taunts about “wind” and bad breath. Some will have undergone medical tests that diagnosed the cause as “ Lactose intolerance ”. Lacking the enzyme lactase, which breaks down the milk sugar lactose (see box), they are unable to digest milk, whereas lactose-tolerant people can. Others, though, might still be unaware that they are “deficient” in lactase, not realizing that drinking milk causes their feelings of nausea, etc.[1] For many years, lactose intolerance was regarded as...

A renegade dairy farmer played the role of a lawyer Monday at the start of his trial for selling raw, unpasteurized milk and suggested his rights have been violated. Spectators crowded into a small courtroom to hear details of an orchestrated,armed raid by about two dozen officers and government officials on a Durham,Ont., farm in 2006. The Crown said it will disclose evidence of a clandestine, undercover investigation into the illegal sale of dangerous substances stored on the farm, sometimes on clear display in open sight. The illicit products, which spawned 20 charges against farm owner Michael Schmidt, were raw...

The butter mountains and milk lakes that made Brussels a byword for waste and inefficiency are to make a return in response to plummeting world dairy prices. EU officials are to buy up and store 30,000 tonnes of butter and 109,000 tonnes of skimmed milk powder in the next few months as part of a series of moves agreed yesterday to use the EU budget to prop up European farmers. The U-turn, after several years of liberalising free trade policies, was criticised by producers around the world as a step back into the protectionism that led to the Great Depression...

The price farmers get for their milk is plummeting – and some of the difference may show up in your pocketbook soon. The global dairy market has crashed so quickly, however, that it's backing up the industry's supply chain – all the way to Galt, where farmer Bill Van Egmond had to pour a day's worth of milk – 2,000 gallons – down the drain last weekend. "No creamery would take it," he said Friday. The base price that dairy farmers get for their cows' milk is set to tumble ...

A stimulus package may be a lifeline for the nation's economy, but it could be a death sentence for a lot of cows. Lawmakers are looking for ways to use the forthcoming stimulus bill to help dairy farmers, and the number one priority is to dampen milk supplies and prop up prices. Translation: reduce the nation's dairy herd. Exactly how Congress will accomplish that remains uncertain. An initial effort to use stimulus money to pay farmers to retire cows failed when House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis., objected on the grounds that it violated a promise not...

Farmers Panic About a ‘Cow Tax’ By Kate Galbraith Should their greenhouse gases be taxed? (Photo: Steve Ruark for The New York Times) The comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency’s exploration of greenhouse gas regulation ended last Friday, with farmers lobbying furiously against the notion of a “cow tax” on methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted by livestock. The New York Farm Bureau issued a statement last week (PDF) saying it feared that a tax could reach $175 per cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and upward of $20 for each hog. Such a tax would represent a...

VP candidate Palin introduces 'Ed the Dairyman' ROSWELL, N.M.—Joe the Plumber, meet Ed the Dairyman. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin spoke to a crowd of about 10,000 supporters Sunday in a Roswell airplane hangar, not only making a reference to Joe the Plumber, but alluding several times to "Ed the Dairyman" after seeing someone in the crowd holding a sign identifying himself that way. She warned voters about Democratic plans to raise taxes "on America's hard-working families and our small businesses and a lot of folks just like Joe the Plumber and Ed the Dairyman out there." Joe Wurzelbacher,...

In these times of trouble and turmoil, financial crisis and contentious presidential campaigns, it’s nice to know we can always find some humor among the news stories. In this case, we turn once again to PETA, which provides us with some unintended comic relief. PETA's bold suggestion leaves them once again looking like boobs....

<p>VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.</p>

Government outlet provides safe, special food for the nation’s leaders BEIJING - While China grapples with its latest tainted food crisis, the political elite are served the choicest, safest delicacies. They get hormone-free beef from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, organic tea from the foothills of Tibet and rice watered by melted mountain snow. And it’s all supplied by a special government outfit that provides all-organic goods from farms working under the strictest guidelines.

(LEAD) S. Korea finds harmful chemical in Chinese creamer product SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities said Friday they have found traces of a harmful chemical in a Chinese creamer product used in instant coffee mixes. The discovery of melamine, which can cause kidney problems and even death in severe cases, follows a confirmation by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) on Thursday that two types of snacks sold domestically contained traces of the industrial chemical. Both products were imported from China. Seoul started scrutinizing imported dairy products after several Chinese manufacturers were found to have...

CHINA'S toxic milk scandal escalated today as one of the nation's famous candy brands was pulled off shelves and four more people outside the mainland were thought to have fallen ill. The industrial chemical melamine has also been found in Heinz baby cereal and in potato crackers in the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong and officials ordered a recall of the products. In China, the maker of White Rabbit candy, given to US president Richard Nixon on a landmark 1972 trip, said it was halting domestic sales after its products were found to contain melamine, normally used to make...

List of Nations Banning Chinese Milk Products Grows By VOA News 25 September 2008 South Korea is the latest nation to ban imports of Chinese dairy products after discovering Chinese-made snacks contained a chemical that has sickened thousands of children who consumed contaminated milk. The Korean Food and Drug Administration, KFDA, says tests on more than 100 products found the chemical melamine in two biscuit-type snacks. Officials ordered the products to be removed from store shelves and destroyed. More than a dozen governments in Asia, Africa and Europe have either banned or recalled Chinese dairy products since the scandal broke...

WATERBURY, Vt. -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. "PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says. PETA officials say a move to...

Mood moosic to get cows going   Calm ... Graham VallisSOUTH WEST NEWS SERVICE   By JOHN COLES Published: 20 Sep 2008     FARMERS are being encouraged to MOO at their cows — to boost milk production. It came after a dairy farmer reported getting six times more milk by mimicking his herd’s sound. Graham Vallis, 48, does meditation-style mooing for five minutes before milking — and said his cows fall into a relaxed state. Now the Federation of Organic Milk Groups is urging its 450 members to do the same. Graham, of Bradninch, Devon, said: “I often...

Ahmed Adnan Hashim proudly shows off a container of Nu-Nu brand yogurt, produced at the factory he manages with his brother, Qahetan, in Bada, a small town south of Baghdad. Soldiers recently delivered two industrial generators donated by a factory in Iskandariyah to help the dairy plant stay on its feet. Photo by Sgt. David Turner. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Ahmed Adnan Hashim is passionate about yogurt. He’s passionate about cheese and cream and the other products produced at the Nu-Nu factory in Bada, a small town in northern Babil province. With his brother, Qahetan, managing the factory, Nu-Nu...

This is a total personal (vanity?) thread, but I have searched Google, and can't find the exact answer I'm looking for. For many years I have learned to never eat dairy and shellfish within a certain timeframe, because it will make me very sick (nausea and all the other unpleasant things that go with it). I ate shrimp for lunch yesterday, and after many hours (4-5 is my usual minimum) I ate ice cream. I still got ill, although not as severely as I would have, had I not heeded my usual rule. I now know I will have to...

Agents from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have been stepping up the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin recently. It’s a trend that’s beginning to worry some Wisconsin dairy farmers who employ immigrant milkers from Mexico. A new study of employment patterns on 600 farms in four Wisconsin counties found that 90 percent of the milkers on those farms were Mexican immigrants. It’s a trend that ballooned between 1998 and 2000, soon after the North American Free Trade Act went into affect. Study author Brent Valentine of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Rural Sociology says...

Spc. Stephen Stricklin, from Wesson, Miss., Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, feeds a cow, Feb. 26, at the al Nasser Dairy Farm, in a village near Wehida, Iraq. Photo by Sgt. Natalie Rostek, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FOB HAMMER — Members of the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion (BSTB) and the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) conducted an inspection of the al Nasser Dairy Farm, in a village near Wehida, Feb. 26. Floyd Wood, from Manassas, Va., agricultural adviser to the brigade from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and...

New York state continues to tighten the screws on Barb and Steve Smith, the operators of Meadowsweet Dairy in Lodi. Over what? Over their decision to establish a herd share organized as a limited liability company, and make raw milk dairy products available exclusively to the LLC’s 120-plus shareholders. The immediate issue concerns a search warrant issued to the NY Department of Agriculture and Markets in December...Now Ag and Markets has returned to the state judge who issued the warrant, and obtained a “show cause” order as to why the Smiths shouldn’t be held in contempt of court...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a consumer warning and recall of possibly contaminated Grassy Meadows Dairy Co. cheeses. Routine surveillance by the Indiana Board of Animal Health's Dairy Division revealed high levels of staphylococcus aureus in several raw milk cheeses manufactured by the Howe, Ind., dairy. Because of the facility's location, the FDA said consumers in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana should also check their refrigerators for the recalled items. Products of concern include, but are not limited to, Colby (lot no. 210317 and 19177), Jalapeno natural cheese (lot no. 2617, 21017 and 11017), "Homemade" cheese (lot no....

FDA confirms milk, meat from clones safe to eat Moratorium on clones in food supply to continue as market adjusts By Heidi Clausen Regional Editor The Food and Drug Administration on Jan. 15 issued its final risk assessment on clones, confirming its earlier findings that milk and meat from cloned livestock is safe for human consumption. Several years of studies have concluded that food from clones does not differ from from food from conventionally bred animals. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's moratorium on milk and meat from cloned animals in the food supply will continue for an unspecified period...

Barbara and Steve Smith had bad news and good news on the legal front in their suit against officials of New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets yesterday. The bad news was that their lawyers were rejected in their effort to obtain a temporary restraining order, which would have had the effect of immediately ending the ongoing harassment at the Meadowsweet Farm in Lodi. The good news...

The struggle of Barbara and Steve Smith of Meadowsweet Farm against the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets is beginning to resemble the battle of the Alamo. Every few days, it seems, the ag lackeys mount another assault against the revolutionaries, stronger than the one preceding, and each time they are driven off. But as with the battle of the Alamo, you know that eventually the side with the overwhelming force will win…unless the cavalry can arrive in time with reinforcements.

Most government enforcers assume a low profile after they’re sued, at least for a while. Not New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets. Within hours of being sued by Barbara and Steve Smith, and members of Meadowsweet Farm’s Limited Liability Company (as described in a posting here earlier this week), two agents showed up at the farm in Lodi, apparently looking for trouble. They found it, in the form of the Smiths, who knew exactly what the agents were entitled to, and not entitled to, and whom to call when the agents wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. I’ll let...

During another typically bizarre day for Heather Mills, the former model yesterday urged people to try drinking milk from rats and dogs to help save the planet. Media-shy Heather started off by storming out of a radio interview with London's LBC station. She then drove a gas-guzzling Mercedes 4x4 to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park to speak about ecological matters - and kept the engine running for part of the morning. Once there she proceeded to launch into an extraordinary ecological rant and exhorted the assembled crowds to try drinking rat's milk instead of cow's milk in a bid to...

Yesterday (Monday) Andrea received a call from an inspector with the New York Department of Food and Markets in Albany that he planned to come by the farm for a special inspection, based on “a complaint” made to the department’s Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services. Andrea couldn’t imagine who might have complained, and what the complaint might have been about.

SAN FRANCISCO -Families and friends who share eggnog, lamb curry or beef stew this winter may not know whether the main ingredients came from cloned animals, after the governor vetoed a San Francisco lawmaker’s labeling bill. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to end a voluntary moratorium on the sale of dairy and meat from cloned cattle, goats, pigs and sheep, after it ruled last year that the food is safe for humans. The agency published a health risk assessment in December that noted high death rates among cloned animals and host mothers, partly because of incidents of...

When agriculture inspectors come calling at 7 on a Saturday evening, watch out. That's what Barbara and Steve Smith learned last Saturday evening.

For nearly ten years, Barbara Smith held a New York state permit to sell raw milk. But because her Meadowsweet Farm is located a half hour drive from the nearest substantial town, Ithaca, and New York regulations require each customer to come to the farm for milk, she never could get more than 20 or 30 customers. So last spring, she decided that a better way to reach the many consumers she knew wanted regular access to raw milk was to give up her raw milk permit, and distribute via a cowshare arrangement. Consumers could buy in for $50 a...

A Kern County dairy violated the federal Clean Air Act when it built a new plant before obtaining an air permit and complying with the latest air pollution requirements, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment sued C&R Vanderham Dairy nearly two years ago in U.S. District Court in Fresno, claiming the dairy needed to apply for an air permit before beginning construction. The plaintiffs argued that volatile organic compounds in decomposing dairy manure, livestock feed, and cows' digestive systems contributed to the region's polluted air. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District...

The sense of déjà vu was eerie. First the California Department of Food and Agriculture posted a press release on its site: It had ordered a recall of raw cream produced by Organic Pastures Dairy Co. Then the Associated Press came out with a story...

The latest battle in the raw milk wars broke out today in south-central Pennsylvania. A group of ten state police and agents from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) descended on the 100-acre Nature’s Sunlight Farm in Newville, and confiscated about $25,000 worth of raw milk products, along with packaging and equipment. Though Pennsylvania is supposedly one of the more liberal states with regard to raw milk distribution, allowing farmers with permits to sell it not only from their farms and in farmers markets, but also in retail establishments, farmers say the...

ARIS (AP) - Got milk? Well, you're going to need more cash these days to get it. Growing appetites for dairy in Asia and limited worldwide supply are among a number of factors driving prices of the dairy drink to record highs. In China and elsewhere in Asia, chains such as McDonald's and Starbucks are introducing unfamiliar taste buds to cheeseburgers and lattes, increasing the region's demand for dairy. Rising costs of animal feed, shrinking European production and long- standing drought in Australia and New Zealand, the world's largest milk-exporting region, are also pushing up the price. Paying more for...

FALLON, Nev. (AP) -- Two dairy farms have dumped milk after the discovery of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope in 25 nearby drinking water wells. Officials from Sorensen's Dairy and Oasis Dairy said they will stop selling milk until it is tested for the isotope, polonium-210, by the Food and Drug Administration. Officials said there's no known health risk at this time. A study released Friday by the U.S. Geological Survey found the radioactive isotope in 24 private wells and one public well around Fallon, about 60 miles east of Reno. Polonium-210 is known to cause cancer in humans. All...

The Humane Society of the U.S. has, for years, been trying to frighten people away from consuming meat, milk and eggs -- but its recent testimony before a congressional committee reached a new low when the HSUS president, Wayne Pacelle, made the unsupported claim that pigs could be harboring the infamous and deadly British ‘mad cow” disease. Swine veterinarians quickly pointed out that “mad cow,” or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has never occurred naturally in swine. At the height of the British “mad cow” epidemic, both swine and cattle were exposed to the tissues from thousands of infected cattle and the...

San Joaquin Valley dairies should keep cows in enclosed barns and use special waste collectors to reduce air pollution, say critics of existing dairy air standards. The Fresno Healthy Dairy Commission, an advocacy group including doctors, business and religious leaders, says dairies cause harmful emissions in Fresno County, which has some of the nation's worst air pollution. The group said Friday a proposed county dairy ordinance needs tougher air quality regulations. The commission cited recommendations for enclosing dairy barns and cattle waste in a report it requested from the California Institute for Rural Studies, based at the University of California,...

RICHMOND, Va. — Deadly methane gas emanating from a dairy farm's manure pit killed five people, including four members of a Mennonite family, authorities said. Emergency workers speculate each of the victims climbed into the pit in a frantic attempt to rescue the others. "It was a domino effect with one person going in, the second person going after them," Sheriff Don Farley said. Farley identified the victims as Scott Showalter, 33; his wife, Phyillis, 34; their children, Shayla, 11, and Christina, 9; and Amous Stoltzfus, 24, who worked at the Showalter's dairy farm in the Briery Branch community. The...

RICHMOND, Va. - Deadly methane gas emanating from a dairy farm's manure pit killed five people, including four members of a Mennonite family, authorities said. Emergency workers speculate each of the victims climbed into the pit in a frantic attempt to rescue the others. "It was a domino effect with one person going in, the second person going after them," Sheriff Don Farley said. Farley identified the victims as Scott Showalter, 33; his wife, Phyillis, 34; their children, Shayla, 11, and Christina, 9; and Amous Stoltzfus, 24, who worked at the Showalter's dairy farm in the Briery Branch community. The...

Come fall, when the kids head back to school, Mom and Dad are likely to find that a gallon of milk for cereal will cost them more than the gas that got them to the store to buy it. The national average price for the calcium-rich drink that "does a body good" could hit a record $5 a gallon by September, MarketWatch reported Tuesday. The current average price is about $3.50 a gallon nationally, say dairy experts. That's more than the current national average gas price, which is $2.975 a gallon, according to AAA. High fuel prices, drought and a...