Free Republic

Lisa Bass is a raw milk evangelist. "When you look at all of the data, and you look at what is a health-supporting decision to make, I think raw milk comes out on top," Bass told Blaze News. Bass, a mother of eight who is known for her popular YouTube channel "Farmhouse on Boone" and blog about homemaking, is part of a growing movement of free thinkers eschewing processed milk and embracing the benefits of raw dairy. "I think we are created by God, and there is a way everything was designed," Bass said. "And if you take certain aspects...

Amos Miller, an Amish farmer in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, will be allowed to sell his raw milk products out-of-state following a ruling this week by Lancaster County Judge Thomas Sponaugle. Attorney and podcast host Robert Barnes, who represents Miller in the case, labeled the decision a “major win” for the farmer. “Court agreed to modify injunction so that it only applies within the state of Pennsylvania removing the ban on sales to customers outside state,” he wrote, thanking Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for their support. ...........

Amish people go into Lancaster County Courthouse for a hearing regarding farmer Amos Miller's raw-dairy business on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Upper Leacock farmer Amos Miller cannot sell raw milk or dairy products made from it to the public under an order issued by a Lancaster County judge Friday afternoon. Judge Thomas Sponaugle’s order also allows the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to inspect any location where Miller packages or distributes raw milk and to test Miller’s dairy products. The ruling is a win for the agriculture department, which sought to prevent Miller from producing and selling raw milk and products...

Air raid alerts in eight regions of Ukraine tonight... In New York at least 26 people suffered what are called minor injuries in a subway train derailment... In France there is talk of President Emmanuel Macron changing his government... There are more documents out tonight related to Jeffrey Epstein as the document dump continues...An additional document with explicit content from 2005 revealed at 11 pm tonight...The Miami Herald and reporter Julie K. Brown seeking a clear naming of all the "John Does"... With the aid request for Ukraine stalled in Congress new spin from the White House tonight. The story...

Researchers have found a potentially deadly strain of tuberculosis infection spreading through Latino communities in Southern California and suspect the disease is being imported from Mexico in unpasteurized cheese. Health officials in Orange County, though, say they have not seen any cases of the rare strain of tuberculosis in at least five years. They credit a long-running campaign to educate people about the dangers of eating unlabeled cheese and other dairy products. Tuberculosis is an infection of the lungs that kills nearly 2 million people worldwide every year. The strain of tuberculosis that researchers found in San Diego County is...

A Santa Cruz man filed a civil lawsuit against a raw milk company after the man drank tainted raw milk that left him in the hospital with severe stomach issues.

Would you like some Campylobacter or E. Coli today? Raw milk in 26 U.S. states is now the best place to get it, since most readers of Science 2.0 are not going to have the opportunity to buy chicken from a street vendor in China. That raw milk is risky and has no benefit is not news. In 2012 the CDC showed it again but clamoring for raw milk got even louder. It is in the news again, as part of the naturalistic fallacy that infects mostly the anti-science hippie left and a minority of people on the libertarian 'government...

It seems like every other week someone gets ill from raw milk. The most recent incident occurred last month in West Michigan, when a 31-year-old woman and a six-year-old girl from different counties fell ill after drinking raw milk from a farm called Green Pastures. The Centers for Disease Control have released updated information on the link between raw milk and outbreaks of E. Coli infections, warning that a record number of such outbreaks were reported between 2010 and 2012. We have a fraught relationship with raw milk in the US, but elsewhere the routine consumption of raw milk is...

Jessie Grinnan, a stay-at-home mom from Palm Beach County, Fla., pays $13 a gallon for milk—and she couldn’t be happier about it. Grinnan drinks raw, unpasteurized cow's milk that she buys at a local farm. “It’s a full milk,” she says, “so it’s not watery and it’s not bland. It’s delicious, actually, and I’m not a huge milk drinker.” Grinnan believes raw milk has health benefits. She says her husband couldn’t tolerate pasteurized milk and has found relief from his allergies since they switched to raw milk. She says she also doesn’t want her 23-month-old son drinking anything whose origins...

Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers have recently introduced legislation to allow for the sale of raw milk, i.e., unpasteurized milk. Their Milk Freedom Act of 2014 would make it legal for “certified dairy farmers” to sell unpasteurized milk products without harassment and criminal prosecution on the part of the FDA. If enacted, this would be a major victory for those who are health conscious and understand the grievous misperception by our medical establishment regarding the safety of raw milk. The distribution of raw milk has been banned in the U.S. since inception of the pasteurization...

Congressman Thomas Massie (Republican–KY), Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (Democrat –ME) and a bipartisan coalition of 18 other lawmakers have introduced legislation to improve consumer food choices, including access to raw milk, and to protect local farmers from federal interference. The two bills – the Milk Freedom of Act of 2014 and the Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014 – are the first in Massie’s series of “food freedom” bills he plans to introduce. Massie has a unique perspective: “As a producer of grass-fed beef, I am familiar with some of the difficulties small farmers face when marketing fresh food directly to...

A proposed Maryland bill would restore the right of the states’ citizens to participate in cow shares, or cow boarding, to obtain raw milk. Maryland citizens lost the right to raw milk via cow shares in 2006, when the appointed director of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene redefined the word “sale” to include agistments. A hearing on the bill is scheduled for January 28 at 1:00pm at the Lowe House Office Building in Annapolis. Cow shares or cow boarding refers to a practice in which people buy shares in individual animals for a portion of the milk...

Would you rather sip on unpasteurized milk or a cold glass of soda? Do you prefer Saturday lunch at a fast food joint or a farmers market? Regardless of your choices, your food freedom -- your right to grow, raise, produce, buy, sell, share, cook, eat, and drink the foods you want -- is under attack. Here are ten food freedom issues to keep an eye on in 2014. 1: FDA May Ban or Restrict a Growing Number of Food Ingredients. The FDA has proposed banning oils containing trans fats, an ingredient found in foods like coffee creamers and muffins....

The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday warned that pregnant women and children should not drink raw milk and said it supports a nationwide ban on the sale of raw milk because of the danger of bacterial illnesses. The group’s statement said it supports federal health authorities “in endorsing the consumption of only pasteurized milk and milk products for pregnant women, infants and children.” The academy also “endorses a ban on the sale of raw or unpasteurized milk and milk products throughout the United States, including the sale of certain raw milk cheeses, such as fresh cheese, soft cheeses and...

There is no free speech when it comes to advertising raw milk products in Oregon. In fact, those who violate this law may face possible jail time. Most states in the country have significant restrictions on the sale of raw milk, and at first glance, Oregon's seem like some of the less extreme ones.  Sales are outright illegal in 20 states, and though Oregon does not allow the retail sale of raw milk, it does allow small organic dairies – with three cows or fewer, only two of which can be lactating at any given time – to sell their product...

Proposed South Dakota raw milk regulations will make it difficult for smaller operations to continue selling the substance in the state.  Department of Agriculture officials finished a third public hearing on the issue on Wednesday, saying the rules are necessary to ensure safety.  A legislative committee last August had rejected the rules until it had more information on their financial impact for farmers. The State of South Dakota currently allows the sale of raw milk, though not from retail stores.  Farms are allowed to sell the popular substance directly to consumers. Raw milk must also be clearly labeled as raw, but no...

Do you know your advanced pricing from your component pricing? In this, the first installment of a four-part special on the US milk payment system, MilkPrice blogger John Geuss explains the huge role played by the US government in controlling the country's supply of fresh milk.

DAIRY is a way of life in Wisconsin. Milk is the official state beverage. Locals proudly refer to themselves as “cheeseheads”. Hats in the shape of slices of Swiss are popular. A heart-stopping treat called “fried curds” is a staple bar snack. Local licence-plates read “America’s Dairyland”. All of which perhaps explains why the state authorities took the conduct of Vernon Hershberger so seriously. Mr Hershberger runs a traditional dairy with 40 cows. State law prohibits selling milk to the public without pasteurising it first. But Mr Hershberger tried to get around this stricture by setting up a “club” which...

As a result of her reading, she also became deeply troubled by what she now feels was the unnecessary withholding of relevant information from the jury—information that she says would likely have led the jury to acquit Hershberger of the single criminal count of which he was convicted. Hershberger faced a sentencing hearing Thursday at the Baraboo courthouse where he was tried, with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. The members of the Hershberger jury were only allowed by the judge to see a redacted version of the hold order issued to Hershberger during...

MADISON – The state Department of Justice wants dairy farmer and raw milk provider Vernon Hershberger behind bars.Now.Two weeks after a jury acquitted [1] Hershberger of three licensing violation charges, the state’s prosecuting attorney Eric Defort on Friday moved to [2] revoke [2] Hershberger’s bail for violating the court’s terms of release. The state had demanded the Loganville dairy farmer stop selling raw milk to members of his farm’s buyer’s club without licenses from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection – precisely the charges he was cleared of.That hearing is scheduled for next Thursday at 1 p.m., the...