Raw milk back in the news

Pint-sized raw milk victim fighting against E.coli: 
In Tennessee, one of the young victims of a Tennessee E. coli outbreak linked to raw milk continues to battle hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a potentially fatal kidney disease associated with severe E. coli infections. WATE News reports that five-year-old Maddie Powell has been hospitalized since late October. Her mother, Cassie Powell, reports that Maddie was on dialysis for 18 days, underwent two surgeries and received six blood transfusions. The family doesn’t blame the McBee Dairy Farm, where the raw milk was purchased through a herd-share program, but Powell agrees that “going forward it's not a risk I'm going to take anymore.” Read more here. 
 
Raw milk producer fights
to advertise: One raw milk producer is suing the Oregon Department of Agriculture for its ban on advertising raw milk sales. The Portland (Ore.) Tribune reports that Christine Anderson, owner of Cast Iron Farm in McMinnville, Ore., will file a federal First Amendment challenge against the ban. Currently, the state allows small dairies to sell raw milk on site, but these farms cannot advertise their raw products. Many farmers take the ban to mean that they use email, fliers, billboards or websites. Violators can incur a fine of $6,250 and civil penalties as high as $10,000, plus a year in jail. See, “Farmers plan legal action to block raw milk advertising limits.” 
 
South Dakota moves closer to allowing dairy farmers to sell raw
milk directly to consumers: The South Dakota Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Rural Issues passed an amended bill that would allow raw milk products to sell their unpasteurized dairy directly to consumers and require the state to inspect the site once every two years. The Dairy Business Association is disappointed at the passage, concluding that “the Wisconsin dairy industry has seen incredible growth over the past decade. The dairy industry and the Wisconsin legislature have worked hard to maintain and grow our state and national brand as ‘America’s Dairyland.’  We cannot risk losing Wisconsin’s title as the number one cheese producer in the United States by allowing Senate Bill 236 to pass.” Click here for more.