Nov 10
10
Farmer brings crusade for raw milk to Alberta
Edmonton Journal – November 9, 2010
Farmer brings crusade for raw milk: Says closure of his ‘cow-sharing’ operation was motivated by corporate lobbying
By Karen Kleiss
Raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt brought his fight to legalize the distribution of unpasteurized dairy products to Alberta on Monday. “I am here to mark this day as a turning point,” Schmidt told supporters on the steps of the legislature. “A turning point because we the farmers, we the consumers, we as concerned people of Canada are officially rejecting those who pass regulations without respecting our fundamental rights.”
It is illegal to sell raw milk in Canada, but Schmidt and his supporters say raw, unpasteurized milk is healthier than pasteurized supermarket milk and perfectly safe. They believe modern food safety regulations and production standards are the product of intensive lobbying by food corporations, not a concern for public safety. “Raw milk has become the focal point in the food rights battle across North America,” he said. “Raw milk is wrongly and intentionally targeted, yet the real danger of today’s food lies in the industrialized food system, which is sanctioned and supported by bureaucracy and therefore government.”
Schmidt, a farmer from Ontario, arrived in the province two weeks after Alberta Health Services inspectors seized raw milk from Judith Johnson, a farmer who operates a cow share near Wildwood, about 120 kilometres west of Edmonton. A cow share allows families to purchase shares in a cow. The farmer charges a fee for feeding, sheltering and milking the cow, and delivers the milk to the shareholder. At the Beulah Novelty Food Co-op, which Johnson runs with business partner Eric Pudlow, the final cost for a gallon of raw milk was $16.
Johnson says the milk seizure happened around 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, when she arrived for Bible study at Edmonton’s Freedom Church of God with her van loaded with raw milk for cow-share holders. A man approached and asked if he could buy milk, she said, but she explained he had to purchase a cow share, but also indicated she had milk with her. Minutes later the inspectors arrived. “Three men come up to me and they start basically yelling at me harshly,” she said. Johnson said the inspectors insisted she open her van and she protested. During the confrontation she alleges her leg was injured and the inspectors tried to force their way in.
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