There have been food safety regulations since at least the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.
“Our Creator did not instruct them to cook their raw milk before consuming it,” said North Louisiana dairy goat farmer Matt Knapper.
And for the third year in a row, lawmakers considered a bill to permitting the sale of raw milk in Louisiana.
Senator Eric LaFleur of Ville Platte is the author.
“We’re talking about a very, very limited scope for the sale of milk,” La Fleur explained to the House Agriculture committee. “And it just makes it legal for them to buy it – in very, very small quantities – from their neighbor.”
Louisiana is one of only 6 states that prohibits the sale of raw milk. State Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain gave data from the CDC to explain why he believes pasteurization – heat treatment – of milk should remain the law.
“Across the United States, less than one percent of the milk is unpasteurized, resulting in 70-percent of the outbreaks and 13 times more hospitalization.”
Bacterial infection outbreaks associated with raw milk include listeria, E. coli, and crytosporiodosis.
“Is there a danger in drinking raw milk? I guess there’s a danger in eating raw oysters. There’s a danger of me buying eggs from Gov. Edwards,” LaFleur protested, adding, “There hasn’t been an outbreak or a death in 30 years in Louisiana – 30 years!”
Strain responded, “We’ve been pasteurizing milk since the 1920s and 1930s, when 50-thousand people a year died from consumption of raw milk.”
State Public Health Officer Dr. Jimmy Guidry was frank with the committee. He said lifting the requirement to heat-treat any milk sold in Louisiana would make people sick – at the very least.
“I predict in years to come that we’ll be back at this table to reinstitute this requirement because we will see breakouts and we will see deaths.”
The House Ag Committee killed the Senate-approved measure, by a narrow vote of 8 to 7.