Post by brigitte on Dec 2, 2018 7:09:01 GMT -5
Missouri is and has been longstanding among the more lenient states regarding raw milk sales, though there have been attempts to tighten the regulations. Incredibly, you have even been able to sell raw milk at farmers markets. Here in Massachusetts, such an act would prompt severe enforcement and prosecution.
Lately there has been an effort by agriculture officials to license raw milk sellers in Missouri, which exists here. This is not a bad thing, but needs to be amended as is happening in other states to make it more amenable and cost effective for small farmers (i.e. some testing, cleanliness inspections and labelling but not costly infrastructure)
I will copy and paste for you the background rom the Farmers to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.
Milk must be collected in a clean environment from healthy cows and quickly cooled. It is as safe as you make it- and your decision to drink it should be your decision based on your own research. In Massachusetts where gaining legislation to loosen tight raw milk rules has met with resistance from The Farm Bureau, the regulators have not paid much attention lately to the growing wave of raw milk consumers and producers. In this state no one has been sickened or died from raw milk, but five died some years ago from tainted pasteurized milk. What you are seeing now across the nation is a new willingness to change- which has been absent- as conventional dairy farming so sadly vanishes as nonprofitable and are looking for options. A number of them have reduced their herds and turned to local direct to consumer raw milk sales to survive.l
Im not sure how this turned out but this is what the Legal Defense Fund noted.
State Representative Belinda Harris (D/Hillsboro) in Missouri is set to introduce a bill to clarify the law on the sale of raw milk in Missouri. Rep. Harris is looking for co-sponsors for her bill before she officially files it. Under state law, once a bill is filed co-sponsors can no longer be added to it. Your help is needed to convince members of the State House of Representatives to sign on as co-sponsors for the bill, particularly those on the House Agriculture Policy Committee and the House Agri-business Special Committee.
BACKGROUND
There has been a long-standing tradition in Missouri of farmers being able to sell raw milk to consumers without having to obtain a permit to do so. In 1972 this tradition was codified in state law as a statutory exception to the general prohibition on the sale of raw milk. Under the exception, “an individual may purchase and have delivered to him for his own use raw milk or cream from a farm” [Missouri Revised Statutes (MRS) 196.935]. The exception is written from the point of view of the consumer.
The State Milk Board, the agency established to enforce the Missouri Dairy Code, claims that anyone selling under the exception needs a Grade A retail raw milk permit. Until recently, the Milk Board, for the most part, left unlicensed sellers of raw milk alone; but in the summer and fall of 2007, the board sent letters to at least six farmers threatening to turn them over to the Attorney General for possible prosecution unless the farmer either stop selling raw milk or obtain a retail raw milk license.
The Milk Board’s interpretation of the exception, in effect, ignores the Legislature’s intent in passing it and would prevent consumers from purchasing raw milk and cream if accepted as the correct interpretation of the law. There has not been a licensed raw milk retailer in the state in over twelve years. Complying with the licensing requirements to sell retail raw milk would be cost prohibitive for nearly all farmers operating under the exception.
Rep. Harris’ bill would amend MRS 196.935 to make clear that those selling under the exception would not need a license and could only be inspected if there was reasonable cause to believe they were selling adulterated milk.
State Representative Belinda Harris (D/Hillsboro) is set to introduce a bill to clarify the law on the sale of raw milk in Missouri. Rep. Harris is looking for co-sponsors for her bill before she officially files it. Under state law, once a bill is filed co-sponsors can no longer be added to it. Your help is needed to convince members of the State House of Representatives to sign on as co-sponsors for the bill, particularly those on the House Agriculture Policy Committee and the House Agri-business Special Committee.
Lately there has been an effort by agriculture officials to license raw milk sellers in Missouri, which exists here. This is not a bad thing, but needs to be amended as is happening in other states to make it more amenable and cost effective for small farmers (i.e. some testing, cleanliness inspections and labelling but not costly infrastructure)
I will copy and paste for you the background rom the Farmers to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.
Milk must be collected in a clean environment from healthy cows and quickly cooled. It is as safe as you make it- and your decision to drink it should be your decision based on your own research. In Massachusetts where gaining legislation to loosen tight raw milk rules has met with resistance from The Farm Bureau, the regulators have not paid much attention lately to the growing wave of raw milk consumers and producers. In this state no one has been sickened or died from raw milk, but five died some years ago from tainted pasteurized milk. What you are seeing now across the nation is a new willingness to change- which has been absent- as conventional dairy farming so sadly vanishes as nonprofitable and are looking for options. A number of them have reduced their herds and turned to local direct to consumer raw milk sales to survive.l
Im not sure how this turned out but this is what the Legal Defense Fund noted.
State Representative Belinda Harris (D/Hillsboro) in Missouri is set to introduce a bill to clarify the law on the sale of raw milk in Missouri. Rep. Harris is looking for co-sponsors for her bill before she officially files it. Under state law, once a bill is filed co-sponsors can no longer be added to it. Your help is needed to convince members of the State House of Representatives to sign on as co-sponsors for the bill, particularly those on the House Agriculture Policy Committee and the House Agri-business Special Committee.
BACKGROUND
There has been a long-standing tradition in Missouri of farmers being able to sell raw milk to consumers without having to obtain a permit to do so. In 1972 this tradition was codified in state law as a statutory exception to the general prohibition on the sale of raw milk. Under the exception, “an individual may purchase and have delivered to him for his own use raw milk or cream from a farm” [Missouri Revised Statutes (MRS) 196.935]. The exception is written from the point of view of the consumer.
The State Milk Board, the agency established to enforce the Missouri Dairy Code, claims that anyone selling under the exception needs a Grade A retail raw milk permit. Until recently, the Milk Board, for the most part, left unlicensed sellers of raw milk alone; but in the summer and fall of 2007, the board sent letters to at least six farmers threatening to turn them over to the Attorney General for possible prosecution unless the farmer either stop selling raw milk or obtain a retail raw milk license.
The Milk Board’s interpretation of the exception, in effect, ignores the Legislature’s intent in passing it and would prevent consumers from purchasing raw milk and cream if accepted as the correct interpretation of the law. There has not been a licensed raw milk retailer in the state in over twelve years. Complying with the licensing requirements to sell retail raw milk would be cost prohibitive for nearly all farmers operating under the exception.
Rep. Harris’ bill would amend MRS 196.935 to make clear that those selling under the exception would not need a license and could only be inspected if there was reasonable cause to believe they were selling adulterated milk.
State Representative Belinda Harris (D/Hillsboro) is set to introduce a bill to clarify the law on the sale of raw milk in Missouri. Rep. Harris is looking for co-sponsors for her bill before she officially files it. Under state law, once a bill is filed co-sponsors can no longer be added to it. Your help is needed to convince members of the State House of Representatives to sign on as co-sponsors for the bill, particularly those on the House Agriculture Policy Committee and the House Agri-business Special Committee.