Why You Need To Know How To Send A Submission To The Raw Milk Review

Do you believe it is your right to choose what you eat and drink? Then read on...

Food Standards for Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) has commenced a review of the right to produce and sell raw milk products including milk and cheeses.

What is raw milk you ask? Put simply, it's milk straight from the cow (or goat or sheep or buffalo) without pasteurisation. There is a body of belief that this milk, full of beneficial bacteria and enzymes, is better than 'processed' milk, and before factory farming began, all the milk that humans consumed was 'raw'. In many parts of the world selling raw milk is illegal, which is currently the situation here in Australia. While it is permitted in 28 states in America, there has been a pitched battle in some sections of the community regarding this issue. My earlier post, The real deal with raw milk and the raw deal with unreal milk shed some light on this, and further information can be found here.

Proponents believe that beneficial components of milk are destroyed by pasteurisation, specifically immunoglobulins and the enzymes lipase and phosphatase, which are inactivated by heat. Raw milk contains vitamin B 6, but the heat treatment may cause as much as 20% of the vitamin to be lost. Pasteurisation also kills some of milk's naturally-occurring bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, useful for the culturing of yogurt. Raw milk proponents point out that these "friendly" bacteria aid digestion and boost immunity.

The Australian review will include the following areas;

- safety and risk management issues

- consumer research on motivations for consumption

- knowledge about raw milk, consumer sources of information and benefits and risks associated with consumption

- consumption behaviour covering frequency, quantity, storage and treatment.

What we need is as many people as possible who want the right to buy and consume raw milk, to make a submission to FSANZ by 17th September 2008, as submissions received after this date will not be considered.

So whether you want to be able to consume raw milk simply because it's your right to choose what you eat and drink, or whether you and your family members can't tolerate pasteurised milk but do well on raw milk, or you just simply think it tastes better, please take a couple of minutes to send an email NOW:

submissions@foodstandards.gov.au

You will need to head your email

Submission re Proposal P1007: Primary Production & Processing Requirements for Raw Milk Products.

You need to include full contact details including: address, telephone number, fax and email address.

And simply state why you want the sale of raw milk legalised.

Your submission need only be a short paragraph

For those interested to know more detail, the link to the discussion paper is:

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/standardsdevelopment/proposals/proposalp1007primary3953.cfm

You will also find some more information and inspiration at www.realmilkaustralia.com, www.nourishedmagazine.com.au, and www.nourishingaustralia.org.au

Take this great opportunity to make a difference and forward this on to everyone who you think might be interested!

image credit denmar

Comments

[buy pond plants]

This is great for cheese but im not sure if I could drink this. I have hears the taste is nothing like pasteurized milk.

I had enough trouble switching between 2% and skim and I cant go back its like a bowl of creme. I agree you should be able to purchase it from smaller farms, that way you risk only a small amount of people getting sick if something bad happened, the massive productions are too risky.