Proving that de facto corporate control of community foodways using the government as its hired thug is not just the purview of North America, Ireland has moved to ban all raw milk sales by the end of 2011.
This shocking development appears to be in response to an enormous and rapid surge in the sales of unpasteurized dairy since late 2010 when Irish dairy farmers realized the full implication of a 2007 European Union directive that actually superceded an Irish ban on raw milk sales by the Department of Agricultural Fisheries and Food (DAFF) in 1996.
One farmer told the Irish Times that his raw milk sales this past summer went from zero to 400 liters (about 100 gallons) per week in nothing flat.
The surge in raw milk sales in recent months has not brought any increases in food borne illness or disease, leaving one to ponder why the Irish government is moving so strongly to outlaw raw milk with one fell swoop.
As described so eloquently by William Campbell Douglass MD, the reasons are really not that difficult to grasp:
“Pasteurization is the hammer that industry uses to nail down control of everyone’s milk money.
Without pasteurization laws, farmers can sell direct to consumers and earn a good living. With those laws in place, however, most farmers have no choice but to sell their milk to Big Dairy operations for pennies on the dollar.”
Dr. Douglass MD goes on to say:
” … responsibly produced raw milk is not the risky cocktail you’ve been led to believe. In fact, bans like this one aren’t about safety at all – and they never are.
Farmers aren’t the only ones getting the shaft here – consumers also lose big, because pasteurization kills everything in milk worth having: powerful natural probiotics and healthy dairy proteins as well as key vitamins and minerals.”
The new ban planned to go into effect by year’s end was proposed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and is to be enacted as statutory law on behalf of the DAFF by the Department of Health.
I find it curious that the Irish ban on raw milk sales coincides with changes to the lineup of grassfed butter produced in Ireland by Kerry Gold. Not only is the new “full fat” Kerry Gold tub butter that is being marketed as “more spreadable” than the traditional brick butter not nearly as yellow indicating poorer quality butterfat that is lower in nutrition, but the addition of the new reduced fat butter ominously indicates a more profitability based product line such as what would be promoted by the monopoly controlled Dairy industry in the United States.
It seems that Big Dairy has landed on the Emerald Isle in full force with the political and financial goal to control every drop of quality dairy produced by this primarily grassfeeding nation where cows graze on lush grass for most of the year.
Clearly, marketing control of the grassbased dairy produced in Ireland is a moneymaking opportunity with far too much profit potential for Big Dairy to pass up. Â Using the government to secure corporate control of the market by banning raw milk sales under the guise of improving public health is the crucial first step.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources: Banning Raw Milk Letter published in the Irish Times
what drives me bananas about this is how the anti-raw milk freedom propaganda is amping up – in the form of news articles about people getting sick on raw milk and it’s products. like the one recently in utah – a man had apparently been selling raw milk cheese for years that he home produced. cases of salmonella were traced back to his cheese. the picture on the front of the article was a horrendous, nasty bathtub-subtly IMPLYING THAT the cheese had been recklessly produced all these years in that tub – and sold for profit. no where in the article is the tub mentioned. and he did not responsibly source his milk from a grass fed farm.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705393897/Mr-Cheese-identified-in-connection-with-Salmonella-cases.html
i can’t find the original article with the bathtub picture – but i did find this.
in all fairness, it does appear as if this guy was not on the up and up. he was not in relationship with his milk supplier – he was buying it on the side from an employee. but this is passed over quickly.
this is just one example i’ve seen recently that subtly puts the message out there that government sanctioned activity is the only activity one can trust. don’t trust the crazies selling food the old fashioned way. it’ll kill ya dead! hocus pocus!
horrible….
Wow, this really is shocking. I’m a 1/4 Irish and I attribute my love of raw dairy to those genes. This seems like such a affront to what made us who we are today. Sickening.
Wisconsin was going to allow raw milk in a “test” but at the last minute the then governor changed his mind at the last minute.
and its not because they are worried about people health , they are only worried about their pockets
This is really depressing. I am also Irish (1/4), and I know how much I love my raw dairy. I really don’t want to be worrying about this kind of thing, but I do worry about it every time I read these things in the news.
We are next!!! This whole global one world order is happening one product and one company at a time. “We” the “people” must fight unceasingly for freedom or tyranny will supercede our US Constitution that is currently being watered down! Food and medicine is a sure fire way to take TOTAL control of a nation and it is happening right before our very eyes.
Elections do count; local and national. The sleeping giant needs to roar!!
Ireland Moves to Ban Skyrocketing Raw Milk Sales – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/jjSSGHzB
Yes , what do we do here in the US if we can’t go to rally’s? Do I simply write my congressman? What do I ask for? Is there a “best” way to go about this?
Marie
Sarah, thanks for sharing. Just shared w/ my FB fans. Ouch this hurts. since I am half Irish. My father hails from there. It is such a beautiful place. It pains me so much to see the whole world moving to profit motived everything and big government. Won’t the people here wake up and stop this mess? What is it going to take? It’s like all of our brains have been hijacked. (Do you sense the despair in my voice?) Actually, I think our brains have been hijacked. And we are just standing by and watching it happen.