[Once in a great while, a story flies from the nether regions of a land where no banks dare venture that pushes aside our pedestrian concerns with banks, banking law, and bank lawyers, and thrusts its mailed fist into our faces and commands us to sit down, shut up, and take notice. This is one of those stories.]
We may have a tough time securing our borders against terrorists. It may have taken us nearly a decade to track down Osama. But, by Yahweh, we're smackin' down those lawless Amish and their diabolical sharing of unpasteurized milk (hat tip to The American Princess via Twitter).
Federal agents watched the home closely for a year, gathering evidence. Then, in a pre-dawn raid, armed members from three agencies swooped in.
No, this is not a retelling of the lightning U.S. commando attack in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Rather, the target of the raid late last month by U.S. marshals, a state police trooper and inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was Amish farmer Dan Allgyer of Kinzers, Pa. His so-called “crime” involved nothing more than providing unpasteurized, or raw, dairy milk to eager consumers here in the Washington area.
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What could possibly be the rationale behind this FDA action? The agency banned the interstate sale of raw milk in 1987. It says raw milk can contain harmful pathogens such as listeria and that pasteurized milk is safer.
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Many critics question why the agency concerns itself with raw milk. After all, virtually any food can conceivably contain harmful pathogens - including beef, poultry, pork, seafood, fruits and vegetables. Yet the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) permit the overwhelming majority of these products to be sold in their raw forms. For example, the USDA, which regulates beef, pork and poultry, permits their sale in raw and cooked forms. The FDA, which regulates seafood and eggs, likewise permits those to be sold raw or cooked.
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Even if consumers were unaware of the risk involved in consuming a raw agricultural product like raw milk or raw beef, FDA and USDA guidelines, along with many state and local health codes, typically require warnings about the potential dangers of consuming raw or undercooked foods. Where a warning will suffice, a ban is inappropriate. The FDA’s extraordinary message when it comes to raw milk, though, is that the American people are too dim to read the very labels the agency requires.
You give in on unpasteurized milk and the next thing you know these horse'n'buggy Amish gang-bangers will be sharing organic produce with the poor and the starving. Then where would this country be?
I don't know about you, but I sleep better at night knowing that E. coli-hating bovine bureaucrats are slammin' down stings on these low-lives and watching over the health and welfare of you, me and every other homogenized, pasteurized, milk mustache-wearer in this great country I like to call "The Land of the Free."
Help keep the U.S. udderly free of foreign bacteria. Bust a Mennonite today.
