What began with a single cow in her back yard has now erupted into a legal and personal headache for Home on the Range operator Alice Jongerden.
“I have nothing to hide,” said Jongerden, seated on a bale in her hayloft. “Our intent was never to be in the black market or to be under the table.”
Alice Jongerden finds herself caught in a battle over the control of raw milk
The Fraser Valley Health Authority initiated a cease and desist order after an inspection at the Chilliwack dairy farm two years ago. The authority concluded that Jongerden was violating the provincial Public Health Act by packaging and distributing a hazardous product: raw milk.
Provincial Supreme Court Justice Gropper upheld the injunction in March determining that the Public Health Act did not require proof of a specific health hazard.
“There is no dispute that Ms. Jongerden, doing business as Home on the Range, has breached the Public Health Act, and its regulations,” wrote the judge. “The remedy for the petitioners (Home on the Range) is to convince the government to change its legislation.”
Home on the Range “is community-supported agriculture” said Jongerden, pulling at straws of hay as she spoke. “It’s just a group of members that cooperatively come together, own these cows, pay me to take care of them, and they get the dividends (milk) from the cows.”
Jongerden continues to provide approximately 1,800 litres of raw milk to nearly 400 shareholders on a weekly basis. In order to respond to the health authority’s concerns, Home on the Range now marks its unpasteurized milk as “not for human consumption.”
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Raw milk is simply better for us. Period.
I do realize that pasteurization is a necessity, I get that. It’s the only way to provide a product to the average consumer that at least has a reasonable shelf life (or fridge life I guess) that won’t spoil within a day or two. And yes it does kill off harmful bacteria, but that’s not all it kills off.
It also degrades the calcium and phosphorous content, and partially denatures the protein content.
Of course, there are also healthy bacteria that live in milk – some of which actually help us digest the milk itself.
Growing up on a dairy farm, I was raised on raw milk which we had an abundant supply of – and without ever a hint of ever being lactose intolerance.
When I moved away from home and started drinking store-bought milk, I noticed significant digestive upset almost immediately after consuming it. Store bought milk – not so good for me.
The shareholders here are obviously individuals with considerable concern for what they put in their body. I find it strangely ironic that a provincial health organization is trying to deny them access to this product. Instead they should be worried about catching something of genuine concern such as the tainted Maple Leaf Foods debacle in 08.
The shareholders here are obviously individuals with considerable concern for what they put in their body. I find it strangely ironic that a provincial health organization is trying to deny them access to this product. Instead they should be worried about catching something of genuine concern such as the tainted Maple Leaf Foods debacle in 08.
+1