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Consumer
Consumers like you, all over North America, have begun an exodus from pasteurized fluid milk because of processed milk allergies and lactose intolerance. Soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, and almond milk have all taken advantage of the fact that pasteurized milk is the most allergenic food in America.
Fueled by information shared on the Internet and by numerous studies and books recently published, consumers have begun to realize that raw milk is not allergenic and is generally very easy to digest for nearly everyone. It is pasteurization, the heating of milk, and intensive processing that causes the problems.
FIND RAW MILK
The Raw Milk Institute helps you locate conscientious farmers who have gone through our training program and have demonstrated, through testing, that their milk is consistently clean and safe. In states where the sale of raw milk is legal, these farmers are listed on our website.
Fixing the Food Chain
When consumers connect directly to farmers, farms flourish and consumers are fully nourished.
This is all made possible by the generous contributions of raw milk consumers who wish to support sustainable farming practices and who want to secure universal access to raw milk. Please donate to RAWMI so this progress can continue to be made on your behalf.
Is Your Dairy RAWMI-Listed?
RAWMI-listed farmers receive a portal on the RAWMI website. Here, you can view your farmer’s profile and reports that help you to make a good purchasing decision. All RAWMI-listed farmers report their bacteria counts to RAWMI and those bacteria counts are posted at their portal for all to review and appreciate. You can also find farmers’ individualized Food Safety Plans and links to their farms’ websites. Listing is a transparent tool that publicizes the efforts and care taken by the farmer to produce the very best raw milk possible.
Farmers who have gone to those lengths to be a safe producer and can demonstrate a safety track record should be rewarded. We encourage you to find RAWMI farmers who comply with RAWMI’s high quality and safety standards. If you already know a farmer, encourage him or her to participate in our training program!
Get Involved
Legislator
As a law maker, you are charged with representing your voters and passing laws that represent the will of the voters. More and more consumers have discovered that pasteurized milk is highly allergenic and more and more people have a hard time digesting pasteurized milk, yet, at the same time, more and more consumers are reporting that when they drink raw milk they do not suffer milk allergies and raw milk is easily digested. This emerging dynamic has become a major legislative initiative across North America with more and more states legislatures reviewing raw milk laws.
As a result of consumers leaving pasteurized milk, farmers across North America have been suffering lower and lower milk prices as a direct result of this processed milk market depression.
The current dairy markets are run by just a handful of huge processors that pay the farmer very little for raw milk. In 2009, Deans Foods was fined more than $30 million for price fixing and cheating farmers on pay price. As a result, thousands of dairies went bankrupt and many farmers committed suicide. During that same year, Deans Foods posted all time high profits. This is the story of modern dairy markets.
Fueled by educational outreach, the internet and strong raw milk markets in a few states that permit raw milk sales, the legislatures in states that do not allow raw milk sales have been approached to change the anti raw milk laws that restrict raw milk sales.
The Raw Milk Institute is a tool and resource for farmers that produce raw milk. It provides farmers with effective food safety plans and Common Standards to follow in order to manage and reduce the risk of raw milk production. In areas where these practices are used, long track records of food safety have been established.
We invite you to review the data and see for yourself how safe raw milk can be when managed properly. We have the insight, the plans, the technology and track record to be able to manage raw milk effectively as raw milk begins to re-enter the market place to serve farmers with high value added product markets and fully nourish consumers all over North America. It will be the change of laws that favor farmers and consumers over processors’ interests that will ultimately serve our citizens. When you here a processor say that raw milk is dangerous, please consider the source of the information. That processor is protecting his market and using data that is more than 100 years old. We agree that certain dairy practices widely used in the 1880’s were very dangerous. But, this is now 2011 and we understand proper conditions, cleanliness, and bacteria testing. We understand food safety plans. The best measure of human consumption raw milk safety is a review of data from those states that allow raw milk retail sale. The track records are excellent.
As you are pressured between mothers who want safe clean raw milk and processors that demand to protect their market share, please understand this. The processors need to change to accommodate the consumer. Some of the processed products are simply not palatable and need to be changed. The guiding hand of the dollar vote is telling the processors this message. Please allow this message to be sent.
When farmers reconnect to their consumers, the farmers are fully paid and the consumers are fully nourished. That is an All American story of good capitalism. Please support farmers and their consumers as they strive to reconnect in their long disconnected food chain and make America stronger and healthier.