Healthy Food and raw milk

I found this organisation's webpage in Inuik's reply to the Milking equipment post : www.farmtoconsumer.org/ I wish we had an organisation (and the awareness) like this here in New Zealand. Isn't it interesting that it is allowed now to sell raw milk in US in many states? And New Zealand is still not allowing it?

Why is it that New Zealanders in general don't care so little about their food? I know that some of you do care a lot about their food. But still, we do not have a proper health food movement as far as I am aware. Take the locavore365 web site for example as mentioned in this post . I signed up when they started and it still hasn't taken off as it should do.

Cheers

Peter

I'm told the locavore365.com site tends to become really busy from about November onwards, when most people start to have a bit of surplus to swap. However, it does need all of us to spread the word of course.

Peter, I think you will find that NZ brought in the pasteurization of milk in answer to the growing problem of TB in children. They brought in inoculation for same a little later and TB testing followed that as a way of trying to eradicate it here. Error they made was not insisting that the deer farmers should also test.

Since many herds are free of TB now, there might be some justification in finding out if changes can be made, but I suspect not, while TB continues to be a problem in bush fringe areas and now being spread by possums.

So does the e.g. US not have a TB problem then? And other countries?

Cheers

Peter

Peter I wonder if the answer to your question about why Kiwis don't care about their food is because its not that long ago that everyone had their own garden and grew all they needed. Even canned/frozen stuff was produced in NZ. We accepted pasteurisation as being better than getting TB just as we accepted iodised salt (also an NZ product). Sure things have changed now and we have accepted so called 'good' additives etc to our food because the 'clean green' image is still part of the psyche of many of us so, it may take another generation to swing to the view that all is not as it was in 'God's Own Country'

PeterNZ;341677 wrote: So does the e.g. US not have a TB problem then? And other countries?

Cheers

Peter

I'm sure USA had just as much a problem with TB as did many developing western countries in the early and middle 20th century. It was carried about a lot, by sailors and they sailed a lot between USA and NZ in the early days. Nowadays it seems to be more of a problem in developing Asian countries, except the difference is that what Malaysia and others have, is a superbug variety.
The problem for such a large country like USA, would be in the state system where it would be a whole lot harder to introduce mandatory pasteurization of milk, let alone police it, so I expect they found a compromise.

TB is on the rise again, with Australia reporting about 1000 new cases each year, although some of those are undoubtably remanifestation of cases where people have previously been infected in their own countries. (Predominantly Asia)

Peter yes the USA did have the problem and did the same thing too at the time.

[QUOTE=jeannielea;34168 just as we accepted iodised salt ([/quote]

I think some things need to be got into perspective. NZ, back in the early 1900,s, had one of the highest rates in the world of Goitre and in 1924 low level iodine was introduced to salt and in 1938 the level was increased on the premise that most people used salt in their cooking or on their food. This was a cheap and effective way of increasing the iodine level in a country that is iodine deficient and remains in place today. However, it should also be noted that at all times plain and sea salt has always been available so it has always been the peoples choice. Unlike milk.

Cheers,
Ronnie

I'm pretty sure that TB is one of the vaccinations required in the US for attendance at schools, which would resolve that particular problem.

Diane

Ronney of course you are right in saying the reasons for additives to salt and milk are different and you can get uniodised salt but my point was really that most NZers have only recently begun to question such things. And its even more recent that people have begun to realise that everything we produce is not necessarily 'clean and green'

I see in one of the farming magazines that a review of the sale of unpasteurised milk is high on the Minister of Ags priority for this year.