Don’t cry over spilled milk, everyone advises. But what about raw milk?
The Food and Drug Administration, armed with an injunction from a U.S. District Court judge, this week shut down an Amish dairy farmer from Pennsylvania who had been selling raw milk.
Raw milk is a hot button issue, perhaps surprisingly so. Some extol its health benefits, while others say it's harmful. Still others object to the federal government wading into the grocery aisle. The case of Daniel Allgyer has drawn attention from both sides of the political spectrum, according to the Washington Times.
Fans of fresh milk, which they also call raw milk, attribute all kinds of health benefits to it, including better teeth and stronger immune systems. Raw milk is particularly popular among parents who want it for their children.
In a unique twist, the movement unites people on the left and the right who argue that the federal government has no business controlling what people choose to consume.
The FDA has been trying to prevent Allgyer from selling raw milk for two years, but Allgyer had been skirting the law by selling his clients shares of his cows and then claiming that they had the right to raw milk from cows they partially owned.
The FDA’s statement says that the District Court’s injunction should put a stop to that.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, also ruled that Allgyer’s participation in a so-called “private buying club” does not shield him from federal oversight, and that Allgyer’s “cow share” agreements are a subterfuge for sales of raw milk.
Interested in the debate over raw milk? NPR’s "On Point" explored milk in all of its facets in June of last year.
