I’m dedicating this edition of my Urban Cowboy column to the raw milk debate, which I believe is about safety, not choice. Despite years and reams of evidence that pasteurized milk is safer, states that should know better, such as Wisconsin (America’s self-declared dairyland) are considering legislation to legalize raw milk sales. That’s unbelievable. Read my column here in the Guelph Mercury.
In the column, I also bring in the safety of sushi, and note an Ontario law that was created to ensure restaurants freeze sushi first to kill parasites. It turns out that law was short-lived.
The graphic below is from e.coli blog.
Setting aside the raw milk debate for a moment, I’d like to point out a factual inaccuracy in your Guelph Mercury column.
You say: “The province decided a couple of years ago it’s too risky for restaurants to offer fish raw, which is traditionally the way sushi is served. Some intervention was needed, said officials, to stem bacteria growth and kill parasites. The solution? Freeze fish before serving it raw. So now, sushi in Ontario is previously frozen. No one’s rights are being violated. Rather, their safety is being secured. And it tastes fine.”
In fact, while legislation was implemented briefly that forced all sushi fish to be previously frozen in order to kill one particular parasite, push-back from the industry along with evidence that the parasite in question was much rarer and less of a risk than originally thought caused the government to claw it back:
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2004/12/02/sushi-rules041202.html
http://www.sobersecondthought.com/articles/nomorefrozensushi.html
There are, of course, some sushi restaurants that still serve previous frozen sushi, but it’s generally the lower-end and mid-range places that do so for cost reasons rather than health.
Very well rounded article Owen. If it is not the government’s job to protect us then why do we have any laws at all?
Thanks Greg and Phil. I appreciate the information and the feedback.
Owen
As the owner of the last legal processing dairy in south western Ontario I have to differ with your column. It is about choice and you have three choices for pasteurized milk across Ontario. If it were safety the government of the day would have stopped the corrupted bureaucrats from closing all the country dairies in favor of the big three. The closer the legal processing plant is to the milk source the less chance of contamination. Google the bovine and search Bernie Bailey if you want the true story of the milk industry, yes I know that is the raw milk sight but they seem to be the only media not afraid of government reprisal of my remarks and story.
Still one vote
Bernie
Bernie, thanks for your message. I’m originally from Mitchell’s Bay, a village about the size of this text box, so I’m all in favour of county dairies. In fact, if county dairies were processing the milk in question, I’d feel much more secure about it. It’s the unavoidable proximity of livestock to the raw milk and the on-farm handling that concerns me.