With Raw Farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, Mark McAfee has capitalized on a once-fringe product that’s been thrust into the mainstream in recent years and backed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I’ve put a couple kids in the hospital, and they have been sick, but they recovered,” McAfee acknowledged before my visit. “But here’s the thing: I’m a pioneer. And I’m going against the grain here. I’m climbing a mountain they say you can’t climb.”

…

“We catch these things and divert the milk immediately,” McAfee said of the pathogens.

I assumed that after diverting batches, the farm discarded them.

Later that day, I learned otherwise.

“We have a red-flag system here, where if there’s anything that gets really out of whack, they can immediately tag the milk, and it doesn’t go to anything but cheese,” McAfee told me. “Because, you know, cheese is resistant to pathogens.”

Research has shown that raw cheese is not, in fact, resistant to pathogens; while aging can mitigate some risk, harmful bacteria can still survive the usual 60-day maturation process.

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radio
    0·
    16 hours ago

    This has echoes of melamine in baby formula with the same profit motive. I wonder if he’ll see the same punishment.

    • CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world
      0·
      16 hours ago

      I look around at the world today, and I think we’ve made it too safe. We need more Darwinian selective pressure. I think anyone over 18 can have raw milk and raw milk products, clearly labelled. Govern it like alcohol and let selection take its course.

        • cecilkorik@piefed.caEnglish
          0·
          11 hours ago

          Then educate them in a way they’re going to actually learn from. Punishment is not always an effective teaching method. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but basically all the problems in the world boil down to these two choices: Control people so they are forced to make the decision you want, or educate them so they understand why they need to be making the decision you want. I think for obvious reason the latter should always be preferred, and it is something we can always try harder to do, and we need to keep trying even when it is hard, and even when the outcome isn’t ideal.

          • Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works
            0·
            11 hours ago

            Fuck that, this guy is a criminal, he knows exactly what he’s doing, lying to people so they buy rancid milk from him. This isn’t an education problem, this is letting a criminal run rampant problem.

            People aren’t wrong if they want raw milk, the victims here are being defrauded and poisoned.

            • cecilkorik@piefed.caEnglish
              0·
              11 hours ago

              I can’t judge that from here, but I’m not referring to educating the guy in question, I’m referring to educating the parents and the children about the risks they are taking with raw milk, and the benefits they may or may not actually receive. I get where you’re coming from and I agree, but I was specifically responding to the implication by the comment I was replying to that presumably is asserting something to the effect of: “if we don’t ban raw milk sales, people will still give to their (innocent) children” and I think that’s a valid concern. Because of people like this. He is ruining it for everyone.