Got milk? They drink it straight from the cow
Raw version worries some health officials
The small, white refrigerator against the back wall of Kim Klibansky's Beverly garage is loaded each week with four red-capped jugs, with warning labels attached, not unlike the cautions printed on packages of cigarettes.
The potentially hazardous contents? Milk. Raw milk, that is, which -- as the label warns -- has not undergone the pasteurization process that ''destroys organisms that may be harmful to human health."
Despite the potential risk, which could include exposure to listeria, salmonella, and E. coli, the Klibanskys and dozens of other families in the northern suburbs take turns carpooling more than four hours each week to obtain the untreated milk, based on the belief that the benefits outweigh the dangers.
''Milk at the grocery store is essentially a processed food. Most of the vitamins, the milk proteins, they're all changed with pasteurized milk, and I didn't see any benefit with drinking it," said Klibansky, whose two teenaged daughters have been drinking raw milk for nearly a year.
Klibansky is a member of the distribution network Just Dairy, a group formed in 2003 by Cyndy Gray of Manchester. Gray's group is working to increase the availability of raw milk to local consumers and to raise awareness of what members see as its benefits: higher vitamin content, increased beneficial enzymes and bacteria, and the promotion of local dairy farmers and environmentally friendly farming practices.
But there are risks, according to Alfred DeMaria, director of communicable disease control for the state Department of Public Health.
''Pasteurization was invented because milk was a real source of human disease up until the 20th century, including TB and typhoid. The reason we don't see these outbreaks anymore, is most milk is pasteurized. There's very little raw milk out there," said DeMaria.
Just last month, Berkshire Blue Cheese, a raw milk cheese made by Berkshire Cheese Makers in Great Barrington, was recalled when the bacteria listeria was discovered during routine FDA sampling. Owner Michael Miller said all the wheels of the Berkshire Blue have since been recovered and no one became ill.
Chris Galen, spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, said that increased regulation across the country points to a higher level of interest in raw milk, although the actual numbers are difficult to gauge.
In New England, raw milk sales are permitted in some form in every state but Rhode Island. Galen said that about two dozen states permit sales, either through commercial stores or at farms.
In Massachusetts, many local boards of health have prohibited raw milk sales in retail stores, but cannot prohibit its sale on farms, frequently known as ''gate sales."
The nearly 80 families who make up Just Dairy participate in an elaborate carpooling program, taking turns driving the four-hour round-trip journey to two licensed raw milk dairies in Western Massachusetts, where they purchase their milk for $5 per gallon -- far more than the average price of $1.60 for a gallon of raw milk that is meant for pasteurization, according to the National Milk Producers Federation.
Chase Hill Farm in Warwick and Rocky Acres Farms in Warren were selected by the group because of members' insistence that the milk come from pasture-fed cows. Gray said she's also confident of the farms' cleanliness and milk-handling procedures.
''[Cows in] confinement dairies get a lot of grain, and we're not interested in that," said Gray.
According to Gray, interest in Just Dairy has been brisk, and she's fielding nearly a dozen new inquiries a week from people interested in raw milk. The group has members from Beverly, Chelsea, Everett, Gloucester, Ipswich, Lynn, Manchester, Marblehead, Nahant, Newbury, Revere, Rockport, Salem, Swampscott, Wenham, and Winthrop.
One of Just Dairy's raw milk suppliers is Jeannette Fellows and her husband, Mark, who own Chase Hill Farm. In previous years, the farm sold an average of 35 to 40 gallons of raw milk a week. Last year, including sales to Just Dairy, that amount increased to 100 to 125 gallons of raw milk a week, in addition to their raw milk cheese operation.
''We're trying to produce a high quality product," said Fellows. ''[Customers] should know where it came from and what the animals are eating."
According the state, eight dairies are licensed for raw milk gate sales, the majority of them located in the western part of the state.
William Gillmeister, agricultural economist for the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture Resources, said his department stands by its current regulations for raw milk sales. For raw milk intended for pasteurization, bacterial counts cannot exceed 100,000 per milliliter. For raw milk intended for consumption, the state sets a more stringent limit of 20,000 units per milliliter.
''The sanitary requirements are stricter because [the milk] is not going to be pasteurized," Gillmeister said. Which, to raw milk advocates, confirms their belief the milk is cleaner.
Perhaps, DeMaria said, but even then, the risk of illness is not entirely eliminated.
''People make their own decisions, but they're doing something hazardous. You can get lucky and do something hazardous and never suffer the consequences, but when there are consequences, that's when public health has to get involved. We just hope nothing happens," said DeMaria.
In March, the Food and Drug Administration issued a health warning against raw soft cheeses after several New York City residents contracted tuberculosis after eating queso fresco-style cheeses, either imported from Mexico or consumed in Mexico.
And twice in 1998 the Massachusetts DPH issued raw milk advisories. One stemmed from a farm in Lunenburg where nearly 60 people were exposed to rabies after drinking raw milk from an infected cow. In another incident that year, several children contracted Salmonella after drinking raw milk from a dairy in Pittsfield while on a farm visit.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2001 more than 300 people in the United States got sick from drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk. In 2002, that number was 200.
Knowledge of those types of risks hasn't deterred Ipswich resident Thomas DeMille and his family from consuming raw milk, because he believes pasteurized milk is not a guarantee of safety.
''We feel that pasteurized milk is downright dangerous and bad for you, and everything good in it has been killed," said DeMille, who buys one to two gallons of raw milk each week through Just Dairy. ''If you leave pasteurized milk out, it turns rancid because all the beneficial bacteria has been killed by the pasteurization process."
He concedes that at first he had concerns about giving the milk to his 3-year old son, Ethan.
''We went back and forth on that," said DeMille. ''But we've done our research and are convinced it's safer."
For Klibansky, raw milk is simply part of her family's lifestyle.
''I really want to support local businesses and local farmers," she said. ''Hopefully, people will become more aware from us and how we live our lives." 