Personal Injury Law

California State Senator Florez Supports Raw Milk "From Ass to Glass" Bill

By Bill Marler, Esq.

I was reading today the Sacramento Bee article by E.J. Schultz:

Florez plans bill to overturn state health rules for raw milk

It sounds like my hero, “food safety legislator,” Dean Florez has drunk the “raw milk Kool-Aid” of his constituent, Organic Pastures and has forgot a few basics of where E. coli O157:H7 comes from – cow’s butts.  And, guess what are near cow’s butts – cow’s teats.  So, with raw milk it really is “from ass to glass,” without a kill-step in between.

As the Bee article says, Florez plans to introduce a bill next week to overturn new raw milk standards.  "The proposal comes just a week after a Superior Court judge upheld the new state standard, designed to promote cleanliness at the state's two raw milk dairies.”  However, according to the article, non-politicians have a different take on on Florez desire to protect his constituent:

Regulators say the limit ensures cleanliness and that dirty dairies are more likely to breed pathogens.  "The standard that is in place is reasonable and attainable," said Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman Steve Lyle.  The limit is "one more step to protect the public health."

Goodness, how outrageous is that?  Trying to protect the publics' health?  Hmmm, I thought that is what Florez was doing when he was grabbing headlines during the spinach E. coli outbreak - right, they (spinach growers) were not his constituents. 

As I posted a month ago, “where there is smoke, there is fire.”  Organic Pastures has been linked to an E. coli Outbreak, Campylobacter Outbreak, Listeria Recall and is subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.  Now, it also appears that Organic Pastures may have been serving up raw milk to its consumers that was out-sourced.  Perhaps Organic Pastures has just become another corporate giant (certainly in the milk field) concerned with one thing - making a buck.

Senator Florez, for a guy running for lieutenant governor (it that mini-governator - aka - former terminator?) - what the hell are you thinking?

Full post as published by Marler Blog on June 01, 2008 (boomark / email).