Someone compiled the list, and it wasn’t what I suspected.
Are all these folks afraid of competition? I understand the couple of health organizations, but why are the other dairies and farms worried, wouldn’t it help their business to say that they use pasteurized milk in all their products? I don’t know why I’m so bewildered by this little fight, but it seems there must be big money in it for some of these folks.
Alsteen Dairy
Baker Cheese Factory Inc
Banker’s Scenic-View Farm
Baudhuin’s Grandview Dairy
Belgioioso Cheese Inc
Brickstead Dairy
Burnett Dairy Cooperative
Cedar Valley Cheese Inc
Central Sands Dairv
Chapman Farms
CheeseReporter.com
Clover Hill Dairy
Cooperative Network
Cooperative Network Association
Cottonwood Dairy
Crave Brothers Farm
Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese
Dairy Business Association
Dairy Dreams
Decatur Dairy Inc
Doerfer Bros., Inc
Dupont Cheese Inc
Edelweiss Creamery
Edelweiss Creamery-Plant
Endres Berryridge Farms
Fetzer Farms
Grand View Dairy
Grande Cheese Company
Great Lakes Cheese
Greendale Dairy LLC
Hallet Dairy Farm
Hillsprairie Dairy
Holsum Dairies
Jon-De Farm
K&D Dairy
Kutz Dairy
Kylecrest Holsteins LLC
LaGrander’s Hillside Dairy, Inc
Lake Breeze Dairy
Larson Acres
Levzow Dairy
Majestic View Dairy
Maple leaf Cheese
Mastas Gallery Foods, Inc
MEISTER CHEESE COMPANY
Milk Source, LLC
Milk Source, LLC
O’Harrow’s tnc
Pagel’s Ponderosa
Park Farm
Quantum Dairy
Saputo Cheese USA inc.
Sargento
Seymour Dairy Prod., Inc.
Shiloh Dairy
Soaring Eagle Dairy
Strutz Farm
SunRay Dairy
Tauchen Harmony Valley
Taylor Cheese Corp.
Trega
Trinity Holsteins, LLC
Wayside Dairy
Weiland Dairy
Wis Dairy State Cheese Co
Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards
Wisconsin Cheese Malters Association
Wisconsin Dairy Products Association
Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation
Wisconsin Grocers Association
Wisconsin Medical Society
Wisconsin Public Health Association
Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association
I think I need to educate myself more on this topic, I’m intrigued.
I think that there is simply a fear that some farmers might cut corners and a couple of bad press stories about people getting sick on Wisconsin milk will hurt the overall market. You know as well as I do that the media is always accurate and would never leave out the “raw” mile angle in a story, but it could happen. In this day of blogging and 24 hour news ad story that blared “WI Milk Tainted” and ignored the nuance of “raw” vs. pasteurized could be deadly especially for the small farmers. I think that it is a bit of an overreaction, but I get the fear. Small farmers operate in a niche market and can’t really absorb the loss that a one-in-a-million accident could bring.
Remember how pork producers were hurt by fear over the H1N1 “swine” flu. The fact that there was no connection between eating pork products and contracting the flu did not reassure consumers.
I think that raw milk sales represents 1. a small challenge to pasteurized milk 2. a closer connection between local producers and stores which may impact the middle men, and 3. a slightly elevated risk in the safety of the public’s milk supply.
None of these appear to be significant but many of the companies on the list would feel threatened by one of these reasons.