Striking a blow for food choice

Unlike our neighbor to the north, Pennsylvania, and a number of other states throughout the U.S., Maryland does not believe that people should have a right to purchase fresh, unpasteurized milk and other dairy products from trusted local farmers. Under the guise of protecting our health, the regulators are actually preventing us from enjoying the health benefits of milk and other dairy items which have not been "killed" by pasteurization, and which therefore contain their full compliment of enzymes and beneficial probiotics.

However, with the assistance of the Maryland Independent Consumer and Farmers Association (MICFA), that may be about to change. This very week the Health and Government Operations Committee of Maryland's House of Delegates is considering a bill that would de-regulate direct farmer-to-consumer sales of raw milk and dairy products, restoring both the right and responsibility to make informed food choices where it belongs: with the consumer. And, not incidentally, increasing the ability of small farmers to keep far more of the food dollar than they presently enjoy.

Here is my letter of support, sent to the Committee:

Honorable Delegates,

Please let me add my voice to those already raised in support of HB1010, sponsored by Del. Mary Ann Love, which would legalize direct producer-to-consumer sales of raw milk.

It is deeply frustrating to me and to many that we do not have the choice to purchase and consume natural, fresh, unpasteurized milk and dairy products from trustworthy farmers in Maryland, despite considerable evidence of the health benefits such raw dairy products provide. At present, the system is skewed to support huge industrial dairies -- for whom pasteurization is an undeniable necessity -- and regulators have been unwilling or unable to think outside the box. HB1010, if enacted into law, would change that.

In the process, it would not only provide a major boost to health-smart consumers in the Old Line State, but it would help to enable more small farmers to stay on their land, by providing them with a greatly-enhanced source of income. This is good for consumers, farmers, rural communities, and the environment alike: the latter, particularly since farmers whose operations are geared toward on-farm sales of fresh, raw milk to savvy consumers also tend to be farmers practicing sustainable, ecologically-friendly farming methods. This, in turn, is a benefit to the Chesapeake Bay, as well as to our overall quality of life, state-wide.

For the health and well-being of consumers, farmers, and the land, I strongly encourage you to support HB1010.

My heartfelt thanks go to those members of the Committe who are co-sponsors of this bill: Peter Hammen, James Hubbard, Nicholaus Kipke, Karen Montgomery, and Joseline Peña-Melnyk. Those of us who care deeply about fresh, healthy, natural and local foods owe you a debt of gratitude.

And for the rest of you, I implore you to come onboard. With the passage of HB1010, we could be seeing the dawn of a new day for Maryland consumers and farmers alike.

Respectfully and with thanks,

Thomas H. Harbold

Let's hope this bill not only passes in committee, but makes it through the other hoops and hurdles to become law. As I indicated in the letter above, small farmers, rural communities, the environment of Maryland (including the Bay), and the health of consumers stand only to benefit from the freedom to purchase and consumer this most basic and beneficial of natural foods.