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allowing raw milk; however, they were rejected because no standards exist to assure the
safety of raw milk – general sanitation requirements, herd health and laboratory testing of
the raw milk cannot adequately assure that the product is safe to consume. She said this is
consistent with the positions of the federal Food and Drug Administration and CDC. She
stated that research by the department found a considerable amount of credible,
scientifically recognized and peer reviewed information in opposition to the consumption
of raw milk. She said it is critical to note that many individuals from different
backgrounds, possessing a wide range of qualifications, have submitted their personal
opinions on this issue, and the Board will hear testimony from many of these individuals
today. However, she said the department has the obligation and the responsibility to
develop public health policy based upon sound, credible, scientific data focused on
protecting public health. Therefore, she said the department is respectfully requesting that
the Board adopt the proposed amendments to the Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Fluid
Milk Products Regulations, along with one modification that was not included in the
latest draft provided in the Board packets: Page two, line 17, after “dairy herd”
Board of Health Minutes May 19, 2004 Page 12
insert, “for the purpose of consuming fluid raw milk” to clarify the intent of this section.
Attorneys’ Comments:
A. Casey Shpall, the division’s legal counsel from the Attorney General’s Office,
discussed the department’s and the Board’s legal authority associated with the proposed
amendments. She commented that the department and the Board are tasked with the
weighty responsibility to protect the public health. She said with regard to this issue, the
Board has very broad authority – the power and duty “To promulgate and enforce
regulations and standards for the grading, labeling, classification and composition of
milk, milk products, and dairy products, including imitation dairy products; to establish
minimum sanitary standards of quality of all milk, milk products, dairy products, and
imitation dairy products sold for human consumption in this state. . .” She stated that the
statute defines the phrase “minimum general sanitary standards” as used in this section as
the minimum standards reasonably consistent with assuring adequate protection of the
public health. She said the statute says the word “standards” as used in this section means
standards reasonably designed to promote and protect the public health.
Ms. Shpall explained that acting pursuant to that authority, in 1992, the Board adopted
the Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Fluid Milk Products Regulations, and it limited the
types of milk that can be sold in the state for human consumption. She said that since
then, the Board has voted every few years to update the regulations. She pointed out that
through this regulation, the department formally incorporated the U.S. Public Health
Service’s Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), which prohibits the sale of raw
milk. She stated that the PMO requires milk for human consumption to be pasteurized,
ultra-pasteurized or aseptically processed.
Ms. Shpall stated that in 1995, Guidestone came to the department because it desired to
expand its operations to provide raw milk to others outside the extended family. She said
it proposed to market its raw milk through the selling of cow shares. She said this was a
novel proposal, and the division and the Board struggled with what approach to take in
regulating this new scheme. She said the department conferred with counsel from the
Attorney General’s Office, and it was determined that the cow share arrangement was
beyond the authority of the department and this Board to regulate because it did not
constitute the sale of raw milk. She explained that the department made clear at that time
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