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“The idea in Oregon is to make it so the consumer can’t help but see the cows and the
product they’re buying,” Paulson said. “When other people start getting involved in that
dynamic it can be dangerous.”
Milk temperatures, for example, should stay below 45 degrees. If milk is sitting out in a
cooler in someone’s backyard or being transported in the backseat of well-intentioned
carpoolers, there is an added risk of bacteria growing in milk that hasn’t been properly
chilled, Paulson said.
Raw milk drinkers say, ‘Wow’
Woodland, Wash., dairy farmer Puckett also is skeptical about letting her shareholders
act as liaisons for other shareholders. “Most people want to see the farmer eye to eye and
know what’s going on. It keeps us accountable. I’d be a little uncomfortable about drop-
off places because it creates an unnecessary cloak of secrecy. We want customers to
come and see us and be their own health inspectors.”
But Puckett understands how difficult it can be for urbanites to legally obtain raw milk
themselves. Even when cow shares are available, most farmers like Puckett do not offer
drop-off services, which makes middleman deliveries seem less like a health concern and
more like a godsend.
“Since milk is so hard to find and the demand is so big, people compromise some of
that personal and educational relationship with their farmers,” she said.
Portland resident Dagmar Carstensen has been drinking raw milk for a year without
making a trip up to see her bovine supplier. “I would go out to the farm myself if I could,
but it’s a scheduling problem in my case. So I have one of my neighbors deliver it to me.”
Her milk delivery happens courtesy of Portland resident Jennifer Pultz, who also has no
qualms about the arrangement.
“I’m doing this for health reasons,” explained Pultz, who drives an hour and a half
every week to Molalla to pick up milk for herself and others in her neighborhood. “Raw
milk is superior nutritionally; it’s worth the extra effort to get it. Since I’m going up there
already, it’s no problem to pick it up for other people.”
Pultz said she personally feels more comfortable with her decision to drink raw milk
because she visits her dairy farmer regularly and knows how the small dairy operates.
“When I first started (drinking raw milk) I was nervous. But I told myself that if I could
find a dairy I was comfortable with, I was going to stick with it.”
According to Dr. Bill Keene, senior epidemiologist at the Oregon Department of
Health, raw milk drinkers like Pultz should still be a little nervous.
“Let’s just say that raw milk is good for business in my line of work,” said Keene, who
tracks public outbreaks of illness for a living.
Dozens of infectious diseases have been linked to the consumption of raw milk,
including salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and one of the more deadly strains of E. coli
that can cause kidney failure and sometimes death, according to Keene. The E. coli toxin
basically destroys the internal organs from the inside out.
But despite the research, many raw milk drinkers believe that raw milk is still
nutritionally superior to its pasteurized counterpart. “You can’t put raw milk into words.
‘Wow’ is the only way to describe the taste. Once you drink it your body comes alive. I
use raw milk to ferment a lot of my foods, and this puts good enzymes back into my
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