Before Max Kane will reveal the address of the pickup site, I have to prove to him I’m not a government mole. Outside a coffee place in the Harlem-Irving Plaza on a recent Saturday morning, Kane explains why he’s wary. The government recently cracked down on one of his competitors, threatening to close down the operation.
While he assures me that he’s working within the law, he still makes me sign a document promising that I’m not a government employee before he divulges where the goods are distributed.
It’s all very cloak-and-dagger considering what we’re discussing isn’t drugs or designer knock-offs or pirated DVDs but, rather, raw-dairy products–things like cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep butter. As raw-milk co-ops like Kane’s grow in number because of the increasing popularity of raw or “live” foods, they’re drawing the attention of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture, which dispute the safety of unpasteurized, unhomogenized dairy products.
Even though raw dairy is legal to consume in Illinois, it’s illegal to sell directly to consumers outside of licensed dairy farms. Also, the safety of raw milk is hotly contested, pitting raw foodists against public health officials. Of course, both sides profess the same goal: ensuring health through a nutritious diet.
According to the FDA’s Web site, which compares raw-dairy consumption to “playing Russian roulette with your health,” the list of disease-causing bacteria found in raw milk includes campylobacter, E. coli, listeria and salmonella. Late last month, one brand of raw milk was recalled in California (which allows retail sales of raw milk) after three children fell ill with E. coli.
So why are some Illinoisans willing to overlook the risks to consume unpasteurized dairy?
“When milk is pasteurized, it damages the milk proteins that make it easier to digest,” said osteopath Joseph Mercola, who has bought raw milk from Kane and who founded the Optimal Wellness Center in Schaumburg. “It not only kills the bad bacteria that may be present but also the beneficial bacteria.”
Several days after meeting Kane at the Harlem-Irving Plaza, I head to the Glen Ellyn home of Belle’s Organic “Live” Food Co-op for the weekly Wednesday afternoon pickup.
The setting isn’t exactly bucolic; it’s a modest ranch house in an area populated mostly by chain stores and fast-food joints. As Kane and his wife, Jaclyn, fill orders for raw milk, yogurt and butter from a half-dozen or so coolers in the garage, their 19-month-old daughter, Belle, for whom the co-op is named, runs around sampling produce and begging for sips of milk.
The co-op, also known as Belle’s Lunchbox, circumvents the state law against selling raw dairy outside farms by distributing it to members only; co-op members are considered part owners of the cows, goats and sheep that supply the products, and there’s no state law against consuming milk from your own animals. These arrangements also exist in many other states.
Kane himself is somewhat of a raw-food evangelist, speaking passionately about how raw dairy cured him of years of digestive problems, including Crohn’s disease. “I was really sick for quite some time throughout my adolescent years,” says Kane, 29. “And I could never put weight on, ever.”
Now he says he strives to maintain the integrity of the products that co-op members consume.
“All of our dairies are all milked by hand, everything’s packaged in glass and everything’s raised organically. So our standards are really, really high. We have a biodynamic produce farm, a goat farm, a sheep farm and a cow farm in northern Wisconsin near the LaCrosse area,” he says.
The co-op started casually about a year ago, with Kane offering to pick up raw-dairy products for friends and acquaintances whenever he made the trip to Wisconsin. “At first I thought, great, because gas is so much,” he says. But word got around quickly, and soon he found himself covering a lot of ground to meet the demand for raw milk.
Today about 60 families order raw-dairy products each week, with even more placing occasional orders. So far, Kane says, business is booming. “Our sales have increased every week, and our biggest week we went through 70 gallons,” he says.
Tessy Nair of Naperville has been a member of Belle’s Co-op for about two months. “I usually order sheep milk, cow’s milk, cream, eggs and, additionally, some vegetables,” she says. “I had read a lot about raw dairy on the Net and all the benefits of raw dairy and what pasteurization does to milk, so after reading all that I feel that it’s best for my family, my kids.”
When asked about the risks, she says she isn’t worried. “I give [my children] probiotics [bacteria that promote digestion], so that should keep them strong.”
And the taste? “Yeah, I do like the taste of it. I think it tastes more natural,” she says.
Another co-op member, Paula Evans of Darien, had a similar reason for seeking out raw milk. Her daughter, Ainsley, 2, was born with severe digestive problems that prevented her from achieving a healthy weight.
“She was cramping so badly they thought she was having seizures. She was rushed to the hospital, where they put her on all these crazy drugs,” Evans recalls. “Nothing was able to stop the cramps. She spit up a lot. It did look like [acid] reflux. We went to 13 different [gastrointestinal] doctors in every downtown hospital, and we started her on raw milk and it stopped. All her stomach problems stopped. It was nothing short of amazing.”
Kane hopes to expand Belle’s Lunchbox to a storefront business. “It wouldn’t be open to the public, so it would be a private store,” he says. “But it would carry normal store hours, so people aren’t coming to the garage four hours once a week.”
There is, however, one risk that even raw foodists can’t deny. “Last time I spilled the milk and the car was stinky,” says co-op member Akiko Spencer of Wheaton. “So I washed the mat right away.”
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Behind the debate over raw dairy
So what’s the real deal about raw milk? It depends on whom you ask.
The American Medical Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture warn against consuming raw milk, while organizations such as the Campaign for Real Milk are lobbying to make raw milk legal in every state; currently, laws differ state by state.
According to Marlena Bordson, chief of the Division of Food, Drugs and Dairies for the Illinois Department of Public Health, state law says that “no person shall sell or distribute milk for human use or consumption unless it has been pasteurized.”
But the law is more complicated than it sounds. Licensed dairy producers may sell raw milk directly to consumers, but only if the customers show up at the farm with their own containers. Dairy producers may not bottle raw milk themselves or sell it at the grocery store.
“There is an implication [when it’s on the shelf] that it’s been through some sort of rigorous testing, inspection, safety protocol program,” says Bordson, “and [in the case of raw dairy] it has not.”
However, all milk sold to consumers in Illinois–whether raw or pasteurized–must adhere to Grade A regulations, which, according to Bordson, involve keeping animals in clean, sanitary conditions and not treating them with illegal drugs.
But what exactly do pasteurization and homogenization do to milk?
Homogenization is a process that breaks up and distributes fat molecules so they don’t rise to the top–and form that creamy layer people used to find on their milk back when the milkman still delivered it to your doorstep.
Pasteurization involves heating milk for a period of time to destroy harmful microorganisms.
But there’s another reason for pasteurization: It extends shelf life. While raw milk sours within a few days, pasteurized milk is more convenient for shipment across the country and has a later sell-by date.
–H.M.
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q@tribune.com
