A threat to Maryland producers of raw pet milk quietly went away on November 28 when the state Secretary of Agriculture Joseph Bartenfelder sent out a letter to interested parties stating that the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) would not be including a requirement to put a dye in raw pet milk in regulations the department would be issuing governing raw pet milk sales. Inclusion of the dye requirement would have collapsed the market for raw pet milk in the state.

It was suspected that the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) was pressuring MDA into adopting the dye mandate. DHMH has jurisdiction over raw milk production and sales for human consumption, which are prohibited in Maryland, while MDA has jurisdiction over raw milk production and sale for pet consumption. Pet milk producers in the state became worried when officials at MDA did not respond to inquiries about the dye requirement over a several-month period. It was the letter from Secretary Bartenfelder on behalf of the Governor’s office that broke the department’s silence on the matter.

As far as is known, MDA had never approved the sale of raw pet milk by in-state producers before the fall of 2015 even though the department has long had the legal authority to do so. Since that time, MDA has approved a number of producers for selling raw pet milk including Grade A dairies that had previously only been producing raw milk for pasteurization. The way the approval process works in Maryland is that a producer interested in selling pet milk files an application for registration with the Office of the State Chemist, a division of MDA. If the state chemist approves the application, then the applicant is officially registered and can start selling the product (See Wise Traditions Winter 2015 issue for background).

The proposed regulations MDA has submitted governing raw pet milk include packaging and labeling requirements as well as a requirement that pet milk sold at a retail store cannot be displayed with or in the vicinity of milk or milk products intended for human consumption. According to Bartenfelder, the draft regulations will be available online at www.dsd.state.md.us/MDR/mdregister.html, and the public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed rules.

This article appeared in the Winter 2016 issue of Wise Traditions, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

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Raw pet milk sales are now legal in Maryland, one of the most anti-raw milk states in the U.S. A grass-based dairy, P.A. Bowen Farmstead of Brandywine, has obtained approval¹ to sell raw pet milk from the Maryland Department of Agriculture. P.A. Bowen Farmstead, owned and operated by Weston A. Price Foundation president and FTCLDF board member Sally Fallon Morell and her husband Geoffrey, has begun selling raw milk at its on-farm store.

The sale of raw milk for human consumption has long been illegal in Maryland. In 2006, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (MDHMH) issued an emergency regulation banning herdshare contracts; a court challenge to the herdshare ban was unsuccessful. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the center of opposition to raw milk in this country, has its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, and major offices in Rockville and College Park. In 2012 FDA obtained an injunction from a federal district court preventing Pennsylvania farmer Dan Allgyer from shipping raw milk and raw milk products in interstate commerce; he was selling raw dairy products to a Maryland-based buyers club. FDA undercover agents obtained raw milk at the private homes of club members to build the case against the farmer.

There have been numerous attempts over the years to pass legislation legalizing the sale or distribution of raw milk for human consumption but delegate Peter Hammen, the chairman of the Maryland House of Delegates Health and Government Operations Committee, has been able to stop all raw milk bills from getting out of his committee.

As far as is known, the Maryland Department of Agriculture had never approved the sale of raw pet milk by a Maryland producer; it had approved a Pennsylvania dairy and a California dairy, which are still selling raw pet milk in the state. Maryland now joins other states such as Florida, Georgia, Indiana and North Carolina in allowing the sale of raw milk for animal consumption.

Despite the state’s regulatory ban on banning herdshare agreements, there is still a possibility that farmers and dairy livestock owners would be able to enter into a legal herdshare contract. In a 2009 opinion rejecting a challenge to the herdshare ban on the facts of the case before it, a Maryland appellate court in its decision stated:

1. It is not illegal in Maryland for the owner of a dairy cow to drink the raw milk which that cow produces;
2. It is not illegal in Maryland to sell a fractional interest in a herd of dairy cattle; and
3. It is not Illegal in Maryland for an agister to provide agistment services by boarding and caring for dairy cows owned by others.²

“Agister” is a legal term for someone who provides services for the boarding and care of livestock.

There are now less than ten states that prohibit any sale or distribution of raw milk for human or animal consumption. Watch for updates of the Raw Milk Nation map.

Congratulations to Sally Fallon Morell for breaking new ground in Maryland and for taking a significant step towards the legalization of raw milk for human consumption. At least two other Maryland farms have since obtained permits to sell pet milk and we expect many others to join the list.

Notes

1. The way the approval process works in Maryland is that a producer interested in selling pet milk files an application and a label for registration of the product with the Office of the State Chemist, a division of the Maryland Department of Agriculture. If the State Chemist approves the application and label, then the applicant is officially registered and can start selling the product.
2. Kevin Oyarzo v. Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene et al, 187 Md. App. 264, 268 (2009).

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The legislature is now considering whether to legalize raw milk through Maryland cow share opportunities. It’s been years now since cow shares were legal in Maryland. Over the past 10 years, farmers and consumers from around the state have participated in legislative initiatives to reinstate Maryland cow share operations to bring the raw milk economy back to the state. This year, the legislation offers the perfect solution—let Marylanders engage in cow shares.

The legislation, HB79 introduced by Delegates Morhaim and Kipke, simply gives farmers the legal right to engage directly with consumers who wish to purchase a share in a cow in order to obtain the milk from their own animal.

Cow shares, or agistment agreements, are age old agreements that allow for a farmer to board a cow for someone who does not have the land to care for their own livestock. Horse boarding is a popular use of agistment agreements.

Currently, only a handful of Maryland farms as registered to provide raw pet milk. However, there are many people in Maryland who wish to give raw milk to their families. Legal cow shares would create the possibility for families who wish to do so.

One Maryland dairy farmer, Kelly Hensing, currently registered to provide pet milk only, notes that “this kind of an agreement gives us more of a relationship with the people who want the milk. Cow shares are legal contracts between a farmer who has the space and expertise to raise and milk cows and a consumer who wants that milk. The agreements provide the necessary transparency and oversight for a comfortable and responsible relationship between consumer and farmer. I am excited about the possibilities this has to offer.”

She also comments that if she were able to provide cow shares, when they come to the farm to visit their cow or pick up their milk, they would also likely pick up meat and other items from the farm. This kind of economic activity would be helpful to small Maryland farmers who often struggle to make ends meet or who have to have off farm jobs to make ends meet.

The legislation, if passed, is set to take effect on October 1, 2016.

To learn more about raw milk and other nutrient dense foods, visit westonaprice.org

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P.A. Bowen Farmstead is owned by Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) President Sally Fallon Morell and her husband, Geoffrey Morell. Fallon Morell, in conjunction with the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, have been fighting for decades to end restrictions on raw milk sales in Maryland and around the country.

This kind of license is the first of its kind in Maryland, and adds the state to a select group of others that allow raw pet milk sales: Florida, Georgia, Indiana and North Carolina.

Read more at the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

Support the Campaign for Real Milk, join the Weston A. Price Foundation, today!

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Raw milk advocates plan to reintroduce the bill in 2015, following the publication of a report on raw milk by the Bloomberg School of Public Health at John Hopkins University (expected December 2014). Hubbard expects that the report will prove that raw milk does not pose a significant public health risk, and hopes that the findings will help change perceptions about the “evils” of raw milk and bolster the support that the bill needs to pass.

The Campaign for Real Milk is a project of the nutrition education non-profit, The Weston A. Price Foundation. Donate to help fund research into the benefits of nutrient dense foods.  http://www.westonaprice.org/lab

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Delegates James Hubbard (D-23A) and Nic Kipke (R-31) introduced the bill in an effort to revive Maryland’s dairy industry. Currently, thousands of Maryland residents source farm-fresh milk from out of state. Cow boarding, or cow sharing, would allow these residents to legally purchase raw milk from local farms. 

“The dairy farmers in Maryland need our support,” says Delegate Hubbard. “We’ve lost over 225 dairy farms between 2002 and 2010. I hope to see our dairy farms thrive. I sponsored this legislation so that consumers can obtain fresh milk in Maryland and support our farmers…Because this is what consumers are seeking, having access to raw milk in Maryland would encourage local food and local retail sales, generate taxes, and the earned dollar would be encouraged to stay in the community and the state.”

In addition to the economic benefits for Maryland farmers, the passage of this bill would mark an important step in consumer rights and food freedom. 

To show your support for the bill, please consider attending.

January 28, 2014 1pm

House Office Building, Room 241

6 Bladen St, Annapolis, MD 21401

For more ways to show your support for the bill, click here.

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