Senate doubles limit on raw milk sales in state

Brattleboro Reformer
By DAVE GRAM, Associated Press
Thursday, April 10
Original Article Here

MONTPELIER -- The Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill to raise the limit from 25 to 50 quarts a day of raw, unpasteurized milk a farmer may sell from the farm.

The bill is a pared-down version of a measure that began as an effort to set up a new certification system for farms wanting to sell larger amounts of the milk. Current state law restricts the sale of unpasteurized milk for fear that milk can become contaminated and pose a health threat if unpasteurized.

Its sale is not allowed in stores, and the legislation would not change that, said Amy Shollenberger, director of the farm advocacy group Rural Vermont and a supporter of the raw milk legislation.

Supporters of unpasteurized milk say it is more nutritious than pasteurized milk and can help guard against the development of allergies. Opponents, including the federal Food and Drug Administration, say it is prone to causing outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.

State law currently allows the sale of up to 25 quarts -- 61/4 gallons -- by a farm per day. The Agency of Agriculture had banned advertising of raw milk until it was discovered recently that it didn't have backing in Vermont law to do that.

Shollenberger said Wednesday that the effort to set up a certification process was dropped from the bill.

That decision was made after an informal agreement among advocates and officials from the Agency of Agriculture and state Health Department that they would meet informally in the coming months to try to develop a certification system to propose as legislation next year.

A similar bill had passed the House. The Senate added two amendments whose main backer, Sen. Robert Starr, D-Essex-Orleans, said were designed to block reconstituted milk from the western states being sold as fresh in Vermont.

The bill now goes back to the House to see if it will concur with the Senate amendments. If not, a conference committee would have to be appointed to work out the differences between the two chambers' versions.