I come from a very different perspective, Sailor. The site you link to, "Food Safety News," is in fact owned by Bill Marler, partner in the law firm, Marler Clark, which funds the "Food Safety News" website.
Marler Clark is a law firm specializing in foodborne illness litigation. Its business, in fact, is in the making of money in the foodborne illness trade. It makes a mint.The "Food Safety News" is no more a news site than any other site run, maintained, funded by a party with a direct conflict of interest. To call it "journalism" is in fact, by any standard of journalistic ethics, a complete sham.
My experiences here conclude the FDA has devoted an exceedingly out of proportion stance regarding raw milk. John Sheehan, man in charge of dairy food safety:
Raw milk is inherently dangerous and should not be consumed by anyone, at any time, for any reason.
I'd like Mr. Sheehan to address how, if this is the case, our species did so well on raw milk for millenia. Raw milk produced in crap industrial conditions, yes, he's got a point. Think the disgusting conditions of food generally at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and one does get a very poor picture of what could otherwise be - and again has been, for thousands of years - an entirely nutritious, safe product. It's best guarantee of safety, in my opinion, is in regular testing, and - as with all food - lessening the hands involved between producer and final consumer. You
have to pasteurize milk produced in the holocaust that are CAFO operations, especially given that the commodity milk produced there, is blended with milk from sundry other, filthy, remote CAFOs. It's inherently dirty milk.
But milk from a grazer, with cows on grass all day? And tested, regularly? And you know the milker, and see how she or he produces?
The debate is too lengthy here. My point in creating this thread was to post the material I received from ACS, the same material Sailor copied, the FDA's crackdown on wood in cheesemaking. The FDA doing so, while ignoring the science (take a look at Jeff's posts above - and go to his links) promulgated by scientists even as normally "big agribusiness" as UW, who concluded wood can be part of a safe SOP in a cheeseplant. In this study (google "uw pipeline wood", you'll find it. The study begins on page 8 of this .pdf), they conclude:
Finally, considering the beneficial effects of wood boards on cheese ripening and rind formation, the use of wood boards does not seem to present any danger of contamination by pathogenic bacteria as long as a thorough cleaning procedure is followed.
As I post above, on a call for clarification, it does not appear the FDA will reconsider, regardless of what science exists.
Given Mr. Sheehan's view, as I said, I have no doubt what he and his FDA colleagues want for our land, the complete outlawing of raw milk and raw milk products. Good people have lost their entire herds, their entire production, their entire livelihood, based on this ill-founded (but very well funded) zealousness.
That's my perspective. I'd encourage anyone interested in the subject to watch the film Fresh, as a start; to read Raw Milk Revolution and other related books; as well, read the books and materials taking an adverse position on raw milk; what the FDA and other prosecuting agencies have to say, all with an open mind. Investigate and form your own opinions.
Mine couldn't be clearer.