Another Shot at Local Growers!

Jan. 25 -- New regulations, which go into effect at midnight January 25, address food safety concerns for in-home processing of milk and milk products. The regulations were proposed by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), adopted by the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and supported by majority members of the dairy industry. Opponents of the new regulations say the change unfairly hurts small farmers and will prevent families from consuming milk from their own family milk cow.
According to John Beers, VDACS’ Office of Dairy Services, the intent of the new regulations is not to prevent a family from consuming dairy products produced on their own farm. "The new regulations include what I would call 'commonsense legislation' to require that people who sell milk and cheese products to the public have to pasteurize the milk," said Beers. "If they are making cheese, they either need to pasteurize the milk or age it more than 60 days." Beers said the issue is basically a safety issue to cut down on the number of pathogens that can be present in unpasteurized milk. “Unpasteurized milk is the perfect food for humans, animals, and bacteria,” he added.
"This is only for those people who sell their products to the public," he stressed. He emphasized the new regulation will not impact farmers with a family milk cow who want to drink their own milk. "If you have a farmer who has his own goats or cows or any kind of milk animal, and the farmer and his family want to drink the milk unpasteurized, of course they can still do that," said Beers. "But if they sell to the public, then they are subject to these new dairy regulations."
The new regulations differ from current laws in several ways. Currently, cheese processors come under Virginia food laws, and this will move them under a series of dairy regulations. The new regulations will require that people who make milk and cheese products and offer them for sale must be inspected and must meet requirements for basic sanitation and temperature control. They will need to have a dedicated kitchen for that purpose when selling to the public rather than use the family kitchen. The area of processing doesn't have to be in a separate building and need not be anything elaborate but still must meet all sanitary requirements.
“In short,” said Beers, “these new regulations protect the public from practices that could promote the presence of harmful bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes or E. coli in their milk products.” -copied from http://www.onthefarmradio.com/Farmnews.htm