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Milk raid compared to drug bust |
Milk raid compared to drug bust
Peter Brieger, CanWest News Service; National Post
Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006
TORONTO - Farmer Michael Schmidt, locked in a David and Goliath struggle with food regulators
over his struggle to sell raw milk, received backing from a celebrated Toronto chef on Wednesday.
Schmidt, who is on a hunger strike after his Owen Sound, Ont., farm was raided by regulators
last week, said selling unpasteurized milk is safe and none of the government's business.
He held a news conference at Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar, which serves raw milk cheese.
Kennedy, owner of the Toronto establishment that bears his name, sat
beside the 52-year-old farmer, who told reporters that he has had no
food for a week, except the daily glass of raw milk that regulators
warn carries potentially lethal bacteria.
The father of five said his milk and cheese operation was raided last
week by ''armed officers of the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Ministry of Finance.''
Portraying the storming of his farm as an operation befitting a police
state, Schmidt and hundreds of supporters claim that $10,000 worth of
milk processing equipment was seized shuttering the small business.
''It was a very, very sad day,'' the man said glumly. ''It was like a
major drug bust. I think they needed to find someone to blame.''
Kennedy, meanwhile, feeds his guests raw milk cheese and figures that
until Ontario decides to repeal the law, the province will remain
decidedly backward in the international world of high cuisine.
Indeed, trying to ban some raw foods including an effort to make sushi
chefs freeze and de-thaw their raw tuna before serving it is the wrong
way to put Canada on the gastronomical map, Kennedy said.
Meanwhile, Ontario's chief medical officer, Dr. David Williams, warned
Wednesday that drinking raw milk can cause ''mild illnesses,
long-lasting serious diseases and even death.''
That is because pasteurization kills pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella.
National Post
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