Colorado Public Health Officials Go On the Warpath--A Farm Store Shut Down, Milk Producers Receive Cease-and-Desist Orders, Customers "In Tears"

For 18 years, Phil Haynes has been selling his ranch's buffalo meat through a store at the ranch, Rocky Plains Quality Meats, outside the northern Colorado town of Dacono.

Over the years, he opened a second store in nearby Loveland and added pork and chicken from other area producers, along with locally-produced fish. And a little over three years ago, he added raw goat's and cow's milk, produced by a nearby farm under Colorado's cowshare law implemented five years ago.

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Obama Signs Food Safety Reform Bill. Now Who Will Pay for It?

It took more than a year-and-a-half of campaigning and several bumps in the road, but today, President Obama finally signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act into law. The legislation will overhaul the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with the goal of closing up the gaping holes in America's food safety system and greatly reducing the incidence of foodborne illnesses. Now there's just one hurdle left — but it's a big one.

The food safety reform bill may be an official law now, but lawmakers still haven't outlined a way to pay for the legislation. The law boasts a $1.4 billion price tag, and according to several reports today, the Republican-controlled House doesn't exactly seem keen on coming up with the cash.

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An Irony of Raw Milk

It is quite strange to know that though, the government is planning to launch a campaign against smoking by printing larger warning signs on cigarette packs. But, at the same time the provincial government of Ottawa is not allowing people to drink raw milk.

Though, the prohibition on the sale and distribution of raw milk is all in good intentions. But the government should realize the fact that people consume raw milk under no illusions and they take the pain of procuring it because they want it and not because they are being fooled or anything. At the end of the day people buying raw milk are consenting adults, who prefer raw milk over pasteurized milk.

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Wyoming Legislature considers food regulation

The debate over regulating home-based food producers will resume later this month when state lawmakers consider legislation that would eliminate government oversight on certain transactions.

Previous attempts to dispose of the regulations have failed in the Legislature. But the latest effort to ease Wyoming's food safety rules will be considered by a more conservative body than in years past.

[ READ MORE (Billings Gazette) ]