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A Defeated Raw Milk Amendment and a Texas Dairy Farm

Photo by Edward Boulton
Photo by Edward Boulton

Last week, Democrats and Republicans in the US House overwhelmingly shot down an amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill that would have allowed the interstate sale of unpasturized dairy products. 

Opponents pointed to a 2017 outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Brucella virus as part of the reason why they crushed the amendment.  That outbreak was blamed for sickening as many as 800 people in seven states. And it stemmed from K-Bar Dairy in Paradise, Texas, just outside Fort Worth.

The defeat of the amendment was the final blow to K-Bar, which was already the subject of much attention from the state. The dairy announced on its Facebook page Monday that it had closed and sold its cows to a raw milk farmer in Gainesville.  Owner Kim Lambert write that the state health department was “all but unrelenting in their pursuit.”

In a statement made when he introduced the amendment that would have permitted interstate sales, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie said the federal government should not punish farmers for giving customers what they want. A coalition of food safety advocates responded by letter to House leaders. They wrote: “There is simply no justification for undoing decades of public health improvement and risking the lives of consumers on a product that has been proven to be unsafe for human consumption.”

The CDC’s official position is that raw milk and products made from it can pose severe health risks, including death.  The agency linked three deaths in the United States last year to unpasteurized milk products.

Scott Morgan has been an award-winning journalist since 2001. His work has appeared in several newspapers and magazines as well as online. He has also been an editor, freelancer, speaker, writing teacher, author, and podcaster.