Time was when no state legislature worth its salt would convene until well after mid-January and adjourn by planting season around mid-April. Enough states still adhere to that schedule that calendar that it often prevents someone’s idea from turning into a national movement simply because the clock runs out
This year, raw milk bills in Iowa, Missouri, and Georgia show how hard it is to beat the legislative calendar. Only the Georgia Legislature, adjourned on April 4, managed to get both Houses to pass House Bill (HB) 1175 before the lights went out.
The Legislature on Monday sent the Georgia Dairy Act to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk just before adjournment on a House vote of 110-55 that adopted the final Senate version of the bill.
Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, sponsored the bill setting standards for raw milk to regulate the production, handling, transportation, and sale. The state Commissioner of Agriculture is empowered to enforce standards relating to raw milk and raw milk powers.
Iowa’s legislative session continues until April 19 and Missouri’s until May 20.
The Iowa Senate voted 32-15 on March 10 in favor of Senate File 2309, which sought to allow dairy farmers to sell raw milk directly to consumers, either on the farm through direct deliveries. But nothing much has happened since then — at least in the formal process. Since it passed the Senate, opposition to SF2309 has been lining up.
Wanting the bill killed are the Iowa Public Health Association, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship; Iowa Institute for Cooperatives, Iowa Environmental Health Association, Iowa State Dairy Association, Iowa Veterinary Medical Association; Iowa Grocery Industry Associaton; Iowa Farm Bureau, and the Iowa Dairy Foods Association.
Coalitions representing pasteurized foods and public health have stopped many raw milk bills in the past, and, in Iowa, such joint efforts appear to be working again.
Iowa permits the sale only Grade “A” pasteurized milk and milk products to the final consumer. Selling unpasteurized, raw milk is a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days in jail, with fines ranging from $105 to $855.
In Missouri, House Bill 1977 went on the “Formal Perfection Calendar” on April 4, for five days. If there are no preliminary objections, the bill may advance to the consent calendar.
That might get HB 1977 out of the Missouri House, but its future n the Senate remains unknown.
The bill would legalize selling “Grade A” retail raw milk and raw cream products made in Missouri at grocery stores, restaurants, soda fountains, and similar establishments.
The raw milk products would be required to post and carry warning labels saying:
Raw milk does not go through pasteurization, which is the process of quickly heating milk to a high enough temperature for a short time to kill illness-causing
CampylobacterE. coli, or Salmonella
SalmonellaE. coli
For the past 100 years, almost all milk in the United States has been subject to pasteurization. The process ended the era when millions of people became sick and died of tuberculosis, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, and other diseases that were transmitted through raw milk.
Pasteurization has prevented millions of people from becoming ill. Most public health professionals and health care providers consider pasteurization one of public health’s most effective food safety interventions ever.
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