Did you know June is National Dairy Month? I didnt, until finding it mentioned in a most unusual place (for me); tell you more about that later. This folks, is known in journalism as a hook; youll all want to continue reading this article so you can find out where I found out - youre hooked! No big surprise that a National Dairy Month exists; there are national celebration designations for just about every other commercial special interest. Indeed, this particular promotion began as a governmental initiative to boost the dairy industry during the Depression; it was adopted and expanded by the National Dairy Council shortly thereafter. Again, this was all news to me until I spent some time researching it on the net. Some basic history, lots of hip hip hooraying about the benefits of dairy in your diet, several references to parades and other lets have fun with this events is what youll find if you do the same. All aimed at urging you to continue and/or increase your consumption of modern, commercial dairy products. If youve been following this blog for any length of time you are already aware of my opinion on the nutritional value, or lack thereof, of commercially produced dairy products. You will know exactly how I feel about the ethical treatment, or lack thereof, of commercial dairy animals. If not, go back and read past posts; suffice it to say I think there is a lot of wool being pulled over a lot of eyes. But a few paragraphs, excerpted here from the American Dairymen Association site but echoed on many others, deserve comment and Ive included them here: Milk and milk products have played an important role in America’s history since 1611, when the first cows were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. Since those early days, the industry has successfully continued to serve the nutritional needs of a growing nation with a wide selection of products. Today’s dairy industry includes the farmers, who produce the milk; processors and manufacturers, who provide all the services needed to turn out a variety of wholesome, refreshing dairy foods; and the retailers and food service operators, who bring these products directly to consumers. The milk bottle was invented by Dr. Hervey Thatcher in Potsdam, New York in 1884 and it was not until 1895 that commercial pasteurizing machines were introduced. Thanks to the many advancements and improvements achieved by the entire industry in the areas of processing, packaging, refrigeration and distribution, a wide range of dairy products is now available to everyone. Lets do some math, then look at their claims - From 1611 to 1884 milk was being consumed, indeed playing an important role, without benefit of a standardized bottling industry. Thats 273 years of nothing more than a cow and a wooden bucket, tin pail, or whatever liquid bearing conveyance was at hand. From 1611 to 1895 most of this milk was consumed raw; 284 years of successfully continuing to serve the nutritional needs of a growing nation without the supposed necessary safety guarantee granted by pasteurization. People musta been dropping like flies! You know by now that I, and other raw milk proponents worldwide, maintain it is not raw milk itself that is a risk but rather the human handlers of same that through mismanagement can take a perfectly healthy food and render it dangerous. The Dairymens boast inadvertently substantiates my claim by the mere time span. Clearly milk consumption, and its benefits, were well established long before the need for bottling and pasteurization, which again by their own words was mainly to support the industry by advancing processing, packaging, refrigeration and distribution to make a wide range of dairy products [is now] available to everyone. And remember were only talking about America here; the rest of the world had been using raw dairy for centuries and huge chunks continue to do so today. So paint a few of your plastic milk jugs - labeled Vitamin A & D added (to compensate for the natural vitamins destroyed during pasteurization) - paint em red, white and blue and run em up your flag poles to commemorate National Dairy Month. Drink your recommended three (3) 8 oz. glasses of (commercial pasteurized) milk a day even though it wont begin to supply the natural nutrition in one (1) 6 oz. glass of whole raw milk. Add a few slices of processed cheese (made with REAL(?) skim milk and powdered whey) to your celebratory barbecued burgers and follow them up with a few squirts of non-fat dairy topping on your strawberry shortcake; sounds like the perfect National Dairy Month picnic! While youre at it say a prayer for the little girl in the picture; the dairy industry says shes doomed. And stay tuned; Im mulling over an idea to hold a [Regional] Raw Dairy Month celebration ------- no plastic jugs allowed! Oh, yeah, almost forgot - I learned about National Dairy Month from, of all places, a fashion magazine! Now not just any fashion magazine but Hour magazine who happens to have as their Style Editor my daughter Rebecca Voigt. I was waiting in line to get my hair chopped off and this magazine was my choice for filling the wait. While poking through the pages marveling at what my daughter does I came across a page referencing June is known for items and there was National Dairy Month. Go figure!
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 11:13:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015