Raw Milk Policy Working Group

Final report of the Raw Milk Policy Working Group (261 page PDF) 

The Raw Milk Policy Working Group was a panel of 22 members representing a wide array of stakeholders and experts in Wisconsin’s dairy industry, appointed by then-Sec. Rod Nilsestuen in January 2010. The group met March through December of 2010.

The group’s purpose was to consider whether there are legal, regulatory means that might allow dairy farmers to sell unpasteurized fluid raw milk directly to consumers; if so, what conditions would be necessary to protect public health? All meetings were open to the public for observation, but they were not public hearings.

Members

• Dick Barrows, Chair
  Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and UW-Extension, retired
• James Baerwolf
  Dairy farmer, Sassy Cow Creamery farmstead dairy plant, Columbus
• Dick Cates
  Director of UW-Madison School for Beginning Dairy Farmers; member, Board of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; beef grazier/direct marketer, Spring Green
• Jeff Davis, MD
  State epidemiologist, Wisconsin Department of Health Services
• Patty Edelburg
  Dairy farmer, Wisconsin Farmers Union, Scandinavia
• Ted Galloway
  Dairy processor, Galloway Co., Neenah
• Mike Gingrich
  Dairy farmer, Uplands Cheese Co. farmstead dairy plant, Dodgeville
• Dale Grosskurth
  Director, Marathon County Environmental Health Program
• Melissa Hughes
  General counsel, Organic Valley Cooperative, La Farge
• Vince Hundt
  Certified organic dairy and beef farmer, St. Brigids Meadows, Coon Valley
• Kevin Krentz
  Dairy farmer, president of Waushara County Farm Bureau, Berlin
• Brad Legreid
  Executive director, Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, Madison
• Willi Lehner
  Cheesemaker, Bleu Mont Dairy, Blue Mounds
• Shelly Mayer
  Dairy farmer, executive director of Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, Slinger
• Amy McCauley
  Organic dairy farmer, Reedsburg
• Joe Plasterer
  Raw milk consumer, Madison
• Scott Rankin, Ph.D.
  Professor, UW-Extension and UW-Madison, Department of Food Science
• Pam Ruegg, DVM
  Professor, UW-Extension and UW-Madison, Department of Dairy Science
• Steve Steinhoff
  Former administrator, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Food Safety Division, retired
• Joe Weis
  Vice-president of Foremost Farms USA, Baraboo
• Jeff Wideman
  Maple Leaf Cheese, Wisconsin master cheesemaker, Green County
• Mark Zinniker
  Dairy farmer, Elkhorn

Current law

A Wisconsin statute says that only Grade A milk and milk products can be sold or distributed to consumers or to restaurants, institutions or retailers. The law also says that Grade A milk and milk products must be pasteurized. It does allow that “incidental sales” to consumers at the dairy farm where the milk is produced.

Often the agencies responsible for enforcing the statutes that the Legislature makes write “administrative rules” that lay out in more detail exactly what the law says. Before they take effect, there are public hearings on administrative rules and the Legislature must approve them. In the case of the raw milk prohibition, administrative rules specify to whom raw milk can be distributed:

• The milk producer who holds the dairy farm license
• An individual with a bona fide ownership interest in the farm
• A family member or nonpaying guest who consumes the milk at the home of the producer or bona fide owner

The administrative rule also defines incidental sales: a sale is not incidental if it is the regular course of business, or if there is any advertising to the general public through any media.

Read the statute here. (See 97.24)

Read the administrative rule here. (See 60.235) 

Background resources

Summary of Raw Milk Laws - 4 page PDF
Prepared by Jim Matson, DATCP Head Legal Counsel

Dairy Statistics by State - 9 page PDF
Summary of other states' dairy industry.

Pathogens in Raw Milk: Outbreaks and Investigations - 8 page PDF
Prepared by Dr. Jim Kazmierczak, Public Health Veterinarian, Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Summary of Food Advertising and Labeling Laws
Prepared by Jim Matson, former DATCP Head Legal Counsel

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