Organic Pastures milk heads back to shelves

[Gale Force]

Word from Mark McAfee -- it will be back on the shelf in four days.

All tests are negative.

[member234098]

Even with the E-coli scare?

I also heard they were being investigated because their pastures are not technically "organic" as defined by law, so they may have to change their name....

So, so sad. They have been off the market for a couple of weeks here and there is even a salesman at my farmers' market every week selling the raw dairy products. I have missed it.

[Gale Force]

Where are you located Miriam?

[Gale Force]

Originally Posted by miriam

Even with the E-coli scare?
.

Sorry, yes, that's the issue in the recall: E. coli. All tests are negative.

[MyLittleWonders]

Thanks Amanda for the update.

[member234098]

Originally Posted by Gale Force

Where are you located Miriam?

Burbank, CA - Farmers' Market is on Saturday Mornings.

I was told that by Whole Foods where I have been buying Claravale from Watsonville, CA.

Organic Pastures is from Fresno, CA.

[MyLittleWonders]

Miriam - what do you pay for Claravale Farm milk? We just discovered that Wild Oats carries it (we are in Long Beach), and typically cannot stand shopping at WO, but assuming our local HFS won't get it's shipment of OP in tomorrow, we will probably fork out almost $4.50 per quart of CF so we can have raw milk this week. I also need to talk with the owner of our local HFS to see if she can start carrying CF along with OP.

ETA: I wonder if OP will start selling at our Farmer's Market (Sunday mornings). Hmm ... though I like giving our money to our local HFS - they are super cool and charge the least they can. (For instance, 1/2 gallon of OP milk is $5.99 at our HFS and almost $8.50 at Wild Oats!)

[Gale Force]

Originally Posted by miriam

I also heard they were being investigated because their pastures are not technically "organic" as defined by law, so they may have to change their name....

Interesting. The mountains here in the Sequoia National Forest may not be technically organic either but I eat the cattle that graze here.

Does anyone know about organic regulations?

[member234098]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

Miriam - what do you pay for Claravale Farm milk?

I pay $3.49 a quart + $1.00 glass bottle deposit in Sherman Oaks for Claravale Farms.

I pay $7.98 for a half a gallon of Organic Pastures.

<sigh!> I am old enough to recall buying AltaDena raw half gallons from 7-11 at $0.76 when I went to UCLA! I was a great lunch between classes and on the run to work.

[MyLittleWonders]

Okay, then I don't feel so bad paying what we pay for our milk. It's even more expensive for you. And wow! Half gallons for $0.67 - how awesome would that have been.

[AJP]

Originally Posted by Gale Force

Interesting. The mountains here in the Sequoia National Forest may not be technically organic either but I eat the cattle that graze here.

Does anyone know about organic regulations?

I don't know specifically what the organic regs say about pasture being organic, but what I do know is that the government now owns the word "organic", so it can be used as a tool to mess with anyone who doesn't toe the line otherwise (as in, publicly speaking out for raw dairy). Personally, I'm just about ready to ditch the word, its meaning is being drained away as I watch in horror.

[2sweetboysmom]

I just had a lovely chat with OP. I had not tossed out any of our op stuff and Dh wanted some reassurance. I have no real faith in the states handling of this anyhow. : I am just about out of milk so we'll buy creamtop from tj's for this week.
I pay $5.99 per half gal of OP and $9.95/lb for OP butter, in San Dimas at the greatest HFS in the area.

[Gale Force]

So are you not going to finish the milk or are you just not able to buy more?

[Gale Force]

Here's the first news I've seen on the recall possibly ending soon.

I had emailed Mark McAfee about something and heard from him last night that all of the tests were negative and it would be back on the shelf in four days. Apparently there is a process involved here even though there have been no positive tests.

[darwinphish]

OMG, my heart about leapt out of my chest when I first read about the recall! I feed my DD OP raw milk and was terrified for a second there. I'm relieved (and less that suprised) to see that it amounts to more of a smear campaign than anything else.

The dumb*ss dairy guy at WF the other day couldn't even tell me why there was no OP milk! : Guess it's a good thing I don't tune in the news much; my panic was for seconds instead of days!

In terms of the term 'organic' - yeah, it's really quite an empty shell now. To say that beef on CAFOs force-fed organic corn and supplements while knee-deep in their own manure is 'organic' whereas OP's totally pastured cows are not organic just boggles the mind.

I'm just finishing up The Omnivore's Dillema and the whole thing has me AND .

[Gale Force]

Originally Posted by darwinphish

The dumb*ss dairy guy at WF the other day couldn't even tell me why there was no OP milk! :

I think that's a good thing. They really can't say "it's not true, drink your milk anyway" and even if they tell you but tell you it's unlikely to have E. coli in it, many people would just remember "raw milk and E. coli" not "unlikely." That's the problem with the news coverage.

[Leilalu]

So can I expect to go get OP milk at wf's today?
or would it be tommorow?

[Gale Force]

Originally Posted by Leilalu

So can I expect to go get OP milk at wf's today?
or would it be tommorow?

Definitely not today. When I spoke with an OP person late Friday she said that they would not be distributing this week, but I got an email from Mark McAfee later in the evening that said four days which would put it in the stores tomorrow or Wednesday. The thing is, I am seeing nothing in the news on this issue, one way or another. I have a bunch of milk here so I haven't had to panic yet. We actually over-stocked so that we could take a week or two off the orders. Good thing apparently.

[MyLittleWonders]

I'm hoping it's sometime this week because then our local HFS will have it in their Saturday shipment. It's too expensive to buy the Claravale Farms quarts at Wild Oats (and my dh and ds#1 prefer the taste of OP). *fingers crossed*

[kbchavez]

If anyone is interested, here is the email Mark McAfee sent out to WAPF leaders, which my leader then forwarded to me:

To our dear friends and wonderful customers,

On Sept 21st Organic Pastures received word from the California Department of Food and Agriculture of possible bacterial contamination of our milk and milk products. As of 9/22 all pathogen tests by state investigators, outside labs and OPDC have proven negative for the suspected human pathogen Ecoli 0157-H7.

However, to ensure the absolute safety of our customers, OPDC is working in full cooperation with CDFA and has recalled all our products as a “precautionary action” until the state ( CDFA ) has had a chance to double check negative test results on all products. These products include:

Whole Milk
Skim Milk
Cream
Butter
Colostrum
Whey

We fully expect our products to be back on store shelves within four days. In the meantime, we urge all of our customers to follow the State's health departments recommendations. If you have recently purchased Organic Pastures products, you may return them to your retailer for a full refund.

Organic Pastures Dairy has rigorous safety and testing procedures in place to ensure the purity of our milk. We are confident that further investigation will prove Organic Pastures products to be safe. Until that time, we are cooperating to the fullest extent possible with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Thank you for your support and your thousands of emails containing your heart felt encouragement and gratitude. We are blessed to have such wonderful consumers.

I am sorry I can return all your emails…there are thousands. Please keep an eye on the website for updates and details.

Only living milk brings life!!

Mark McAfee
www.organicpastures.com