Raw Milk Rules Update

E-mail from Dave Culp:

Local Health Protection Leadership

The Department's proposed amendments to the Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products 775 Code concerning the sale of raw milk have been filed with the Secretary of State's Index Department and will be published in the Illinois Register on September 5th, beginning the first notice comment period for JCAR (Joint Committee on Administrative Rules).

Once published and public comments are received by the Department, we will be in contact to set up a meeting(s) with the Local Health Department Health Protection Advisory Group to jointly review the comments received and develop responses to each.

Please let me know if we can provide additional information and/or assistance in the intervening time frame

Thank you

Dave

Inserting my comments presented at the Raw Milk Hearing on Nov 06, 2014


                               Livingston County Public Health Department                        
                                              310 E. Torrance Avenue, * PO Box 650  *  Pontiac, IL 61764  
                     Phone: 815-844-7174  *  TDD 1-800-526-0844  *  Fax 815/844-7468  * www.lchd.us



Dear members of the Hearing board,                                                                                                                                           November 06, 2014

My name is Donnie Simmons, Environmental Health Director for the Livingston County Public Health Department located in Pontiac, Illinois.  I have been employed with the Livingston County Public Health Department for 26 years, 24 years as Director of Environmental Health.  I am an Illinois Licensed Environmental Health Practitioner, a Certified Food Manager Instructor, a past board member of the Illinois Environmental Health Association, a current board member of the Illinois Association of Environmental Health Administrators, and a member of the Illinois Food Safety Advisory Committee.


I am here today to comment on the proposed changes to the Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products Rules.  I would like to begin my comments by first giving an example of how these proposed rules  would have a positive effect in the prevention of illness from the consumption of raw milk.   An inspector collects a sample of milk from a dairy farm selling unpasteurized raw milk.  The sample comes back positive for Listeria monocytogenes.  An organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, cancer patients, elderly people and others with weakened immune systems.   Healthy persons may suffer only short term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.  Miscarriages and stillbirths can be caused by Listeria among pregnant women.  As a result of this testing the sale of raw milk is suspended until sampling indicates the product is free of harmful bacteria such as Listeria.


This happened at a farm on October 21, 2014 in the state of New York that has rules regulating the sale of raw milk.  Part of these rules is the mandatory requirement to test raw milk for harmful bacteria.  In this case milk contaminated with Listeria was prevented from being sold to the public resulting in no illnesses.  This is exactly what the intent of the proposed changes to the Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products Rules here in Illinois would attempt to do.  

This is just one example of how similar rules to those being discussed here can prevent illness in our fellow citizens making them neither unnecessary nor onerous.   In New York state similar rules do not seem to hinder those who wish to sell raw milk ,rather  it has helped to enhance the brand of those wanting to sell as safe as a product that is possible while removing those individuals who just do not care to do things right.  This is why rules are so important, they establish minimum standards by which something is to be done.  There is a problem with illness associated with the consumption of raw milk, which is why a minimum standard is necessary to prevent illness from the consumption of raw milk.


These rules do not prohibit the distribution of raw milk through community subscription agriculture agreements (CSA’s) or herd shares as many of the opponents to these proposed rules will claim.  The reason this is of concern is because there is no provision to allow raw milk to be transported to their customers.  The Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products Act specifically allow only raw milk to be sold from the premises of the farm.  The rules would be in violation of the act if they were to allow for the sale of raw milk off the premises of the farm.  For this reason I believe the Tier 2 section of the proposed rules should be removed since they allow for the operation of receiving stations and points of distribution.  This section complicates the whole issue in the provisions to allow the distribution to receiving stations that do not seem to be in compliance with the portion of the Act that requires milk that has not been pasteurized to be sold from the premises of the farm to a consumer, not to another farm or location.


Another argument I have heard from opponents of these proposed rules is the required recordkeeping.  Customer lists with names, addresses, phone numbers, and the amount of milk sold are already kept by a majority of those selling raw milk simply because it is good business practice.  These lists are not being asked to be sent in to the Illinois Department of Public Health.  They are only to be maintained by the raw milk producer and made available in the event there is a positive sample for harmful bacteria or if there is an outbreak associated with that producer’s product.


These rules also establish standards for cleanliness, animal health, and milking practices.  Is the concern here the amount of time necessary to make sure things are minimally clean?  Is it an undue burden to have healthy animals providing a food consumed by young children?   Doesn’t the consumer expect that the udders of animals are free of feces prior to milking and milk is maintained at a proper temperature?  These are expectations that most consumers who drink raw milk would expect from the person they are buying it from.  


In closing, I recognize the dangers of consuming raw milk while understanding that current law allows for the sale of raw milk from the farm if rules have been established.  These rules are an effort to bring those individuals who want to sell and those who are currently selling raw milk into compliance with current law.  We in public health do not like the idea of adopting rules that makes it okay to sell a product that we know can make people sick.  Raw milk producers do not  like the idea of adopting rules because they see them as being burdensome and unnecessary.  Some people want to drink raw milk because they think it is healthier for them while expecting a product that will not make themselves or members of their family sick.  Isn’t that the real goal here, to establish a minimum set of rules that prevents illness or even death in those who drink raw milk?  If 1 illness or 1 death can be prevented by these rules, I say job well done.

Respectfully,

Donnie Simmons, BA, LEHP
Director of Environmental Health

THANK YOU DONNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Way to go Donnie. Great job well said. Thank you. Did they hear you?

I just got my hands on documents that IDPH has sent to the State Board of Health for their next meeting.  The documents include a response to comments made during the first comment period and changes to the proposed rules that are intended to go to JCAR for 2nd comment.  Why FDD&D is not following past Department protocol in mailing out the response document is beyond me.  I have also attached a response to the changes made in the rules by NIPHC.  No idea when the rules will be published for 2nd comment but we need to be ready and involved moving forward. Pay attention to the dates on these documents.

thanks donnie!

Thank you for the updates, Donnie.

E-mail received as a result of JCAR's meeting of April 11, 2015


To NIPHC, IAPHA, IPHA, IALEHA, IEHA:

We wanted to provide joint letter signers with a an update of yesterday’s JCAR meeting and the demise of the proposed raw milk rules. 

At the outset of the meeting, Sen. Silverstein introduced an objection to the rules that it would NOT be in the best interests of public health or the raw milk producers to allow these rules to proceed; Rep. Tryon made the second which the other JCAR members affirmed by a vote of 10-0.  IDPH was thereby prohibited upon moving forward with their adoption.  

This step is very rare and therefore, we are unsure what will happen next. 

 Draft of NIPHC’s next steps will be :
•        Ask IDPH to update those who submitted comments on what their next steps?
•        Prepare legislation for submission to spring session 2016

o   NIPHC will bring various interested parties together to develop joint legislation  (Farm Bureau – dairy division, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Illinois State Medical Society, IL Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics  and public health associations etc. )

o   We appreciate you identifying a representative that we communicate and work through to keep your association up-to-date, if different from those included on this email.

Sincerely,

Laura Schneider

this is awesome!!!! Thanks to eferyone who tookn time to send in letters

At its 8/11/15 meeting, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules approved the following

actions:



FILING PROHIBITION

JCAR objected to and prohibited the filing of the Department of Public Health rulemaking titled

Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Milk Products (77 IAC 775; 38 Ill Reg 18346) because this

rulemaking has not acheived an adequate balance between the State’s role in protecting the public

health and its mission to avoid unduly burdensome restrictions on small business. JCAR finds that

adoption of this rulemaking in its current form would not be in the public interest. (The rulemaking institutes

a two-tiered permit system for sellers of raw, unpasteurized milk.)

The final Raw Milk Rules were published in the Illinois Register on Feb 16, 2016 and effective Jan 29, 2016.  I have attached the final rules that I just received from IDPH.  The register version shows the mark-up and the Code version is the clean version.  Here is an exerpt from the Jan IDPH FDD&D operational report regarding the raw milk rules:

• Dairy Program – amend the Grade “A” Milk and Milk Products Code regarding the sale of raw milk.  A public hearing was held on November 6, 2014.  The JCAR prohibited the rulemaking in the hearing on August 11, 2015.  JCAR intends to have a rulemaking on the sale of raw milk and will be convening a meeting of stakeholders.  JCAR has 180 days.  Update:  JCAR convened a meeting with stakeholders on January 7, 2016.  Following the meeting, the Department made changes per the meeting.  At the JCAR hearing on January 13, 2016, the members voted 11-0 to lift the filing prohibition previously placed on the proposed rules.  The Department is working to accomplish the adoption paperwork to file with the Secretary of State.  The goal is by the end of January.

Please note that IALEHA, IEHA, and IPHA were not part of the stakeholders who participated in the meeting on Jan 07, 2016 and came to agreement on the final rules.  Groups I am aware of that participated were NIPHC, IAPHA, and Illinois Stewardship Alliance.