I was wrong...these guys in BC are not paying $5 a liter for milk...it looks like they are paying $18.75 per quart!!! You need to get in that business my friend...

Dairy markets raw milk products as cosmetics to dodge laws
Western Producer
Shannon Moneo


A Chilliwack raw milk dairy is labelling its products as cosmetics to get around provincial regulations that forbid the distribution of raw milk for human consumption.

Because British Columbia's Public Health Act considers raw milk a health hazard, the 22-cow dairy has rebranded to keep the product flowing for its 450 Vancouver-area customers.

Raw milk has been dubbed Cleopatra's enzymatic body lotion while raw milk and cream cheese cultures are body cream. Separated raw cream with cultures is body butter and oil from the separated raw cream is butter oil.

Raw cream is massage cream and raw milk with yogurt cultures is known as yogurt mask.

The dairy's products are also labelled, should not be used for human consumption.

Michael Schmidt, the Ontario raw milk producer who manages the Our Cows cow-share co-operative in Chilliwack, said the dairy's products are not meant for human consumption but rather for human beautification.

We tell customers you cannot drink it, he said. You can use raw dairy products as cosmetics. It's not a matter of getting round the law. It's how do we accommodate our customers.

He said a cow produces meat, leather and manure so why not consider the milk products as cosmetics.

Consumers use common sense to determine what's truly dangerous, he added.

On the shelves of a supermarket, there are so many hazardous products. There's nothing stopping me from drinking window washing fluid.

The executive director of the B.C. Milk Producers Association and the B.C. Dairy Foundation considers Schmidt's marketing a big fake.

It's another under-the-table, sneaky way of trying to get around the law, Robin Smith said. It's cloaking a cow in Cleopatra's robes.

In September, Schmidt took over what was then the Home on the Range dairy from operator Alice Jongerden, who had distributed raw milk after being ordered to stop in March by the B.C. Supreme Court.

To circumvent regulations, she put labels on the milk which read, not for human consumption.

Jongerden was found guilty of contempt in December but was not fined.

The Health Act and regulations do not merely require consumers to be warned of the health hazards associated with raw milk, Supreme Court justice N. Smith wrote in his Dec. 2 ruling. The prohibition against the distribution of raw milk for human consumption is absolute.

Schmidt said Jongerden is no longer involved in the farm.

Five dairy workers care for and milk the cows and bottle and distribute the raw milk products, said employee Felicity Wilson. The 22 Jerseys produce 70 gallons of milk daily.

For $150 per month, a cow share member receives about two quarts of raw milk products a week. The money paid by the cow share members covers the costs of the cows and staff.

Schmidt, who owns a 40-cow raw milk dairy in Ontario, has flown to B.C. five times since September, taking all the flack and preparing to battle for the right of British Columbians to legally acquire raw milk.

I was reflecting on the arbitrary decree by B.C. regulators to call raw milk a hazardous substance, said Schmidt, who has spent 16 years fighting to distribute raw milk in Ontario. It's like calling a human being a criminal.

Schmidt operated a raw milk dairy in German before emigrating to Canada in 1983.

He was acquitted of all 19 charges related to the distribution of raw milk and raw milk products in Ontario last January, but Ontario's provincial government has appealed.

Fraser Health Authority is aware that Schmidt is distributing Our Cows' raw milk as cosmetics.

Mr. Schmidt has been very clear and open about his plans, said spokesperson Roy Thorpe-Dorward.

However, he said the authority sticks by its view that even though the milk is labelled as cosmetics, the obvious purpose is for consumption.

B.C. health ministry spokesperson Jeff Groot said the province has no plans to amend regulations that prohibit the sale of raw milk.

Consuming unpasteurized milk products can cause serious illness in people, especially young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. Pathogens such as E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter can be present.

Smith, who represents B.C.'s 525 commercial milk producers, said the concern is that an illness caused by raw milk taints the entire industry.

People connect sickness with a product, so we're protective of our product. We spend a great deal of time and money making sure our product is safe.

Thorpe-Dorward said Fraser Health will inspect Our Cows in early 2011 and if it determines that the raw milk is being distributed for human consumption, the dairy could again be hit with a contempt of court charge.