Regulations for sale of raw milk being considered by Department of Agriculture

Regulatory standards for the sale of raw milk are being examined by the Department of Agriculture, following years of uncertainty over the sale of the milk, which is not pasteurised.

The department banned the sale of raw cow’s milk in 1996 over concerns about the health risks but EU hygiene legislation in 2006 legally permitted it.

Once the implications of EU legislation were realised, some farmers began to sell raw milk again but in 2011 the government said it would ban the sale of the milk on the advice of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Secondary legislation

However, last year, the

Department of Health

received legal advice stating it could not introduce secondary legislation under the Health Acts and it told the Department of Agriculture it was a matter for it to decide whether to introduce the primary legislation required.

Asked if it was planning to bring this legislation forward, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said the department was “currently assessing the options available to it to counter the risks associated with the sale of unpasteurised milk for direct human consumption”.

He said a particular option being considered was the introduction of specified regulatory standards to apply to the sale of raw milk. He did not give a time frame for the introduction of such standards. The spokesman said unpasteurised milk could contain disease-causing bacteria such as E.Coli O157, salmonellosis and brucellosis.

Pasteurisation, which involves heating milk for a period of time kills such bacteria but advocates for raw milk say it also destroys enzymes and beneficial bacteria. People also opt for raw milk for taste reasons, and to buy directly from farmers rather than supermarkets.

The Campaign for Raw Milk Ireland said it agreed there was an increased risk associated with the consumption of raw milk but people should be given the choice. Many foods such as shellfish and eggs were associated with risk but regulations minimised those risks.

Selling direct

Spokeswoman

Elisabeth Ryan

said the campaign knew of about a dozen farmers who were selling raw milk directly to customers but many more would invest in the necessary equipment to do so if regulations were in place.

She works with Sheridans Cheesemongers and said she received about two emails a week from people asking where they could source raw milk. “For every two who take the time to write the email, there are probably 100 other people who want to buy it.” Ms Ryan said the Department of Agriculture was opposed to the sale of raw milk because of the potential damage to the entire Irish dairy industry if someone got sick. “We understand where they are coming from on that but the more dangerous thing is that they have allowed a situation where there’s an absence of regulation,” she said.

“In the absence of a ban, which obviously we don’t want, they have failed to introduce regulations in nearly a two-year period so if someone were to drink raw milk and get sick in this period of time, it’s entirely their fault because they haven’t actually introduced regulations.”

She said the campaign wanted “fair and considered regulations, based on the actual scientific risk that is presented. Consumers should have choice, with product clearly labelled.

“At the moment there are no regulations, apart from the regulations linked to the EU hygiene regulations.

“There is absolutely no stipulation that raw milk needs to be labelled with anything, other than it contains raw milk.”