Last week many of you may have been following the Family Cow Raw Milk situation. There was suspicion that the milk contained some kind of bacteria that was making people ill. KWF does carry Family Cow milk and once we were informed (by Family Cow directly) to pull their product off the shelves, we did so immediately.
Family Cow took all the right steps most immediately to ensure the quality of their reputation and their product. They worked diligently with the inspectors and had their milk tested. As it turns out there is a happy ending to this story. Please read on.
The Family Cow Raw Milk Is Back
After a week of grueling testing and inspections, the PA Department of Agriculture (PDA) has given their full blessing for us to provide you and your families with milk again. They just finished their lab work today and called us with the results. All three of their samples also tested 100% free of four different pathogens. We had these exact same results last Monday from QC Labs but the state wanted to run their own tests at their Harrisburg lab so we had an additional week of waiting.
Thanks so much for your patience. I know it seemed silly after we had clear tests, but we understand their caution. Despite what many think, we have not found the state regulators hard to work with. Cautious, yes, following their rule book religiously, yes, but we understand their job and respect them.
A longtime customer who is also a veterinarian was at our store purchasing other foods when the PDA inspector walked up to do his final inspection. When she realized who he was and what was about to happen she said, “I’ll just wait.” As soon as he was finished, she immediately bought the first four gallons. It was so special to have her there to share the special moment and give us her bid of confidence.
We will be delivering to all drop points and all of our stores yet this week.
In this moment of rejoicing, please, everyone, do not forget those of our customers who had it rough the last week or earlier. Some are still not feeling too well and my concern is that we not make them feel like we are rejoicing while they are forgotten. Please continue to pray for their full and complete recovery. Dawn and I have been in contact with many of you via email or by phone, but we still want to call some more of you who had even a slight touch. It brings healing to our hearts to be able to personally say, “We are sorry.” You are not forgotten and are on our minds constantly. Our family will never forget the food safety lesson of 2012!
The forgiveness and levelheadedness expressed by those of you who were made ill is beyond our best hopes. Dawn and I feel so unworthy! Your forgiveness and continued confidence in us is surely a powerful testimony to the strength and beauty of the local, sustainable food movement. Here is an example of what one MD mother wrote on Jan. 28. As you will see, she gave me explicit permission to share her story with the group along with her name. “Thanks Ivy!”
Hi Edwin,
We are one of the families who are listed in the "round-up". I was just discharged from the hospital yesterday with a positive culture of campylobacter, and my whole family - save one child (who also drinks your raw milk, but is only here half the time) has been very ill for a week. I'd like to say that ALL of us - including the child who is NOT ill,drank your raw milk. I find it very odd that the one child, who is the youngest, and would be the weakest, would NOT get food poisoning drinking the SAME milk.
I am VERY disappointed that the media and CDC is jumping to such huge conclusions. I was VERY clear in my interview with the CDC that though ALL of us drank your milk, not all of us were sick. I hate the fact that the media and state agencies are so hungry to point the finger at you, the outsider.
We have already discussed that we will continue to drink raw milk as a family. It's so funny, the doctor before discharge lectured me on not drinking raw milk anymore and I asked him, if when people got food poisoning through lettuce, or cantaloupe, or hamburger, he advised them not to eat those foods any longer either. He didn't like that question at all.
((Also, his lecture was before there was ANY presumption of where the bacteria may have come from, so he is assuming a LOT))
Anyway, we will be very sad if the bacteria did come from your operation, but if it did, it is the product of a single employee slipping in standards for a single moment in time, not the product of raw milk as a whole, or a reflection of you. We will continue to drink raw milk, just as we would continue to eat a food that had given us food poisoning, because it was not the food itself, but its handling for a while, that caused the illness.
We still support you, and you may show this letter to your other customers, family, and even the state officials if you'd like.
Respectfully,
Ivy Wood & family
I always told people that we have special customers. That’s why we do not lock our store... ever. That’s why we trust you to figure up your own purchases after hours (sometimes after midnight!) and just leave your check or cash in the money box. But we still did not know till this week what a really special class of folks you are.
When I read Ivy’s email, which was the first of many of its type, my eyes immediately welled up and I had a lump in my throat so big I couldn’t talk for awhile. Folks, this is what makes local food sources special. This is what builds community. This is what gives the movement power, hope and resilience. This represents an attitude of love, grace and forgiveness that even we didn’t know to expect and even now do not feel worthy of. This is a forgiveness, power and strength that industrial food production will never know! This gives us as your farmers, renewed vision, energy, mission, hope and commitment. We are growing food for noble people! And we more than ever, are driven to return the favor with quality and safety that is better than ever.
Thank you one and thank you all. It will take us a while to work through the 1000 plus supportive emails that poured in during the last few days and we will never be able to reply to them all but be assured every single one was read, appreciated and has moved our hearts.
May God bless all of us as we move toward a better tomorrow. With your help and God’s, we are stronger, better, wiser and safer than yesterday.
All the best of Food, Blessings and Prayers,
Your Farmers ~ Edwin and Dawn Shank and Family
