A.G. Kawamura, Secretary

California Department of Food and Agriculture

1220 N Street Sacramento, CA 95814-5607

Dear A.G. Kawamura,

As a key leader in California Agriculture, your department played a key role in crippling the sales of raw milk in California with AB 1735.

We drink raw milk in this house because we cannot tolerate it pasteurized. The bacteria that you have legislated away are what I believe makes raw milk more tolerable to us. Coliform bacteria are not pathogenic. To the contrary, most coliform strains are beneficial. Those beneficial bacteria help protect us from pathogenic bacteria that may be in our environment. Dietary sources of beneficial bacteria are key to protection against pathogens like E. coli O157: H7.

Raw milk may be Mother NatureÕs best probiotic and it may be our best protection against pathogens because of the diverse population of beneficial bacteria it carries. I could pay a pharmaceutical company for their probiotic product instead. But I do not believe that the pharmaceutical industry should replace the role of agriculture in this country. Surely you agree with me.

I do appreciate your concern to protect us from pathogenic bacteria in the food supply. But, as you know, pathogens can potentially be in any food on the supermarket shelf. If you want to protect me against those pathogens, you probably ought to test for them directly. There is no research to suggest that coliform counts are related to the presence of E. coli O157: H7, and most certainly not at the modest levels produced by the cows at Organic Pastures Dairy.

Work with the legislature now to remove the new coliform requirement. The happiest cows in California are actually located in Kerman. I would like to continue to drink their milk.

Sincerely,

Your Name