The raw milk story

Don Nelson followed up on the raw milk story, and the copy of Eric Wagoner's email alert is here, but I'm not terribly surprised by the outcome.

"We think it's pretty clear that it's against federal law to cross state lines with raw milk meant for human consumption, and it's against state law to sell or dispense raw milk," Coleman said.

Wagoner is aware of those laws, but he and several other local food advocates have found a way around them by allowing customers to order directly from the dairy, he said. The system he has developed follows the letter of Georgia's milk laws, while allowing people to get raw milk.

"I do not believe that the Georgia Department of Agriculture has any authority over those cartons of milk," Wagoner said in an e-mail Friday. "We are not violating federal law. We are not violating state law."

Actually, it is against federal and state law. Georgia, for instance, was, for quite some time, restricted from buying wine from out-of-state. If someone set up a business where he or she would drive to a state that's legal for wine to be shipped to and then, for all practical purposes, smuggle the wine into the state to willing customers, that would be an exploitation of the law.

And that's mighty close to what Wagoner is doing here (in addition to the fact that the consumption of raw milk is banned outright in Georgia).

I have no particular opinion on whether or not raw milk should be banned in Georgia. I like my milk pasteurized, but that's just me. The point, however, is that existing law says it's not permittable, so don't get mad at the enforcers over something they are compelled by law to enforce anyway.