{"id":620518,"date":"2023-03-21T17:50:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T22:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/21\/raw-milk-bill-requires-hawaii-legislature-to-choose-between-health-risks-or-food-security\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T17:50:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T22:50:01","slug":"raw-milk-bill-requires-hawaii-legislature-to-choose-between-health-risks-or-food-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/21\/raw-milk-bill-requires-hawaii-legislature-to-choose-between-health-risks-or-food-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw milk bill requires Hawaii Legislature to choose between health risks or food security"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"Open<\/span>
Open Air Seal State Capitol Building Legislature Honolulu Hawaii Seal bottom says Life of the Land is Perpetuated in rightiousness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Hawaii House Bill 521 reads like another attempt to weaken the regulation of raw milk until you notice that the year 3000 is currently listed as the effective date. That might be a long wait for those who want to legalize raw milk and raw milk products in the Aloha State including the bill\u2019s powerful author.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, HB521 is getting serious consideration from Hawaii\u2019s legislative committee. The bill has already been heard by the House Finance Committee and the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce. Those two committees agree that the purpose of HB 521 is to:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0Authorize\u00a0and\u00a0decriminalize\u00a0the sale\u00a0of\u00a0raw\u00a0milk\u00a0and raw\u00a0milk\u00a0products\u00a0directly\u00a0to consumers\u00a0for\u00a0human consumption,\u00a0subject\u00a0to\u00a0certain conditions;\u00a0and<\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0Authorize\u00a0the sale\u00a0of\u00a0raw\u00a0goat\u00a0milk for\u00a0pet consumption,\u00a0subject to certain conditions.<\/p>\n

Hawaii\u2019s Health Department is completely opposed to HB 521. The department\u2019s testimony could not be more clear:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cSection 1 of the bill finds that people in Hawaii desire to drink raw milk. However, the Department urges the legislature to weigh the potential health risk of allowing raw milk to be sold.<\/p>\n

\u201d In doing so, the public could be exposed to undue risk of serious illness or death by possible exposure to pathogenic organisms. Our Keiki, Kupuna, and the immunocompromised face even greater risk than the general public, as they will face much greater difficulty fighting off any pathogens ingested and will have a much higher mortality rate for almost all pathogens associated with consuming raw dairy products.
\u201cThe FDA and the CDC have published many science-based articles debunking every statement in Section 1 and is included in this testimony. Based on CDC data, literature, and state and local reports, FDA compiled a list of outbreaks that occurred from 1987 to September 2010 in the US. During this period, there were at least 133 outbreaks due to the consumption of raw milk and raw milk products. These outbreaks caused 2,659 cases of illnesses, 269 hospitalizations, 3 deaths, 6 stillbirths, and 2 miscarriages. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u201cThe numbers of outbreaks and illness cases were likely higher than the above estimates due to underreporting. Of the 133 outbreaks occurring from 1987 to September 2010, 5 were multistate outbreaks with cases from at least two states. The remaining 128 outbreaks occurred in 30 states. Of these 30 states, 20 allowed some type of raw milk sale for direct human consumption according to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture survey of 2008 (NASDA, 2008). Outbreaks from these 20 states accounted for 80% of all outbreaks in the US during this period.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

The Finance Committee received\u00a0testimony in\u00a0support\u00a0of HB521 from\u00a0five individuals and the Finance Committee received\u00a0testimony in opposition to\u00a0this\u00a0measure from the Department\u00a0of Agriculture,\u00a0Department\u00a0of\u00a0Health,\u00a0and\u00a0Hawaii\u2019s\u00a0Farm\u00a0Bureau.<\/p>\n

Finance amended\u00a0this\u00a0measure by changing the\u00a0effective\u00a0date\u00a0to\u00a0June 30,\u00a03000,\u00a0\u201cto\u00a0encourage\u00a0further discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Consumer Protect and Commerce Committee\u00a0received testimony in\u00a0support\u00a0of HB521 from\u00a0The\u00a0Pet Depot,\u00a0Weston A.\u00a0Price\u00a0Foundation,\u00a0and\u00a0nine\u00a0individuals.\u00a0Consumer Protection received testimony in opposition to HB521 from the Department\u00a0of\u00a0Health, Department\u00a0of Agriculture,\u00a0Hawaii\u2019s\u00a0Farm\u00a0Bureau,\u00a0and one\u00a0individual.<\/p>\n

The Committee found that\u00a0raw\u00a0milk is milk that\u00a0has\u00a0not undergone the process\u00a0of pasteurization,\u00a0which\u00a0is\u00a0the process by which\u00a0milk is mildly\u00a0heated\u00a0to destroy\u00a0pathogens. Consumer Protection further found that there is\u00a0consumer\u00a0demand\u00a0for\u00a0raw\u00a0milk\u00a0because of\u00a0its\u00a0taste\u00a0and\u00a0perceived health benefits.\u00a0However, under\u00a0existing administrative rules, milk is only available\u00a0to the\u00a0public\u00a0if it has\u00a0undergone the process\u00a0of pasteurization.\u00a0Goat\u00a0milk is\u00a0similarly\u00a0prohibited\u00a0unless\u00a0it\u00a0has\u00a0undergone the process\u00a0of pasteurization.\u00a0This measure\u00a0is\u00a0intended\u00a0to provide\u00a0consumers\u00a0and\u00a0their\u00a0pets\u00a0with\u00a0more\u00a0milk\u00a0beverage choices.<\/p>\n

A third set of hearings was underway Monday before the Senate\u2019s Committee on Agriculture and the Environment along with the Committee on Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

The prime sponsor of HB521 is Rep. Mark Nakashima, who chairs Hawaii\u2019s House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee. He claims HB521 will increase food security in smaller communities <\/p>\n

HB521 would permit farmers and ranchers with 10 or fewer cows to produce raw milk and sell it to their neighbors whether they be a food hub, non-profits, or just regular neighbors.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only do they get to sell raw milk they obtain from their small number of livestock, but they can make a diverse array of food products from that one source and turn a food desert into a self-sustaining oasis,\u201d Nakashima told Hawaiian media.<\/p>\n

Hawaii is no longer self-sufficient in pasteurized milk production as there is only one Grade A dairy farm still functioning on the islands. Customer demands require the import of thousands of gallons of milk mainly from California.<\/p>\n

Nakashima sees food security as an economic issue and wants Hawaii to access more locally sourced affordable food products. He says HB521 will \u201cempower a new kind of community-based dairy producer.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported Sunday by Food Safety News<\/strong>, there are four other states with raw milk bills under active consideration. Illinois, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Utah have various considerations underway involving raw milk. <\/p>\n

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, <\/em><\/strong>click<\/em><\/strong><\/a> here)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Dan Flynn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open Air Seal State Capitol Building Legislature Honolulu Hawaii Seal bottom says Life of the Land is Perpetuated in rightiousness Hawaii House Bill 521 reads like another attempt to weaken the regulation of raw milk until you notice that the year 3000 is currently listed as the effective date. That might be a long wait<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":620519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25220,33817],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-620518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hawaii","8":"category-requires"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}