Farmer Sues To Distribute Raw Milk

Maryland Has Banned Cow-Sharing Program

It is creamier than anything you've ever tasted, its fans say, with flavor like a shot of vanilla, chocolate and coffee all at once. The more zealous advocates even say it can lead to a healthier life.

But raw, unpasteurized milk -- as in straight from the udder -- is illegal to sell in Maryland, for what health officials say is good reason. Now Kevin Oyarzo, a farmer near Frederick, is challenging the state's opposition to raw milk in court, and Maryland's raw milk converts are pinning their hopes on his lawsuit.

Each state throughout the country regulates its raw milk, and many -- including Virginia and Maryland as well as the District -- have banned its sale. That doesn't mean it's illegal to consume: Farmers and other cow owners are allowed to drink it. And some raw milk enthusiasts are using that legal point to try to distribute it more widely.

The scheme works this way: Consumers buy shares in a cow from a farmer who feeds and boards the animal. In exchange, shareholders receive raw milk. Although many farmers have set up such cow-sharing programs in other states, Oyarzo, a farmer of Buckeystown, was the first to try it publicly in Maryland.

Last summer, he met with state officials to go over his cow-share plan, bringing along his attorney and Sally Fallon, a national proponent for raw milk. They received their answer a few weeks later when the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced a change in regulations prohibiting cow-sharing for raw milk.

"It seems to us it's just a transparent attempt to purchase milk, which is prohibited," said Tom Elkin, the department's deputy director of food protection and consumer health services. "All we did is clarify the meaning of sale to include cow-sharing."

But Oyarzo's attorney says that the cow-sharing plan follows existing laws and that the sudden change in the regulation was unjustified.

"The law says you can consume but you can't sell. We're not selling," said Baltimore lawyer Paul Walter.

Oyarzo did not return calls seeking comment, but one customer who has bought farm products from Oyarzo for several years described his farm as clean and the meat sold there as always fresh. Oyarzo began primarily selling organic eggs and chicken, and he expanded a few years ago to organic turkey and beef, said Lorrie Leigh, a Columbia resident.

In some states, including California and Pennsylvania, consumers can buy raw milk from stores. In others, consumers can buy it only directly from dairy farmers. In still other states, raw milk can be sold only labeled as pet food, a transaction many sellers conduct with a no-questions-asked kind of understanding.

But in some states, such as Virginia, cow-share programs are the only route, and the idea is being tested in the courts. Two months ago, Ohio's Department of Agriculture revoked one dairy farmer's license for cow-sharing raw milk. A county judge overturned the state's decision and sided with the farmer, but the case faces a possible appeal.

The same month, a farmer in Canada went on a 28-day hunger strike, living only on raw milk to protest officers who raided his farm and arrested him for running a cow-sharing program.