State issues new rules for raw milk

RALEIGH -- Unpasteurized milk sold as pet food must now be dyed a charcoal-gray color and labeled as not for human consumption under a new rule approved Friday by the state Board of Agriculture.

North Carolina farmers are allowed to sell raw milk only for consumption by pets and other animals, not for humans to drink.

Public health officials say pasteurization is necessary to kill harmful pathogens. Raw milk advocates say the process removes the beverage's natural health benefits, and they want to be allowed to openly buy untreated milk.

The Board of Agriculture unanimously approved the rules changes Friday with the intent of limiting diseases officials believe can be carried in raw milk. The charcoal color was chosen to clearly differentiate the product from standard milk and make raw milk unappealing to children.

Joe Reardon, director of the Agriculture Department's Food and Drug Protection Division, said citizens have called to complain about the pet milk that looked similar to the pasteurized type.

"From time to time, some of the concerned parents would call us and say their child drank some of milk that was intended for pet use, and their child did become ill from it," Reardon said.

Alice Hall, who helped found the North Carolina Natural Milk Campaign, said the charcoal-colored additive will take milk out of its pure form and discourage raw milk drinkers from buying the product.

"I'm so disheartened," Hall said. "As a consumer, I have the right to go to the grocery story and buy what we want."

Regulators have blamed raw milk for 18 cases of the bacterial infection campylobacter, which causes diarrhea and fever, in Utah in March. They also say raw milk caused two cases of salmonella in Pennsylvania in February.

Hall said drinking natural milk _ from healthy cows eating healthy grass and not filled with hormones _ has never made her sick.

The milk rule is scheduled to take effect at the beginning of November, pending review by the state Rules Review Commission.

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Associated Press Writer Steve Hartsoe contributed to this report.