CANADA: Officials cite poisonings

31.mar.08
The Gazette

Despite raw milk having been banned for more than 40 years, Quebec food-safety officials were cited as saying public-health statistics show many Quebecers continue to be poisoned by it every year.
For example, in what he called "an average year," Michel Houle, a veteran food inspection councillor with the Ministère de l'agriculture, des pêcheries et de l'alimentation du Québec, said 16 people were infected with salmonella from improperly stored raw milk in nine separate incidents in 2004, the highest number since 2000. In 2007, raw milk was blamed in seven cases where 13 people fell ill.
Houle was further quoted as saying, "International statistics suggest that only one out of 60 cases of infection is reported," and that mostt raw-milk poisonings in Quebec happen on or are traceable to dairy farm operations. Raw milk advocates deny that's the case.
Carol Vachon, Quebec's best-known raw milk crusader, was quoted as saying, "Poisonings that are blamed on raw milk always turn out to be a result of other sources, like contamination from fertilizers. To my knowledge, there hasn't been a single case of poisoning in more than 30 years in Quebec that's been linked directly, and without a doubt, to raw milk."