Raw milk distribution earns Chilliwack farmers suspended sentences
Michael Schmidt and Gordon Watson ran the Our Cows co-op
Two Chilliwack dairy farmers have been handed three-month suspended sentences for distributing raw cow's milk under the pretense that it was a cosmetic.
Michael Schmidt, a raw milk advocate from Ontario, and Gordon Watson were sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court to one year of probation for civil contempt, and will end up behind bars if they breach a court order again that bans them from selling the outlawed libation during that period.
The men distributed unpasteurized milk from a cow-share co-op to co-op members. The illicit milk was described by the Our Cows enterprise as a cosmetic product, but it contained just one ingredient — raw milk.
- Read more about the Chilliwack co-op's legal battle over raw milk
- Read about Schmidt's legal fight in Ontario
- Read more about raw milk's risks and benefits
Health Canada requires all milk sold commercially in Canada to be pasteurized, because the federal agency says the raw product contains harmful bacteria including salmonella, E. coli and Listeria.
Opponents of the regulation say raw milk has health benefits destroyed in the heating process of pasteurization.
In 2011 Watson said about 500 households were getting milk from the co-op.