Two weeks ago Rawesome Foods was raided for supplying raw dairy on the same day that the nation’s largest ground turkey recall was announced. A frequently heard comment on Facebook and the blogosphere that day went something like this, “You mean that raw dairy which has not tested positive for any pathogens or made anyone sick is considered so dangerous that they have to arrest three people and destroy an entire food buying club’s inventory, but that millions of pounds of drug-resistant salmonella contaminated turkey meat gets a “voluntary” recall months after the meat not only made people sick but actually killed somebody?”
The comments express a communal outrage at the disproportionate response by our government. After all, three people spent the night in jail and are facing felony charges because they chose to distribute (safe!) raw milk. Meanwhile, absolutely nobody faces any criminal or civil charges for killing someone with salmonella. Why is that?
Because deadly, drug-resistant salmonella is not illegal in raw meat.