INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — One of the hottest and most talked about issues in Indiana agriculture, aside from what has been a devastating drought this summer, has no doubt been, the debate to legalize the sale of raw milk.

Back in February, an amendment was introduced to Senate Bill 398 that would legalize the sale of raw milk to the consuming public. After many questions concerning the implications of such a bill including public health and safety, a new amendment was introduced to turn the issue over to the Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH). 

The new amendment, passed by the Senate, stipulated that BOAH facilitate a summer study on the potential health implications of consuming unpasteurized raw milk.

“There are strong opinions on both sides of this issue – it’s public health versus choice,” said Indiana State Veterinarian Bret Marsh.

According to Marsh, currently it’s legal to consume raw milk if you own the cow, though a herd-share program has not been written into law; while the sale of raw milk remains illegal.

“It’s different when you start merchandising raw milk, we need to know the health implications before we move forward,” said Marsh.

During a recent BOAH meeting on July 12, Terry Philibeck, director of dairy programs with the agency reported that a raw milk advisory committee has been drafted and hosted their first meeting on June 15. The committee has been requested to draft a thorough report, including background information on the pasteurization of milk, the public health aspect, review arguments from raw milk producers and determine analysis from states that have already legalized the sale of raw milk. The committee must then report back to the governor with its findings and recommendations by Nov. 1.

“We have made a consorted effort to ensure that members of this advisory panel represent different viewpoints and sectors that are affected by this issue,” said Marsh.

Committee members include: Sarah Wagler, a dairy farmer and BOAH dairy representative; Joe Kelsay, dairy farmer and director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture; Jennifer House, DVM with the Indiana State Department of Health; Steve Bonney, farmer and president of Sustainable Earth; Adam Moody, livestock producer and owner of Moody Meats; Alan Yegerlehner, dairy farmer and processor, The Swiss Connection; John Baugh, assistant to the dean, Purdue University College of Agriculture; Mike Schutz, dairy specialist, Purdue University Department of Animal Sciences; Roy Ballard, Purdue Extension Service, Hancock County; Doug Leman, executive director, Indiana Professional Dairy Producers; Luann Troxel, dairy farmer and president of Indiana Professional Dairy Producers; Kristy Kikly, dairy farmer and processor, Caprini Dairy; Lindsay Klaunig, processor, Traders Point Creamery; Health Piotter, Dean Foods Company; Chuck McQuaig, Prairie Farms; Greg Slipher, Indiana Farm Bureau; and Bret D. Marsh, DVM, Indiana State Veterinarian. 

“The group is currently spending a lot of time trying to figure out (if this bill would be authorized) what would this program look like,” said Marsh. 

BOAH is also hosting a virtual public hearing online at www.in.gov/boah where anyone can go to voice a public opinion on the matter of raw milk and the legalization of the sale of raw milk. The public hearing will be open for comments until Aug. 31.

“We’ve already received nearly 400 comments and we expect to nearly double that, we’re looking for ideas and we welcome the comments,” said Marsh. “It’s been a fascinating topic and one that’s been around for a long time. We’re watching the activity of other states very closely.”

Despite severe budget cuts in previous years, the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory recently requested healthy increases in salary, wages and funds for new equipment.

“State appropriations are not keeping up, this will help make up the gap,” said ADDL Executive Director Steve Hooser, adding that it’s been four years since a member of the ADDL has seen a salary increase. “We are in desperate need of updating some of our equipment, much of which is being held together by duct tape, literally. If we didn’t have knowledgeable staff that grew up on farms and knew how to work on tractors, we would be in real trouble.”

One of the items, Hoosier requested funds for during the recent BOAH meeting, was a MALDI/MS, which will help speed up identification of bacteria causing infection from weeks down to one or two days.

“It’s really fast and increases our testing capability significantly,” said Hooser, who added that the MALDI/MS price tag is quite steep, though necessary at $300,000. “The cost to run this equipment is actually quite small and if we got this, we’d be one of the few in the nation.”

Hooser also requested approval for equipment that would permit extremely fast identification of some poisons and drugs ($150,000 price tag), a DNA sequencer that would identify bacteria, viruses, fungi and could identify new or unknown causes of infectious diseases ($150,000), an ICP/MS that would allow testing for up to 10 metal nutrients or heavy metal nutrients at the same time, also new immunostainers that help provide standards for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer, GC/MS/MS that routinely used for identification of many types of drugs, chemicals, poisons and toxins and a LC/MS/MS, which help identify the cause of diseases and may also allow ADDL to offer new disease testing.

“This is what we need, but we understand it may not happen,” said Hooser.

Shortly after Hooser presented his budget request to the Board of Animal Health, it was approved and will now proceed to the Purdue Board of Trustees for approval.