Re: Re: Save Claravale Raw Dairy

[Guest guest]

One problem with Claravale, according to my local

health food store's manager, is that Claravale

requires that the store buys 500 (if I remember

correctly) gallons of their milk per week for them to

deliver it to the store, but the store is not able to

sell that much.

Roman

--- irenab17 <irene@...> wrote:

> So what is the story on Claravale? Why were they

> dropped by the

> distributor? Why might they go out of business? I

> heard that Claravale

> had been shut down by the health dept because of

> excess bacteria in

> the water. I much prefer Claravale to Organic

> Pastures and I would

> love for them to come back. I buy my milk at Wild

> Oats. If I ask about

> getting Claravale back I suspect they will just

> shrug their shoulders

> and say that OP is all that their supplier has. Do

> we have the number

> to their new distributor? Maybe I can pass that

> along to the buyer at

> Wild Oats.

>

> Thanks,

> Irene

>

>

> > Claravale dairy may be out of business within a

> few weeks. I believe

> > it is the oldest raw dairy in the country.

> Claravale was dropped

> > very abruptly by its former southern CA

> distributor, and a lot of

> > rumors and misinformation were spread. Ron

> Garthwaite, the owner of

> > Clarvale, has found a new distributor, but a lot

> of the stores which

> > had carried Claravale for years have replaced

> Claravale with Organic

> > Pastures.

> >

> > If you are in Southern CA and are interested in

> having Claravale

> > available again, please let them know where you

> shop. Many Whole

> > Foods customers have requested Claravale milk, but

> Mark vanDerweer

> > has been forbidding the store managers from

> ordering it. If you are

> > a Whole Foods customenr and want Claravale back,

> you can contact

> > Mark at (818)501-8484

> >

> > Ron Garthwaite feels fine about competition, and

> wants his dairy to

> > remain small. Even though Ron's cows are not

> pastured due to lack of

> > room, they are happy Jerseys and the milk is

> delicious. I'm hoping

> > that California can be blessed with two sucessful

> raw milk dairies,

> > rather than the smaller, older,less commercially

> oriented dairy be

> > run out of business.If you live in southern CA and

> feel this way,

> > please request Claravale in your local health Food

> Store.We'll all

> > be better off with two rw dairies to choose from!

> > Willa

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

--- irenab17 <irene@...> wrote:

> So what is the story on Claravale? Why were they

> dropped by the

> distributor? Why might they go out of business? I

> heard that Claravale

> had been shut down by the health dept because of

> excess bacteria in

> the water.

I think it's a rumor that they were " shut down " . I

talked directly to the owner a couple weeks ago, and

what he told me was that the routine preliminary test

that's done on every batch of milk showed there might

be a bacteria problem, so he did a *voluntary* recall

on that batch to be safe until the final results came

back from the lab (apparently, the state does not

require a recall based on only preliminary test

results). When the final results came in, they showed

the milk to be clean, and distribution resumed (in N.

CA at least). Picadilly Circus (formerly Wild Oats)

had it in stock last week when I was there.

There's no way any of us who aren't directly involved

with Claravale can be sure we really know the full

truth, but I'll take his word for it as I have no

reason not to. The state is so strict on raw milk

that if there actually is a bacteria problem I don't

think there's any way to hide it (raw milk regulations

are much tighter than those for pasteurized milk). I

hope for both dairies to have state-wide distribution.

For the moment, Claravale is the only game in town in

N. CA.

> I much prefer Claravale to Organic

> Pastures and I would

> love for them to come back.

This may be another rumor, but I was told Organic

Pastures is going to add Jerseys to their herd for

richer milk.

> Do

> we have the number

> to their new distributor? Maybe I can pass that

> along to the buyer at

> Wild Oats.

Call Ron Garthwaite, the owner of Claravale, at

831-789-9525, maybe you can get the distributor's

number from him.

Aubin

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