U.K. May Get Raw Milk in Vending Machines

The U.K.’s Food Standards
Agency (FSA) said consumers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
should be
given “wider access” to raw milk and proposed allowing its sale
in vending machines. Currently raw milk can only be bought directly
from farmers, as is common in American states
where raw milk sales are permitted. 

A briefing paper about the proposed change suggests that vending
machines would be the best way to make raw milk more
widely available, since they make it easy to tightly control
temperature. The FSA is still not recommending that raw milk sales
be permitted in supermarkets.

The FSA will vote on the proposals Wednesday; if approved, the
new rules will go into effect immediately. The changes to the rules
wouldn’t apply in Scotland, where all raw milk sales are
banned. 

The agency had launched a four-month consultation on the raw
milk regulations in January, which found consumers were largely in
support of widening raw milk’s availability. “In light of
consultation responses,”
the FSA began working on a change to its raw milk policy, it
says. Is it sad that I’m amazed to find the UK’s food policy body
so responsive to what the people it governs actually think and
want?