There are times when Big Brother and the ubiquitous bureaucracy needs a swift kick — and now would be a good time given the battle brewing over the future of Canada's raw milk.

A small but expanding group of health-conscious Canadians believe unpasteurized milk is good for you: ditto for many health experts who say the process of pasteurization not only kills the bad bugs but destroys many good bugs, along with other key nutrients.

While it's legal to consume raw milk in Canada (farm families have been doing it for centuries) it's illegal to sell it here, but permissible in all other G-8 countries.

This fact has stirred raw-milk advocates to circumvent the restrictive no-sale law and structure dairy herds as shareholder-owned, allowing owners to collect their "dividends" in the form of raw milk.

That's what B.C. dairy farmers such as Chilliwack's Alice Jongerden has been doing — but last July the FHA obtained a cease-and-desist order, forcing her to stop packaging and distributing the raw milk to co-owners.

The order is under appeal by raw-milk advocates who have asked the B.C. courts to issue a clear ruling on the legality of share ownership of raw-milk dairy herds.

Frankly, proponents should not be driven to such extremes as having to set up shareholder-owned herds: selling should be legal as long as production is properly inspected. And consumers should be free to decide for themselves whether they want raw or pasteurized.

It's time bureaucrats stopped messing with one of Mother Nature's perfect foods.

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