Building bridges for a Canadian Raw Milk Policy
Join us for an intriguing afternoon of presentation and discussion with Art Hill, Chair of the Food Science Department at the University of Guelph, Mark McAffee, Nadine Ijaz, Karen Selick and Blaine McAfee to find out what you want to look for when obtaining Raw Milk. Find out more about safe raw milk production Standards and the current Canadian and International laws that surround it.
This is a suitable conversation for producers, scientists, politicians and consumers alike.
This is also one last chance to sign the Declaration of Food Rights before it is sent off to Kathleen Wynne.
Mark McAfee
is the founder and CEO of McAfee Farms and Organic Pastures Dairy Company. He is pre-med trained, a retired Paramedic and a Health Department medical educator. Mark has lectured on Raw Milk production, food safety, and nutrition at Stanford Medical School, Rutgers University, 30 different states and internationally. He is certified in HACCP management from Chapman University and has developed and implemented award winning Food Safety Plans including Raw Milk Risk Analysis & Management Plans (“RAMP”) and the 1997 Odwalla Apple Juice “Field HACCP”.
MARK MCAFEE : Mark and his wife Blaine, run ORGANIC PASTURES, the largest organic raw milk dairy that ships safe raw milk to 700 retail outlets all over California.
Nadine Ijaz
MSc PhD (cand) is a health services and policy researcher, currently completing a PhD at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. She is also a qualified medical herbalist with 15 years clinical and teaching experience at integrative healthcare clinics and postsecondary colleges. Nadine’s research related to raw milk science and policy has been published in the Health Law Review, presented at various academic conferences, as well as Public Health Ontario and the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
Blaine McAfee
has been married to her husband Mark for 34 years. Since 1999, Blaine and Mark, along with their two children own and operate Organic Pastures Dairy. The dairy produces nutritious raw dairy products for the very happy people of California as provided by 700 retail stores that carry the organic brand. OPDC is now ranked as the number 4 brand of organic dairy products in the USA (SPINS data 2015).
Blaine received her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing in 1991 and a Master’s of Science in Nursing as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Educator from Fresno State University. She taught nursing students at California State University Fresno and Fresno City College. In 2012, Blaine retired from nursing and education to dedicate her time in a role as Director of Herd Health at OPDC where she manages the organic and holistic management of the Fresno based 1100 cow organic dairy.
In her role as herd manager, she manages the OPDC Food Safety RAMP team with leading edge testing technologies, auditing and integrated teamwork. Blaine is a teacher and speaker at nutritional conferences with a passion for preventative medicine achieved through whole food nutrition, integrative complimentary medicine and gut health.
Blaine has been an active volunteer with LIGA Rotary International, Flying Doctors of Mercy for 25 years providing free medical care to the underserved in Mexico. Blaine is a founding member of the McAfee families fourth generation organic operations that now grow 500 acres of organic almonds.
Raw Milk Panel Discussion
Karen Selick
has practiced law in various capacities since 1978. From 2010 to 2012, she represented Michael Schmidt in the first round of appeals in his raw milk case before Justice Tetley of the Ontario Court of Justice. She argued before the court that Ontario’s law against selling or distributing raw milk violated the guarantees of liberty and security of the person contained in Canada’s Charter of Rights. Karen is also a writer who has been published in major newspapers such as the Globe and Mail and the National Post. She writes on issues of individual freedom.
Art Hill
completed a BSc in Agr (spec Dairy Science) and both MSc and PhD in Food Science at Guelph and joined the faculty at Guelph in 1986. Art was promoted to full professor in 2007, and appointed Chair Department of Food Science in 2009.
Art’s research relates to dairy science and technology, especially cheese science and risk analysis, including cheese safety. Art is author or coauthor of more than 50 refereed papers and 70 oral conference presentations including substantial contributions to the scholarship of teaching.
Art has taught a variety of food related subjects including technical communication and has been heavily involved with undergraduate and graduate curricula. In recent years Art has overseen the development of didactic and online courses to assist major food companies deliver food safety training to managers and quality control personnel. A recent development is the launch of the Safe Food Forum in collaboration with the Retail Council of Canada and McGill University. A major current project is an interdisciplinary proposal to create the Guelph Food Innovations Centre.
