Dublin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s three branches of Govinda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vegetarian restaurants are negotiating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as well as the Food Standards Authority of Ireland to be allowed continued use of raw milk directly from a farm, after receiving prohibition orders on April 21st.<\/p>\n
The orders were served at Govinda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Aungier Street, Merrion Row and Middle Abbey Street branches for the sale of raw and untreated milk supplied without appropriate documentation on the premises.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our restaurants remained open and traded normally while the prohibition order was in place, although we had to use pasteurized and homogenized milk to make paneer, one of our most popular dishes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Govinda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s executive manager Praghosa Dasa. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The order was lifted on April 30th, and I am now awaiting a letter
\noutlining what documentation they will require to enable us to resume with the farm milk.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Govinda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had been receiving their raw milk from a farmer who also supplied Glanbia, Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest dairy, and who has supplied ISKCON Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s temples for over 20 years and its restaurants for the past 13 years.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8According to Praghosa, the restaurant received a prohibition order although the milk was perfectly safe because of pasteurization\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s current status as\u00e2\u20ac\u201dpardon the pun\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsomewhat of a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcholy cow.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometime before it was discovered, there was a huge outbreak of tuberculosis in cows that reached epidemic proportions in Europe and North America during the 18th and 19th centuries,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So when pasteurization came along in 1864 and killed the TB bug in milk, stopping it from being passed on to humans, it was hailed as a godsend.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Today, however, TB is effectively no longer an issue and all cows are regularly checked. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more, the farmer that supplied Govinda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s with milk has never had a TB reactor, either in his lifetime, or even in that of his late father.<\/p>\n
Additional proof that the raw milk Govinda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s uses is safe comes in the form of a routine HSE health check at least one a year, during which samples of the restaurants\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 food is tested to make sure they meet bacterial requirements. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Neither our paneer nor any other dish has ever failed to pass the HSE test, and we have never once had a complaint about a customer feeling unwell,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Praghosa.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8
\nWith all the health issues currently surrounding meat and eggs, such as ecoli, salmonella, listeria, and mad cow disease, Praghosa feels that farm milk is the last thing authorities should be making a big deal about.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Still,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d advise managers of other ISKCON restaurants to learn from our situation and make sure you can use farm milk according to the laws in your area\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand if you can, make sure you have all the necessary documentation required before using it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n