Bipartisan vote crushes Virginia bill to legalize raw milk sales

Republicans and Democrats joined forces in a committee of the Virginia House of Delegates to defeat an attempt to legalize the sale of raw, unpasteurized milk by a vote of more than two to one.  The 6-15 vote against House Bill 2030 saw all six votes in favor cast by Republican members of the Committee for Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources. One committee member, Republican James Morefield, did not vote on the bill.  Republicans Nicholas Freitas, Robert Marshall sponsored the bill, which would have allowed direct-to-consumer sales of raw milk and other uninspected, uncertified and unregulated foods at farmers markets, on farms or at producers’ homes.  Of those voting against the bill, eight were Republicans and seven were Democrats. Those 15 delegates came down on the same side of the issue as their state’s public health and agriculture departments.