Jul 27, 2007
Fight Over Raw Juice Divides New York State’s Cider Mills

A handful of New York producers are still fighting for the right to sell untreated apple cider, but it’s been an uphill battle so far – and time is running short.

The fall apple harvest is approaching, with its throngs of people expecting to buy a fresh jug of cider at the local mill. But if the local mill can’t sell raw cider anymore and can’t afford the equipment required to comply with the state’s new treatment law, customers will have to look elsewhere and the mill might be out of business.

New York’s mandatory cider treatment law went into effect in January. It requires all cider sold in the state be treated to achieve a five-log, or 99.999 percent, reduction of pathogens. Such a reduction can be achieved by pasteurization or ultraviolet treatment. Anyone who manufactures, processes or sells cider is subject to the law. Noncompliance could lead to a penalty of $1,000 per infraction, according to the New York Apple Association.

New York’s old law, which followed federal regulations, allowed producers who sold cider directly to consumers to leave their product untreated, as long as it had a warning label.

The mandatory treatment law has divided New York’s apple industry. Supporters of the law, led by the apple association, consider it a necessary tool to protect public health and the image of New York apples. Opponents, including New York Farm Bureau, believe the law limits consumer choice and could put small cider producers out of business.

Of New York’s 200 or so cider producers, about a quarter sold untreated product, according to the apple association.

A few members of that minority have been fighting for some kind of exemption to the treatment law since it went into effect, but they’ve only managed to delay the inevitable. The latest effort in the state Legislature went nowhere this summer.

Jim Perry, owner of Perry’s Orchard, has been fighting mandatory treatment from the beginning, but the battle burned him out. He doesn’t plan to sell treated cider. His customers like it raw, and he can’t afford the equipment anyway, he said.

There’s still a shred of hope left. John Fehlner, owner of Clinton Cider Mill, is leading an effort to create a permit system through the state’s agriculture department. The permits would exempt raw cider producers from the treatment law, as long as the producers were following stringent safety practices. Similar permits are issued in the dairy industry for raw milk producers, Fehlner said.

“We’re trying to do whatever we can to reestablish the sale of untreated product directly from the source,” he said. “We’re leaning toward permits at this point because of the difficulty of rescinding an existing law.”

There are ways to make cider safe without resorting to mandatory treatment. If a mill is supplied by a non-municipal water source, for example, you could treat the water itself for pathogens, instead of the end product. The process is less expensive and there wouldn’t be a taste difference like there is between treated and untreated cider. Another thing you could do is make sure there are no farm animals within a certain distance of the processing facility, Fehlner said.

Despite his efforts, no one had agreed to anything by mid-July – and cider season was swiftly approaching.




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