Milk

DAIRY FARMERS need to be careful about what they wish for. They might get it. Take their desire to have their milk and farms inspected by the state Department of Agriculture rather than by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "We think we would get a fair shake with the Department of Agriculture," said Robert Ramsburg, a Frederick County dairy farmer and president of the Maryland Dairy Industry Association. "That's not always the case with the health department. "The inspection division should be under [the Maryland Department of Agriculture]

I looked at the floor's hexagonal ceramic tiles as I walked into 815 Cathedral St. and thought, "I know this place very well. " For the first four decades of my life, this was the Medical Arts Pharmacy in Mount Vernon, a place of refuge after a session at the dentist or medical specialist. As of Saturday, its doors will be open again as the Milk and Honey Market, described as a "specialty food market and coffee bar. " On a visit Friday, I saw the boxes of heirloom tomatoes arrive at the landmark former drugstore and soda fountain.

Until recently the only burning question I had about Irish food was the one asked in the spirited song "Who Put the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?" Then I came across the soda-bread question. "Who puts buttermilk in their Irish soda bread?"The question is of particular interest in March, the month that every real and honorary Irishman in Maryland encounters the low white loaf. Around St. Patrick's Day, soda bread is the toast of the state. During the rest of the year, it is a very good bread, especially toasted.

LIKE MANY PARENTS, when I attempt to bring my kids around to my point of view, I stress the facts. Then I toss in any other piece of information -- true or not -- that might support my case. This worked well when the kids were younger. Those were the days when only one kind of milk, whole milk, sat in our fridge.Somewhere along the way -- I suspect the schoolhouse -- kids encountered opinions different from mine and adopted them. Now we have the milk wars. Three kinds of milk -- whole, reduced fat, and low-fat -- battle for shelf space in the family fridge.

Hoping to become a better neighbor, officials at the Maryland-Virginia Milk Producers Association have applied for an environmental permit they failed to obtain two years ago and are working to reduce emission of pollutants and odors from their North Laurel milk plant.The plant's officials said the failure to obtain a Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) permit to operate their 65-foot-tall milk dryer -- a machine used to make nonfat dry milk -- was simply "an oversight." They said they purchased the dryer in January 1993 to make production more efficient and reduce pollution at the plant -- located off Leishear Road on the south side of Gorman Road.

A glass of milk a day may keep the heart doctor away, says a new British study.A 10-year study of 5,000 British men between the ages of 45 and 59 found that only 1 percent of men who drank at least a pint of whole milk a day suffered heart attacks.In contrast, 10 percent of the non-milk drinkers in the study had heart attacks, said lead researcher Dr. Peter Elwood of the Medical Research Council's epidemiology unit at Llandough Hospital in Penarth, South Glamorgan, Wales.The results of the study are scheduled to be published in the the March issue of the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

Carroll County dairy farmers strongly supported the concept of a Maryland milk commission yesterday at an informational meeting sponsored by the Maryland Farm Bureau and the Maryland Dairy Task Force.Twenty-nine of 30 farmers at the morning meeting said they wanted a commission to regulate the amount producers are paid for raw milk and wholesale milk prices.The commission, consisting of three consumers, two producers and one processor, would require wholesale distributors to sell milk at or above their processing costs.

Someone used a screwdriver to pry open the kitchen door of a house in the 600 block of Tayman Drive in Annapolis Monday and steal two slices of roast beef between 8:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m., county police said.Milk and roast beef were taken from the refrigerator, police said.

Competition from neighboring states is hurting Maryland's dairy industry, supporters of a proposed milk commission told the House Environmental Matters Committee yesterday.The seven-member commission -- suggested in a bill submitted by Del. Donald B. Elliott of New Windsor -- would require that farmers be paid a specific price for raw milk. Dairymen from Virginia and Pennsylvania, two of four states that have similar commissions, are dumping excess milk in Maryland and undercutting prices, supporters said.

State Sen. Martin G. Madden and officials from the Maryland-Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative will meet with North Laurel residents Wednesday to discuss recent runoff problems and odors emitted by the plant.When workers clean trucks at the milk plant, the runoff flows into the nearby Hammond Branch. Residents have complained to Mr. Madden that strong odors from the runoff waft into their yards.Mr. Madden, a Republican representing East Columbia, Jessup and North Laurel, and officials from the plant will discuss steps that could be taken to correct the problem.