The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board has retreated from claims that consuming dairy products could aid weight loss after some experts branded the statements “deceptive” and “discredited.”

A major Wisconsin dairy group continues to promote dairy products for weight loss, four years after two national groups, under pressure from the Federal Trade Commission, agreed to stop.

The milk board, which spends nearly a million dollars a year promoting dairy’s health benefits to children, defended its conduct and said claims were based in science.

For farmer Brian Wickert, the raw milk bill is about having the freedom to live without interference from the government. But for health officials in America’s Dairyland, it’s about potentially exposing unsuspecting citizens to disease-causing bacteria. At the crux of this debate is the age-old question: How much should government protect its citizens from possible hazards?

Extra!
Reporter Jacob Kushner and photographer Jake Naughton went to Darlington, Wis., for the latest installment of our Dairyland Diversity package (it’s here: Immigrant dairy workers transform a rural Wisconsin community). And they came back with an unusual coming-to-America story. One in which the old guard and the new wave are actually living in relative harmony.

Our resident librarian hones in on dairy stats, rankings and resources on Wisconsin InfoLink.

Chart: Wisconsin has fewer cows than ever, but they produce more milk than before.

The state senate rejected a measure to impose strict penalties on companies found to have employed an undocumented worker. The bill’s failure is big news for Wisconsin’s dairy farmers, who increasingly rely on Hispanic immigrants to milk their herds. A report by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism in November revealed the difficulties dairy farmers face finding legal workers for their operations.