• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota Senate committee delayed a vote Friday on a bill that would relax regulations on raw milk to give the two opposing sides in the debate two weeks to put together a compromise measure.
• After hours of discussion, the Health and Human Services Committee voted 5-2 to push back until Feb. 19 the decision on the bill, which would repeal the rules imposed in December by the state Department of Agriculture and replace them with less stringent standards.
• Raw milk producers and their customers said the Department of Agriculture's rules will force producers to spend too much money to comply with unnecessarily strict standards. But advocates say the measure is necessary to protect public health.
• Raw milk is not pasteurized, a process that involves heating milk to destroy bacteria and protect shelf life. It can only be sold directly from the producer to the consumer in South Dakota.
• The proposed rules require tests on fewer types of bacteria in the milk as compared to the current standards. The bill would allow levels of coliform bacteria five times as high as those in existing rules. It would also allow for the sale of cream made from raw milk.
• Trever Gilkerson, the owner of Jerseydale Farms, said he supports the revised rules. He said his operation's milk was recently investigated under the current regulations for a strain of the pathogen listeria that was later deemed harmless. He said he lost business because of the way the Agriculture Department handled the testing and notified the public.
• Gilkerson's operation produces 90 percent commercial milk and 10 percent raw

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