The Belfast Telegraph reported this week that Prince Charles has been a fan of raw milk  for years and now the health-conscious tribes of LA and New York are claiming that it can help everything from childhood allergies and eczema to digestive disorders.

The story notes that in Britain, the Food Standards Agency says tests on raw milk show that it can contain illness-causing pathogens. Scotland banned it 20 years ago; in England and Wales, sales are restricted to farmer’s markets or directly from farm shops, with labels clearly warning of the risk.

John Barron, of Beaconshill Farm in Herefordshire, points out that stringent regulations to ensure the safety of raw milk tend to mean that the cows are significantly healthier than those on commercial farms. "The simple fact is, we’ve never had a single case of food poisoning," he says.

I’ve never had much trouble finding people who get sick from consuming raw milk. But Britain is a special place, where the Food Standards Agency says it’s OK to use color (or is that colour) as an indicator of doneness in hamburger, where Prince Charles is actually respected, and whose main culinary exports are mushy peas and mad cow disease.