Published in The Post-Star (D1)
11/02/05
This is the last fall that customers in New York can enjoy the taste of raw apple cider.
A new law requires all cider sold in the state after Jan. 8, 2006, to be treated with ultraviolet light or pasteurized so that it is 99.99 percent free of bacteria.
Cidermakers will either have to invest about $15,000 in equipment to kill potential pathogens in their product, or stop making cider. Some small local orchards are choosing the latter.
"We can't afford the equipment, and we're going to have to close down our cider business after all these years," said Frances Clough, who runs Stetkar Orchards in Saratoga Springs with her husband, Charles.
To make their cider, the Cloughs use a century-old, tractor-powered press called "Old Faithful," which is one of the main attractions at their small orchard and farmstand.
"All my customers are very, very angry about the law," said Clough. "They're going to write letters to protest it."
For the last eight years, New York cidermakers have put mandatory warning labels on all raw cider, to let customers know that it could contain unhealthy bacteria. That hasn't stopped many people from buying it, however. They say it tastes better.
"Customers want the option to buy what they want to buy, and I think they should have it," said apple grower Jim Perry.
His business, Perry's Orchard in Eagle Bridge, will also stop making cider after this year. He produces only about 2,000 gallons of cider a season, and can't afford the investment needed to comply with the law.
Perry isn't giving up without a fight, however. He's leading an effort to get the law amended, by circulating petitions and flyers asking people to write to their state legislators, the Farm Bureau, and the Apple Association.
"It's an uphill battle," he said. "But I'd feel bad if I didn't try."
About 50 growers in the state will be affected by the new law, said Perry, and he's called all of them.
"I'm not the only one who will have to shut down my cider business," he said. Small growers will be hit the hardest, but Perry said he talked to a few who make as much as 10,000 gallons of cider a year and still can't afford the equipment.
According to a legislative memo, the cider bill was prompted by a recent episode in which more than 300 people were reported to have become ill from drinking raw cider, and "the cost (to producers) is certainly minuscule when weighed against the great public health benefit that will be derived."
Perry said he researched the Clinton County orchard where people were sickened, and he's not convinced that cider was the culprit. Even if it was, he said, the Apple Association and Farm Bureau should have pinpointed the source of the pathogens and spread the word to other growers.
"It really burns me up that they didn't warn all of us about whatever caused it, so it wouldn't happen again," he said. "Instead, they come up with this bill. I haven't yet uncovered the hidden agenda."
Although he doesn't think the law can be repealed, he has a compromise in mind.
In Washington County and several other counties in New York, dairy farmers can get a permit to sell raw milk directly to their customers. Perry thinks the same opportunity should be extended to the cider industry.
"Why should cider be more regulated than milk?" said Perry. "It's not any more dangerous."
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