A view of the Traditional Foods Minnesota outlet in Minneapolis when it launched in 2008. Warren Burgess has a difficult decision to make.
Burgess is a partner in Traditional Foods Minnesota , which was raided by state agriculture authorities in mid-June, and has been shuttered since. Its crime, like that of Rawesome Foods in Venice, CA, and Manna Storehouse in 2008, seems to be that it makes nutrient-dense food available to a private membership.
Basically, Burgess’ decision is this: Does he cool his heels indefinitely while local licensing officials jerk him around, or does he do what Aajonus Vonderplanitz, a founder of Rawesome, did in California, and defy the ordered shutdown by independently re-opening
Until now, Burgess has taken the approach of being super cooperative with the authorities. He says the half-dozen agents who appeared at the club’s warehouse from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, accompanied by a local cop, didn’t have a search warrant. Nearly all the food is locally produced by small producers, and not available via commercial outlets–things like home-made kombucha and pickled quail eggs.
“I didn’t claim my rights,” Burgess told me in explaining why he didn’t insist on a search warrant. He’s a software engineer, originally from Australia, having settled in the U.S. in 1993. He had just bought out one of the partners of Traditional Foods Minnesota, Alan Kantrud, six weeks earlier. The outlet was founded by Will Winter and a partner in 2008. (Winter subsequently sold his share to Alvin Schlangen.)
The one step he took to protect himself during the raid was to insist on split samples. The agriculture agents refused, only allowing him to keep items from the same shipment–for example, like bottles of pickled quail eggs.
The MDA put an embargo on the outlet, freezing sales. But in the spirit of cooperation, “Within a half hour of the raid, I gave them a complete list of everything that had been sold in the last thirty days.” His reasoning: the agents said they were concerned with the safety of the products on sale, and Burgess wanted to provide full disclosure. “They said they were looking for putrid foods and unsanitary foods.”
The result of Burgess’ largesse? “They basically used the information I gave them to raid other people.” A producer of raw milk who sublet part of the warehouse where Traditional Foods Minnesota is located to distribute his milk was one of those raided. (Traditional Foods Minnesota doesn’t sell raw milk.)
He says he was told there were licensing issues, and that he’s inquired about which licenses to obtain. But the guidance he’s received has been contradictory. Initially he was told he needed a retailing license, “But we are zoned industrial-two, so we can’t be a retail shop. Besides, we’re not retailers. We were doing manufacturing, of kombucha and sauerkraut.” The outlet also has an aquaculture operation, growing yellow perch, and vegetables in the mineral-rich water.
Of late, the officials have stopped responding altogether to Burgess’ requests for guidance, according to emails Burgess shared with me.
He’s not sure what to do. I have a suggestion, though I must acknowledge upfront it’s not my skin or food club at risk. Assume the authorities are out to keep you and your members from obtaining nutrient-dense food, and take the Aajonus Vonderplanitz route. Screw ’em.
***
Bill Anderson with his sampling of Vermont cheeses. Much as I enjoy the array of raw milk cheeses increasingly available in Vermont, I didn’t fully appreciate that it’s become the center of artisanal cheese-making in the U.S. I received a fascinating introduction to the dynamics of cheesemaking when I caught up with cheesemaker Bill Anderson (aka WI Raw Milk Consumer on this blog) in the midst of a Vermont cheesemaker tour he was taking.
Anderson is in the midst of moving from Wisconsin to launch a cheesemaking operation in Ohio. We arranged to meet, and just as I had hoped, he showed up with samples of seven different Vermont cheeses. My favorite was a raw goats milk camembert with a distinct barnyard taste. Yum.
The milk for that cheese had to be inocculated with a commercial freeze-dried culture of geotrichum candidum (the yeast that produced the funky flavors and aromas, and the wrinkly rind appearance). Geotrichum is naturally occuring in raw milk, but is killed by pastuerization, thus the need to re-introduce it to the pastuerized milk. Sister Noella Marcellino (aka "the cheese nun") has done some extensive research on natural bio-diverse geotrichums in traditional French raw goat milk cheese
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/289928/The-Cheese-Nun-Sister-Noella-s-Voyage-of-Discovery/overview
Legalizing raw milk cheese under 60 days has the potential to become an important goal of the raw milk movement, in addition to fluid raw milk. There is no question in my mind that the best soft-ripened cheeses made in the world are made with raw milk. In addition to the bio-diverse primary fermentors (the lactic-acid producing bacteria and other lactose fermentors in the raw milk during the initial production of the curd), raw milk also has native secondary ripening cultures — yeasts, aerobic bacterias, and molds that grow on the rind during ripening of the cheese, and consume the lactic acid, breaking down the protiens producing complex flavor and aromatic compounds.
I suppose I should have clarified that the goat cheese was not made with raw milk. We can only imagine how good it would have been if it was!
I saw the world premier of Michael Schmidt’s raw milk symphony last night. I have enjoyed very much hanging out at Michael’s farm and with his crew of mostly Germans. (too bad I didn’t take a few more years of German in High school! oh well… they all speak English)
3 part video by Constitutional Sheriff of Nye County Nevada
Thank you so much for the uplifting and encouraging gift of that message from the honorable Sherrif DeMeo….
This nation needs more peace officials just like him.
All police powers are dirived from the people that are served.
Golden and rare words.
Thanks again Don….
Mark
"But the guidance he’s received has been contradictory."
This is normal. It is a typical mistake for people to ask the government for advise on compliance. Never ask. Read the law yourself and act on it and your beliefs. Most of the time the regulators know less about the statutes and regulations than you would if you just read them yourself. So too often will they require you to take extra-legal licenses or follow regulations which don’t apply to you.
Remember, often their interest is in seeing you fail.
The law is what counts. Read it and follow that; especially if you find it Constitutional and in keeping with justice. But alerting the government to your existence by seeking their council is only asking for trouble. Granted, Burgess is already on their radar, but many others bring trouble on themselves in seeking such assistance. If you don’t have confidence in your own reading of the law, retain a lawyer.
And Burgess will never get on their good graces by seeking their advice. It is a sign of weakness, and that you will be easily jerked around. Not only will their advise be contradictory, it will change, often at the last minute and in unexpected and expensive ways.
Sadly, I fear that "pete" is right that *seeking out* compliance with authority is often (usually? mostly?) perceived as weakness. Let this be a lesson for all of us.
Dairy Call: Desperation on the Farm by Michelle Monroe
"Dairy economists from Cornell University have predicted that 2012 will see even LOWER PRICES than 2009"
"There have been 100 suicides among dairy farmers since the dairy crisis began"
And yet the farmers still look to and seek relief from the very SYSTEM that is destroying them! Surely there must be a better way for this one is NOT working EXCEPT for the big corporate folks that have continually reported increasing profits!
PS link doesnt work article was from The St Albans Messenger Vermonts oldest newspaper
The same can be said for many issues; The SAD is a good example, yet people continue to consume without or with very minimal changes. The heath care in the US is another example: There is a place for modern medicine, it can be a good thing; yet people and the medical community continue to expect quick fix/RX pills for a band aid effect-doesn’t come close to resolving the health issues.
Who is responsible? Everyone. Those who teach and those who are the students and we all are in each of those roles many times in our lives.
Those patients who research or have knowledge of their diseases/illnesses appear to have better outcomes than those who continue to lack the knowledge and follow blindly. Would David have had as good an outcome had he not researched and found the MD/facility with a better track record? We won’t ever know for sure, everyone has to be their own advocate.
People listen/learn by repetition. Keep educating, that’s the key. As more learn of how animals are housed/fed, how food is grown, more people are opting for organic/free range/grass fed, etc. Power in numbers, the more people who open their eyes the more changes there will be.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01sun2.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
OPDC would not have ever happened if a couple of things were not done at the beginning….
We wanted to be "the un-dairy" with no lagoons and always have our cows on pastures.
We wanted to directly serve the people and told Organic Valley ( CROPP ) to take their organic contract and "go UHT" it.
We have never looked back…
It was these important early decisions that created our path. It was not following the University professors dogma that gets students good grades….we did not follow the FDA and their admonitions…that "raw milk is Russian Roullette with your health"…we did not follow the Mega Dairies that live all arround us…that "get big or get out"….
We followed our hearts and our consumers. We wanted our cows in pastures not on piles of manure.
Sylvia…you are so right. Not following the trampled path or tradition is the better way. Doing what is right is the better way.
As we say at OPDC…
Keep….Green-Green, Clean-Clean, Hot-Hot, Cold-Cold and the Consumer First. Trust in mother nature….but verify with adfanced technology.
These are not the words of a University professor or Big Dairy or the FDA.
Every successful farmer will find out all he needs to know by listening and responding to his final consumer.
I deeply hope that more and more farmers can learn this more sustainable path forward.
Mark
Unlabled CLONED milk is being sold in the UK and the public be damned. If the article is correct the good folks "behind" the American food PYRAMID have already approved cloned animal products for our menu. There is NO difference between these degenerate monsters nor GMO grains nor factory generated "meat" than the real stuff at least thats what our food masters tell us.
Who could have imagine that our greatest battle would be just to obtain unpoisoned clean air unpoisoned clean water and unpoisoned natural food!!!
This links actually works.
http://www.samessenger.com/node/225
I wrote an article that was published this summer in the Wise Traditions summer edition. It was called "the 15 Things Pasteurization kills". Sounds like I need to amend it…I thought that there had only been a five suicide deaths of Dairymen in desparate response to the dead milk pricing crisis….there have been more than 100 ( according to the article and its author ).
Deans Foods has relished in the dirt cheap milk that they steal away from America’s farmers with blood on their hands. This is the face of corporate greed and fascism.
A French Farmer would have burned down the Deans Foods processing plant, bumped tankers of raw milk on the steps of the Louvre and joined with other farmers to raise some hell. They would have created relevant news and made change happen.
An American Dairymen kills himself…???
We as a nation of farmers have really fallen from our pioneering roots that had some real guts. My dad drove a tractor accross America in 1979 and then drove it into the San Francisco Bay and got arrested by park police in a National Farmers Protest and Strike. That tractor is in the Smithsonian…what ever happened to that spirit.
I know exactly what happened to it….the farmers are barking up the wrong tree. They are demanding a big hand out fix or government protection from the USDA money titty in Washington DC. Instead of reconnecting back to their consumers and cutting out the middleman that is royaly screwing them. Farmers no longer have the tools to make the value added foods that are in demand….they no longer have the will to fight…they longer have kids that want to stay on the farm. They are bankrupt financially and emotionally.
Farmers….stand up and serve your consumer….make raw milk cheeses and sell clean delicuious healing raw milk. Do on farm slaughter of your grass fed beef….raise those wonderful healthy grass fed eggs…make a Polyface as your new Face….Suicide is escape…it is time to charge forward…America needs you badly.
Screw Deans Foods ( they have done far more than screw the American farmer and consumer )…they have nothing for you but more pain. …Organic Valley is better than Deans…but not that much better because of their UHT processing created massive rejection from Lactose Intolerance. Farmers… Watch out for anything that separates you from the final consumer of your products. You should be able to connect directly with your final comnsumer and nourish them and get fully paid by them. This is the death of the American farmer…literally. It is time to rebel….not hang or shoot yourself.
http://www.organicpastures.com/pdfs/15thingspasteurizationkills.pdf
Mark
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01sun2.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
is very relevant to this discussion, because it hints at a serious foundational problem that will not, cannot, be properly solved by working within the system.
America today is ruled by a cultural, business, and government ethos that promotes bigness—big business, big government, and homogeneous society. The old ideal of individualism, bolstered by family and community, has been replaced by faith in central planning, and the notion that material gain is the only right measure of economy. This is the legacy of progressivism, and it colors everything. Government now can be counted on only to do everything in its power to degrade and frustrate human-scale social and business activity. Nothing more, nothing less. It is critically important that we understand this when we find ourselves in governments crosshairs, lest we misunderstand their motives or harbor unrealistic expectations of congenial, supportive action by government agencies.
It is a travesty of course that our founding principles, so carefully codified in our constitution to protect and advance individualism, should have been completely co-opted by central planners, but that is where we have arrived, and sadly, weve gotten there with barely a peep of protest from the masses. The scope of federal control is expanding to stunning new levels, and even within itself that power is centralizing, concentrating ever more into the executive branch. The agencies of that power meanwhile are taking ever greater liberties with us, even to the point of disallowing us access to their records. (See this for insight into how that happens: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100730/bs_yblog_upshot/did-the-sec-just-exempt-itself-from-the-freedom-of-information-act)
It is completely unreasonable to expect a system that is actively conscripting as many Americans as possible through regulation, law, and indebtedness, to reaffirm natural rights, just as it is unreasonable to expect a system that supports and subsidizes global-sized ag corporations to protect small farms.
There is only one solution, and that is to rebuild our culture into one of human scale, and to reestablish the value of work, responsibility, and community. I personally think a good first step would be to watch the following documentary, which shines a brilliant light on the devil of central planning, and beautifully demonstrates the timeless value of personal relationship. Watch all in the series:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/science/03milk.html?_r=2&nl=health&emc=healthupdateema7
The biggest big dairy university research center in the world has made some very impressive discoveries and qualified them. 21% of the specialized sugars found in raw breast milk are not intended to be digestible by the baby….but instead they coat the the GI tract of the baby and protect against infection and illness.
My personal bet for the next 24 months….that UC Davis PhD’s say that…
…."raw milk is the holy grail of all illness and prevention of disease for humans"…. they have said nealry as much already in this research.
Sadly, they will then try cloning, GMO and other gene splicing to try and replicate life itself.
We have life already in our precious raw breast milk and sacred raw cows milk!!!
Mark
"The decrease in richness of gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in allergies in industrialized countries, said Dr. Paolo Lionetti of the department of pediatrics at Meyer Children Hospital at the University of Florence. Sanitation measures and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious disease, but the decreased exposure to a variety of bacteria may have opened the door to these other ailments."
Perhaps a proscription for fluid raw milk, yoghurt, raw milk cheeses and other lacto-fermented foods might be in order? 🙂
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/03/food.allergies.er.gut/index.html?hpt=C2
I am damn proud of all of us in this fight….
What we all know and experience everyday with raw milk and its biodiversity is the truth.
The truth is now being discovered as an un-avoidable inevitable eventuality in well researched science.
Makes us in this food freedom movement look pretty darn smart ( cause being smart is mostly just about being consciuos and thinking like mother nature )….but just as importantly…it makes the FDA, big pharma and big dairy look pretty darn stupid and ignorant.
Mark
http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/pdf/NMJ_AUG10_LR%20brm.pdf
Development of the Infant Immune Function and
the Effects of Breast Milk
Abstract
Allergies, asthma, and autoimmunity are the most prevalent immune disorders and affect millions of people worldwide. The role of prevention of these immune disorders at the level of infancy and early childhood has become an important emphasis of recent research. The proper development
of the growing infants immune system provides a promising avenue into prevention of these disorders. Breast milk has long been acknowledged as the optimal source of nutrition for infants, and emerging research points to its profound effect on the immune development of infants.
The begining of the end of public potluck diners plus the article also reports that here has been ONLY ONE death related to raw milk in the US OVER THE LAST 57 YEARS.
HMMM If true thats sure one good track record is it not?
I just returned from an eye-opening trip to Vermont, touring a variety of artisinal cheesemakers and affinuers, followed by a visit to an incredible bio-dynamic dairy farm in Durham, Ontario, Canada. For those who know him, it is Michael Schmidt’s Glencolton Farm. Michael has been campaigning for the legalization of raw milk in Canada, and conducted an opera at his annual "Symphony in the Barn", entitled the "Raw Milk Trial by Jury", documenting his recent acquittal on 19 criminal charges spanning over a decade of selling raw milk from his cooperatively managed diversified bio-dynamic farm.
You can read more about his poignant opera here — http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/a-bit-about-the-symphony-in-the-barn-production-of-milk-trial-by-jury/
After returning to Madison yesterday, I went to the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), to get the final pieces of paperwork for my Wisconsin cheesemaker’s license, only to find out that the license application had been rejected by the division of Food Safety. More details on this later…
For those not aware, Wisconsin is the only state in the U.S. (to my knowledge, the only place in the world) which requires that all cheesemakers go through an apprenticeship and licensing program. Though there are some traditional name-protected cheese in Europe which require extensive apprenticeships (such as Parmigiano-Reggiano), these licensing requirements only apply to cheesemakers who wish to make that particular name-protected cheese. If a cheesemaker wishes to create their own brand of cheese, they only need to have a sanitary licensed dairy processing facility.
I have gone through the entire licensing program — a 240 hour apprenticeship at Cedar Grove Cheese and Bleu Mont Dairy, along with 5 courses on food safety, pasteurization process control, sanitation, HACCP, and cheesemaking technology. There is also a 40-hour per year continuing education requirement for the next 2 years, if I wish to maintain the license. Though I learned a lot in those short courses, I honestly think I learned more about making cheese (illegally…?) at home. The courses more taught me what kind of cheesemaking I didn’t want to do, than what I wanted to do.
I must say, however, that I feel quite honored to have Willi Lehner as my mentor. Willi is truely an outstanding individual, and has guided me through the process with wisdom and sincerity that is rare and special. I must also thank Bob Wills for employing me for 6 weeks at Cedar Grove Cheese. Bob’s was the first dairy plant in the world to certify their product free of rBGH (artificial bovine growth hormone) back in 1993, and has been an ongoing ally of organic family-run dairy farms.
In any case, here is my dilemma-
The Wisconsin statute on the cheesemaker licensing requirement (WI 97.17) clearly states in the opening paragraph that "This section shall not affect a person making up a product produced on the person’s farm…"
http://nxt.legis.state.wi.us/nxt/gateway.dll/Prior%20Sessions/2003/stats03/4641/4650?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0$q=%5Bfield%20folio-destination-name%3A'97.17'%5D$uq=$x=Advanced$up=1#LPHit1
Anne Topham of Fantome Farm, who is widely considered to be the godmother, or "grand matriarch" of Wisconsin goat dairy, started her Wisconsin cheesemaking career without a cheesemaker’s license. This was in the 1980s, and she did so with the full approval of DATCP, because of the clear exemption written into Wisconsin law by the legislature. While she was not allowed to sell to wholesalers until she had the license, she was allowed to sell directly to consumers on her farm and at the farmer’s market.
In their license application, they required me to sign a statement that said, "Operating without a license is a violation of Wisconsin law", to which I inserted, "except for a person making up a product on the person’s farm." per WI 97.17.
While this requirement will probably have no effect on me personally, I do not feel comfortable signing the license application at face value, because I would be agreeing to a statement which is blatantly false, and which could potentially open me up to prosecution in the future.
When I spoke to DATCP’s attorney (Cheryl Daniels), she told me that they have decided to re-interpret the statute, and that they no longer allow this exemption, and would not accept my application unless I struck and initialed the addendum from the license application. They claim it only applies to cheesemaking for personal use. However, it is clear from the actual text of the law, and their past interpretation of the statute, that their current interpretation of the statute is incorrect and is only designed to re-inforce the protectionist racket of the Wisconsin Cheese Maker’s Association (WCMA), whose executive director John Umhoefer campaigned vigerously against the raw milk bill last spring.
You can see some of Umhoefer’s editorials against the raw milk bill, and defending "big dairy" below
http://www.cheesereporter.com/Umhoefer/umhoefer.june4.2010
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=John+Umhoefer+raw+milk&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7TSHB_en___US344
So this is my dilemna — do I continue to fight and protest the unfair exclusion of farmstead producers from making cheese (like they have been excluded from the fluid milk market) and not get a cheesemaker’s license, or do I cave to DATCP food safety and sign the false legal language, thus getting my cheesemaker’s license?
I welcome everyone’s advice on this matter.
Thank you,
Bill Anderson
Isn’t obtaining a Wisconsin license a moot point if you are moving to Ohio? (Or is that move no longer happening?)
Don Neeper
You’ve started "coming out". You are no longer milk farmer, instead being Bill Anderson. Personally, I don’t think you should go back.
Tell ’em to go to hell.
(easily said from behind my computer screen 600 miles south of you)
Bob Hayles
http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/08/federal-court-victory-almond-farmers-can-challenge-usda-pasteurization-rule/
The federal courts handed down a decision in favor of "Koretoff Ranches et al v. USDA " ( includes McAfee Farms and others that grow organic raw almonds in CA ) that farmers do have a right to sue the USDA on the decision to mandate that all almonds grown in CA must be pasteurized. Now the issue is up for a legal battle and the lies told to the public can now be told…lies like:
1. The USDA permitting the labeling of pasteurized almonds as raw almonds.
2. That this issue was about safety….under the USDA mandate, raw almonds from EU are allowed to be sold in the USA as raw and they actually are raw…and not pasteurized or processed. Farmers in CA were locked out of their own back yard raw organic markets in favor of EU growers.
3. That UC Davis researchers had actually performed an analysis on raw verses pasteurized almonds and found no differences…when in fact no studies had been done. A Big lie that may cost someone a job or two.
All this and much more will be exposed. If the FDA has any friends at the USDA…I can assure you that they are sweating their butts off. This opens the door for the court of public opinion to be inflamed and the lies that were covered up to be expoxed. Ouch!!!
First the USDA and then the FDA under CFR 1240.61 and interstate commerce of rawmilk.
The Alphabet soup food control agencies are loosing their grip…..and falling. As the humble old pilot told the young pilot….it is not the fall that hurts… it is the abrupt stop at the bottom. The bottom is approaching faster and faster.
Behind the scenes corporate corruption has a way of coming back arround. This USDA good old boy deal killed the CA organic almond market for growers. Millions and markets were lost all because of lies and corruption. Consumers were cheated all because of lies and greed…
Congrats to the Cornucopia Institute…..
Mark
Beyond the obvious differences between human and animal milk, you cannot extrapolate a 1:1 relationship between mom and baby to a situation where a half dozen to hundreds of cows’ milk are mixed together and transported all over the place (per Mark McAfee, 100’s of cows milk mixed and sent to 300 + stores). That’s like comparing a group of mom’s in a community all mixing their breast raw milk together in a bulk tank and then feeding it to their kids as a group. I doubt your cited researchers would support that.
MW
Here is my most recent response to Cheryl Daniels (DATCP’s attorney):
Dear Cheryl,
Perhaps I should clarify what I am asking for. I should not have used the word exemption. This is statutory law, and has nothing to do with exemptions to having a dairy plant license specified in ATCP 80.02. I am talking here about the cheesemaker and buttermaker’s license, which is an entirely separate issue than a dairy plant license.
WI 97.17 says nothing about making cheese for personal use. The statute on the cheesemaker and buttermaker’s license is very is very clear:
"This section shall not affect a person making up a product produced on the person’s farm, nor shall it be unlawful for a licensed cheesemaker employed in a licensed cheese factory to make butter or whey cream butter for the use or consumption only of the patrons thereof."
I am only asking that what I am signing off on is consistent with WI 97.17, and is not a capricous re-interpretation by the Department. I have spoken to numerous cheesemakers who have confirmed that what I am saying is accurate and that there is past precedent for it. The law is clear. Your license application needs to reflect what the law actually says. I will not sign off on something which would deny me rights I am allowed under the law.
If this is such a problem for the Department, I can and will take the matter to legislators.
Thank you,
Bill Anderson
This "win at any cost and what is right be damned" attitude plays a large part in my characterization of most lawyers (and Saul Alinsky, for that matter) as "bottom feeding pond scum". The ends do NOT justify any means.
Anyway, back to the letter…talk language she as a lawyer will understand. You have left her room to continue the back and forth. Take it away. Give her a deadline…say 10 days…to perform under law.
It’s time the POS regulators and their POS lackeys were reminded of what my email sig says, "We don’t work for you. You work for us."
Bob Hayles
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