Feds Again Invade Amish Farm for 5 a.m. Inspection
Submitted by Drew Kaplan on April 27, 2010
HFA members may remember a previous article we published about the FDA
invading an Amish farm. The story continues with agents invading the
Amish farm in Pennsylvania yet again at 5 a.m. to inspect cow-milking
facilities then followed up the next day with a written notice that the
farmer was engaged in interstate sale of raw milk in violation of the
Public Health Services Act. A failure to correct the situation could
result in “seizure and/or injunction,” the warning letter from Kirk
Sooter, district director of the Philadelphia office of the Department
of Health and Human Services, told farmer Dan Allgyer of Kinzers, Pa.,
on Wednesday. The farm invaded Tuesday is the one agents visited in
February, driving past “Private Property” signs to demand Allgyer open
his property for their inspection, saying, “You have cows. You produce
food for human consumption.”
The case is being publicized by the National Independent Consumers and
Farmers Association, which promotes traditional methods of linking
farmers with consumers.
Spokeswoman Deborah Stockton told WND Allgyer “is the type of farmer who
exemplifies what we are trying to restore.” On her organization’s
website is the commitment “to promote and preserve unregulated direct
farmer-to-consumer trade that fosters availability of locally grown or
home-produced food products.”
She reported she got details directly from Allgyer of Tuesday’s
early-morning inspection, which highlights the growing conflict between
farmers who want to provide health food locally and federal regulators.
Allgyer could not be reached immediately for comment.
The farmer told NICFA he came out of his house about 4:30 a.m. for his
milking routine and noticed a lot of traffic on Kinzer Road.
Shortly later, the cars were coming up his lane.
“I stood back in the dark barn to see what they were going to do. They
drove past my two ‘Private Property’ signs, up to where my coolers were,
with their headlights shining right on them,” Allgyer reported.
He called to the five men as they were preparing to knock on his home,
where his wife and family remained asleep.
“Two were from the FDA, agent Joshua C. Schafer who had been there in
February and another. They showed me identification, but I was too
flustered to ask for their cards. I remember being told that two were
deputy U.S. marshals and one a state trooper. They started asking me
questions right away. They handed me a paper, and I didn’t realize what
it was,” he said.
“Schafer told me they were there to do a ‘routine inspection.’ At 5:00
in the morning, I wondered to myself? ‘Do you have a warrant?’ I asked,
and one of them, a marshal or the state policeman, said, ‘You’ve got in
your hand buddy.’ I asked, ‘What is the warrant about?’ Schafer
responded, ‘We have credible evidence that you are involved in
interstate commerce,’” the farmer reported.
WND telephone calls and e-mails to the FDA requesting comment did not
generate a response.
Allgyer said he confirmed his identification but then said he wouldn’t
answer anything further.
He said he questioned their arrival at his farm at 5 a.m. when the
warrant clearly stated it was valid during “reasonable times during
ordinary business hours,” but one of the agents said “ordinary business
hours for agriculture start at 5 a.m.”
The agents spent their time “rooting around, like a couple of pigs, in
the freezer and cooler area and took many pictures,” Allgyer reported.
“They came in the dark, shining bright flashlights while my family was
asleep, keeping me from milking my cows, from my family, from breakfast
with my family and from our morning devotions, and alarming my children
enough so that the first question they asked my wife was, ‘Is Daddy
going to jail?’” Allgyer said.
The subsequent warning letter was an all-inclusive notice that federal
regulations prohibit “the delivery into interstate commerce of milk and
milk products in final package form for direct human consumption unless
they have been pasteurized.”
“It is your responsibility to ensure adherence with all requirements. …
Failure to make prompt corrections could result in regulatory action
without further notice,” the letter said.
The letter directed Allgyer to notify Compliance Officer Richard Cherry
of the corrections.
Stockton warned the requirement now is for federal agents to claim they
have “credible evidence” regarding a case, but a proposed federal change
would strike those words in the law and replace them with “reason to
believe.”
“The phrase ‘reason to believe’ would be inserted 14 times into the code
with S. 510,” she said. “If this bill goes through, the FDA will have
control of farms. They will not need ‘credible evidence’ to act. They
will essentially be given a free hand to act as they want. And look at
how they already act, even with the existing constraints in place.”
Allgyer previously had told the officers that as a private farmer, he
does not sell to the public.
Advocates say raw milk is healthier.
According to natural-foods blogger Kimberly Hartke, Kevin Trudeau touts
raw milk in his New York Times best-seller “Natural Cures They Don’t
Want You to Know About,” and Sally Fallon Morell’s cookbook, “Nourishing
Traditions,” which has sold 350,000 copies.
On a forum page at Chronwatch-America.com, a participant concluded, “The
food produced on that farm is probably far safer than anything you get
at the grocery store.”
That opinion was endorsed on the Food Freedom blog, where one
participant wrote, “Factory foods are the ones making people sick &
getting recalled.”
The Weston A. Price Foundation, which is among the nonprofits that
educate consumers about more natural food-production methods, said
demand for such products is growing.
“Raw milk … is a supremely healthy food that should be available to
those who want it,” said Morell, the foundation’s president.
In January, Canadian farmer Michael Schmidt won a court victory when he
was found not guilty of selling raw milk to members of a cow-sharing
consortium.
In a previous U.S. case, Mennonite farmer Mark Nolt of Maryland had his
farm raided by SWAT-type agents. He was fined more than $4,000 and had
his equipment confiscated for providing unpasteurized milk to
participants in his program.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=144557
Health Freedom Alliance
Health & Wellness Foundation
CHAD Foundation
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