FDA Goes KGB

Evidently it’s not enough for the FDA merely to oppose raw milk and raw milk products. They’re waging war against raw milk, and what would war be without espionage and other sordid tactics? Here’s an interesting (and unhappy) article about some of these underhanded tactics. Here are a few of them:

• Confiscate customer lists of raw milk dairy farmers
• Undercover information gathering
• Entrapment schemes
• Various forms of intimidation

These, of course, are just the tip of the iceberg. The FDA looks more like Comrade Vladimir Lenin’s secret police than a law enforcement agency of these United States of America… the land of the free and the home of the brave.

As always, please support our Estrellas. Also, forward this post around to all your friends to raise awareness of the FDA heavy-handed tactics. Thanks!

Rawesome Raid

Aside from the video above, here’s a Huffington Post article on the FDA raid (via the LAPD) of Rawesome in Venice, CA. There were about 20 people (some of them armed) involved in raiding of Rawesome today, August 3rd, 2011. This is the second raid on Rawesome. The video above is, I admit, pretty irritating. I think it’s worthless to browbeat the enforcement officers. In any event, one of the comments below the video is quite telling:

I have a neighbor who is selling illegal drugs out of his house. I have reported it to the police multiple times and they do nothing. Maybe if I tell the police he is selling raw milk out of his house they will actually come out and do something!!

Can’t keep people, drugs, or weapons from coming across the border, but somehow our government finds the time and inclination to bust private raw milk joints like Rawesome. This is all very sad. Please repost this and put it up everywhere. We need to continue making noise about it. Thanks!

Banned and Controlled Foods in the US

Here is an interesting and attractive article on 15 banned foods in the United States of America. #1 on the list is good ol’ raw milk. Basically, I wanted to eat and/or drink everything on the list (except the horse). Enjoy and, as always, don’t forget to support the Estrellas generously.

Thanks and have a great day!

Opposition to Tyranny in Kentucky

Death in a Bottle

As always, please support our local family that the FDA’s shut down. The Estrellas still need a great deal of financial support. Please be generous.

A friend of mine on Facebook made me aware of this nice little article on Front Porch Republic. Give it a read. It’s informative and well-written. The author, Jerry Salyer, gives us yet another example of government tyranny in the area of food and drink. He also gives us an example of how citizens are working around that tyranny.

Please go read his article. In the meantime, I’ll go out strong with one of Salyer’s tastier morsels:

As for Louisville’s MiniWel [the Whole Life Buying Club] in particular, as of this writing its representatives have conceded that the quarantine has no legal basis – yet evidently regard miscreant raw milk drinkers as undeserving of an apology. It seems hunting the White Whale is so important that there is no time to express the slightest hint of embarrassment (much less remorse) at having been caught out-of-bounds: OK, OK, so we overstepped our authority – so what? We’re still right and we know it, and what you need, comrade, is a tall, cool, frothy glass of USDA-approved shut-the-hell-up.

Shiny New Tyranny

Well, some of the first changes from the Food Safety Modernization Act are coming. First one “allows the FDA to administratively detain food the agency believes has been produced under insanitary or unsafe conditions.” Overlooking the split infinitive, this means that, while the FDA used to have to produce credible evidence that the food was contaminated, now is just has to suspect. Very modern. Very safe. AWESOME! Second one requires food importers to tell the FDA is any other country has refused to admit their product. This seems new change seems quite sane. Since the FDA is mowing down small local farms (specially raw-milk ones), we’ll be importing more and more goodness from Mexico (and other tasty places!) – which has certainly been the trend.

Here is the FDA’s press announcement. Here is some commentary on the same.

Don’t forget to support our Estrellas!! – We’ve almost hit the 10% mark.

More FDA Heavy Handedness

Don’t forget to support the Estrellas… they need our help!

FDA Seeks Permanent Injunction Against Amish Farmer Dan Algyer – see here for original post.

On Tuesday, April 26, the FDA revisited Pennsylvania Amish farmer Dan Algyer, serving notice that they have “filed a complaint for permanent injunction against [him], for distributing unpasteurized (or “raw”) milk for human consumption in interstate commerce,” according to the FDA press release.

What Dan Algyer does is as much a right as breathing. He has done nothing unlawful in conducting direct private trade with other individuals. He is not engaged in interstate commerce as the FDA accuses. Aside from the Constitutional guarantees of right to contract, food sovereignty, of which Dan’s trade is a perfect example, is a God-given inalienable right. No state has the right to proscribe the food choice of an individual. It might have the power through enforcement agents to hinder it, but it does not have the right.

We Love the Estrellas!

Here’s part of the reason why:

Seattle PI Article

We love Shonagh Home. She actually made the trek out to Montesano to meet with the Estrellas and check out the Estrella Family Creamery. Thankfully, she wrote all about the experience. The loved the cleanliness of the facility, but she doesn’t have the axe to grind that the FDA does.

John F. Sheehan

In the words of John F. Sheehan, director of plant and dairy food safety has been quoted as saying, “Raw milk should not be consumed at anytime, by anyone, for any reason.” Also, he likens consuming raw-milk products with pointing a loaded gun at your own head and hoping the chamber’s empty while pulling the trigger. Sheehan’s exactly the kind of guy we need looking out for our health! His words are like intellectual E. coli.

 

Since the FDA has set their sights on the raw-milk industry, what can we do to preserve it? Home says that it’s about banding together and supporting our community farms:

Community is key. Community creates education and awareness, and community can move mountains. Here in the Seattle area, there are efforts now to create community support for the Estrellas who are on the verge of losing their farm entirely.

Please help us support the Estrellas. Be a part of the community upholding the Estrella Family Creamery. Be generous.

In the Local Paper

Anthony and Kelli Estrella at their 25th Anniversary

This post, as always, seeks to generate support and help for the Estrella family, owners of the Estrella Family Creamery.

Our favorite cheese makers in the United States, not to mention Washington State, not to mention Grays Harbor County, not to mention Montenaso have been written up in the local paper, the Vidette, by Leif Nesheim. The FDA’s cut-throat tactics are broadly noticed, and with more coverage like Leif’s, maybe it can end. Here are some tasty quotes from the article with my comments interspersed:

“Some of the things the FDA is doing to them, I was just appalled,” said Elma organic dairy farmer Jay Gordon, executive director of the Washington State Dairy Federation. Gordon said he recently visited the Estrellas’ farm and was impressed with the quality of their operation and the steps they’ve taken to ensure food safety. “They have done everything they can,” Gordon said, but the FDA’s precautionary standard of zero bacteria “is one nobody could live under let alone run a business.” The regulators’ actions are destroying a family and its business, Gordon said. “How many more farms are they going to do that to?” Gordon asked, noting that several FDA actions in the past few months have put the agency on his federation’s radar.

The FDA’s heavy-handed tactics and unreasonable precautionary standards really should worry ALL of us. It’s not hard to see this type of government intrusion in nearly all areas of life. But, back to dairy, the Federation sent a letter to all the State’s federal congressional delegation pleading with them to investigate the FDA’s tactics. One of which tactics is that the FDA, even in cases where cheese is not sold or shipped over state lines, has the authority to investigate a local farmer if any of the component used in food making comes from out of state. Regarding this FDA tactic, the letter says:

This expansive interpretation seems to grant FDA authority to regulate all farms, carte blanche … and underminesthe established efficacy of our own Washington State Food Safety Program, thereby creating a great deal of uncertainty and fear in the farming community.

Fear, indeed! It’s difficult not to fear when part of the United States government appears intent on taking away your livelihood. This is exactly what Dan Wood of the Washington State Farm Bureau thinks:

“The FDA, they’re going to kill this business,” Wood said. “It’s unfortunate because people want this very unique product.” The Estrellas have taken numerous steps to make sure their product is safe, but the feds don’t appear willing to acknowledge the improvements, Wood said, noting the FDA’s action here isn’t an isolated case.

Nope, not isolated a bit. Check with, for example, Food Freedom about how the FDA raided the cheese with their guns drawn! Good night. Please see our friends Sharon, Doreen, and Kimberly, too.

Lastly, please support the Estrellas. The family needs your help.

On the Local News!

Here’s a link to KIRO’s coverage of the FDA’s shutdown of the Estrella Family Creamery.

I personally appreciate KIRO’s objectivity in this report. They do a fine job reporting the problem, EFC’s position, and even the take of some supporters. Well done, KIRO.

Please spread this video around along with a link to this website. We need to get more fund in to help out this wonderful family. Merry Christmas!