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Feds sting Amish farmer selling raw milk locally
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/28/feds-sting-amish-farmer-selling-raw-milk-locally/ ^

Posted on 04/29/2011 4:43:28 PM PDT by TigerClaws

A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.

The product in question: unpasteurized milk.

It’s a battle that’s been going on behind the scenes for years, with natural foods advocates arguing that raw milk, as it’s also known, is healthier than the pasteurized product, while the Food and Drug Administration says raw milk can carry harmful bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria.

“It is the FDA’s position that raw milk should never be consumed,” said Tamara N. Ward, spokeswoman for the FDA...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amish; fda; foodpolice; rainbowacresfarm; rawmilk; unpasteurizedmilk
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To: Skepolitic
The FDA won't respond to your challenge. They don't care about you, and dang sure don't care about the constitutionality of their authority.

It's time for people to people to understand that the Constitution as written and amended is a dead letter. De facto, the President interprets the Constitution as he pleases and the US government does what he wills. (And this did not begin with Obama. He's just taken it up a notch.)

Unfortunately, you are correct.

81 posted on 04/29/2011 8:36:12 PM PDT by Sarajevo (Avoid arguments with your wife about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink.)
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To: Sarajevo

“De facto, the President interprets the Constitution as he pleases and the US government does what he will...”

That goes on only as long as We the People allow it too...no more ...no less.


82 posted on 04/29/2011 8:38:29 PM PDT by mo ("If you understand, no explanation is needed; if you do not, no explanation is possible")
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To: JRandomFreeper; All
They used interstate commerce as their jurisdictional basis. The full article has some fascinating points.

11 states and DC have banned raw milk. They mentioned it's legal in 10 others but that must mean it's specifically allowed by law rather than just "not banned" otherwise I'd expect them to have written it's legal in 39 states, not 10.

MD has gone so far as to forbid people from shared ownership in a real cow kept for purposes of having raw milk!

83 posted on 04/29/2011 10:18:50 PM PDT by newzjunkey
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To: newzjunkey

Hmmm. Why would the government want to control food?

I’ve read Mormons are taught to keep a year’s supply of food in their home. Not a bad plan!

Inflation has a disparate impact on the poor. Check out the African-American unemployment. Illegal immigration hits the unskilled labor the worst. Food prices shooting up.

Btw if this were Muslims who didn’t do something for religious reasons, Holder would step in to defend them.

Amish? Toss ‘em in jail.


84 posted on 04/29/2011 11:34:22 PM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
"People who want to drink it should be allowed to without government regulation and warning labels.

Sorry, I had to work on your sentence a bit. The people buying this man's milk know what they are getting and why. The government ought to stay out of it.

If customers want documentation and warnings, the market will take care of it. What a concept!

I completely disagree with that. There is a valid argument for regulation; the trick is not to avoid regulation, but to try to keep it as reflective of reality as possible without being over-burdensome. The reality is that food production is heavily regulated at every step, giving consumers the ability to buy and eat the food without fear of it killing them (at least through infectious disease). People take regulation for granted. I do not see why milk, raw or otherwise, should be exempt from such regulation.

As for warning labels--the reason I said that is because if they aren't included on the raw milk packaging, people getting tuberculosis, listeriosis, etc., from the raw milk product will sue and most likely win. Warning labels are to protect the farmers, not the consumers.

Last, how do you feel about eating food imported from China (where regulations are lax and unenforced)?

85 posted on 04/30/2011 12:07:19 AM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: TigerClaws

>> “It is the FDA’s position that raw milk should never be consumed,” said Tamara N. Ward, spokeswoman for the FDA..

If it’s just a ‘position’ then what the hell with the imposition on the Amish.

Don’t mince words, Ward. It’s an enforceable law that gives your fellow coworkers the right to stop the Amish at the point of a gun.


86 posted on 04/30/2011 12:11:30 AM PDT by Gene Eric (*** Jesus ***)
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To: blackdog
I worked at a producer of dry milk. I maintained the machines which rewet the powder, add emulsifiers and vitamins, hot-bed dry it into those little granules, and package it. I still have hundreds of pounds of dry milk, and the only way I could drink it is in a disaster emergency. It’s awful. I always found it odd that they dehydrate the milk powder base in California, then ship that by rail and truck all the way to Wisconsin, just to rewet it and dry it back down all over again?

Interesting. Nonfat dry milk is a popular and inexpensive reagent in many biochemistry labs, and many scientists insist that only the Carnation brand will work for that purpose. I'm never quite sure what to do with the packets of dry milk I have left over after taking what I need to the lab; there just aren't that many recipes that require it.

87 posted on 04/30/2011 12:13:33 AM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: exDemMom

I use quite a bit of dry milk in breadmaking. It improves the texture of the bread, even when the recipe may not call for it specifically.


88 posted on 04/30/2011 4:33:18 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: blackdog

Oh my,I didn’t know powdered milk was so complicated. I too just keep it around in case of an emergency.


89 posted on 04/30/2011 4:33:23 AM PDT by MagnoliaB
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To: LibWhacker

I know. Everybody drank raw milk and I never heard of anyone getting sick. I LOVE milk and would drink more if it weren’t so expensive. When I hear people say they don’t like milk, I think they are crazy.
OMG is a wonder I’m not dead. We also had chickens and one of my favorite things to make as a kid was eggnog (minus the alcohol of course). I would get a glass of milk, crack a raw egg into it, add some vanilla and sugar, stir and drink up. Guess I’d be arrested and put in jail for that today.


90 posted on 04/30/2011 4:40:35 AM PDT by MagnoliaB
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To: Graybeard58

It just isn’t the same.


91 posted on 04/30/2011 4:41:10 AM PDT by MagnoliaB
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To: TigerClaws

“I’ll give you my cow when you pry its teats from my cold dead hands!”


92 posted on 04/30/2011 4:57:43 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (It's a beautiful day and I'm glad I can see it in color.......)
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To: TigerClaws

The Muslims kill three thousand people in NY in one day and our government attacks the airline passengers and the Amish.


93 posted on 04/30/2011 6:12:42 AM PDT by RoadTest (Organized religion is no substitute for the relationship the living God wants with you.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

“My position is that there is no power delegated to the federal government to regulate milk made and consumed within a state. I challenge the FDA to show me where in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution that the States delegated the power to regulate milk. Ain’t there.”

/johnny, ours is a government by outlaws.


94 posted on 04/30/2011 6:14:07 AM PDT by RoadTest (Organized religion is no substitute for the relationship the living God wants with you.)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
I use quite a bit of dry milk in breadmaking. It improves the texture of the bread, even when the recipe may not call for it specifically.

Hmm, I might try that.

95 posted on 04/30/2011 6:45:11 AM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: exDemMom
Eating food from China and eating food from a local farmer/producer are two entirely different worlds.

Our government does not know how to regulate just enough ... the only thing that they do is regulate the small producer out of business.

Rather than a warning label, why not require the consumer to sign a hold harmless agreement? No lawsuits. Warning labels are used against companies in lawsuits, they don't protect them.

96 posted on 04/30/2011 7:47:08 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: TigerClaws

Bookmark


97 posted on 04/30/2011 2:45:21 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
Eating food from China and eating food from a local farmer/producer are two entirely different worlds.

Our government does not know how to regulate just enough ... the only thing that they do is regulate the small producer out of business.

Rather than a warning label, why not require the consumer to sign a hold harmless agreement? No lawsuits. Warning labels are used against companies in lawsuits, they don't protect them.

Not really. If we were unregulated like they are in second and third world countries, we'd have the same food safety issues. You know darned well that without regulations, some farmers would use human waste as fertilizer, skimp on sanitation techniques, or commit some other breach of good farming practices. Most people take for granted a safe food supply; very few are even remotely aware of the behind-the-scenes efforts that go into making it that way. Food safety is hardly a trivial problem.

I do agree that overregulation is a problem. Unfortunately, whenever failure to comply with the existing regulations leads to a problem, the response is not to crack down on those who disregarded the regulations, but to write new, more restrictive regulations. That is true in all aspects of government--really, was the TSA necessary?

As for a "hold harmless" agreement--I'm afraid that could be worse than a warning label, by acting as a "get out of jail free" card for unscrupulous farmers. A warning label could protect a farmer who tests his cattle biweekly for tuberculosis, because he can legally show he has taken due care--but it won't protect a farmer who hasn't had his herd tested in the last six months (or ever).

98 posted on 04/30/2011 9:30:31 PM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: Clintonfatigued
FDA sting operations on the Amish? Wow.
99 posted on 05/01/2011 1:16:25 AM PDT by Impy (Don't call me red.)
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To: MagnoliaB

The powder milk will not dissolve. It needs to be worked to make it “instantized”. The powder milk just floats on top of water without dissolving, like throwing a cup of flour into water. The process runs it thru a boiler fired wetting process with steam. It’s then shaken, evaporated, and cooled which produces those granules of milk. Those dissolve instantly.


100 posted on 05/01/2011 7:13:54 AM PDT by blackdog (The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop)
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