When the Food Police Threaten Your Private Event–Give Them a Dose of Their Own Meds; Lemonade and Raw Milk

by | Jul 21, 2012 | Legal, Raids, Raw Milk | 18 comments

Lemonade-RM-uniforms.JPG
MNcomplaint7-12.JPG

This post has been revised and updated since it was first posted.

Blogger Kimberly Hartke’s presentation about raw milk in the Minneapolis area Thursday evening came off without a hitch. So did her ice-cream-making demonstration, using fresh milk, cream, and eggs. Dozens of attendees lapped up the ice cream, couldn’t get enough of it. 

The fact that such an ordinary happening is news is a commentary on the growing intensity of the struggle over food rights. But for two weeks before that event took place, Minnesota health authorities took a number of steps to intimidate the organizers of the event, trying to discourage them from holding it. 

Apparently the Minnesota Department of Public Health, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and the Minneapolis Department of Health all made their displeasure known, mainly to a local restaurant owner who had the gall to post information about the planned private event on her restaurant’s Facebook page. It seems these regulators monitor the Facebook pages of various food businesses they do ordinarily regulate, and try to strong-arm them when they don’t like a private activity a food business like a restaurant may be promoting, like a gathering at a local farm…or an event that features raw milk. Even after the restauranteur removed the Facebook post, she still received a filed complaint from the city of Minneapolis.  (See a copy of the complaint against the restaurant, Birchwood Cafe, below.)

The event’s organizers determined that a private potluck event was totally legal–could be advertised all they wanted. Here is an account by Susie Zahratka, one of the event’s organizers, about how she and other organizers negotiated the treacherous Minnesota terrain, and won over local officials in the process:

The Minneapolis complaint filed against the restaurant that posted a Facebook alert about Kimberly Hartke's talk on raw milk. A member from our group contacted the local health authorities as well as the city in which the event was to be held to discuss what, if any, violations were happening. The discussions with Ramsey County, although not hostile, kept coming back to what was to be served; raw milk ice cream. Considered a Dangerous Substance by the state, there was talk of safety and potential lawsuits should someone become ill. Through it all the representative from our group maintained the mantra, “Please point me to the statue that we are in violation of.” The only real issue ( which we rectified immediately) is that we hadn’t advertised the event as a ‘potluck’. Originally just the members of our group were going to bring ice cream and/or ingredients, but after looking at the Mn Potluck Law we made a group decision to rename the event an ice cream social/potluck and encourage others to bring their favorite ice cream add-in or topping to share. We sent the new and improved invite to the county and all of the nearly 60 attendees and continued to prepare for the event. 

In addition to the county, we also needed to talk with the city in which we were planning the event. The relationship with those folks was important to us as we use their facility often and there is mutual respect for us and us for them. It took only a couple phone calls to determine that they supported our event and understood that we were well within our legal rights to serve what we wished as long as we weren’t selling the ice cream. One of the employees at City Hall contacted the county herself and received the response that since we weren’t selling food, no license was required and therefore this issue was out of their jurisdiction. Upon learning that the real issue was the milk, the city offered to have local patrol drive by to make sure we weren’t being harassed during the event. This open and honest dialog between our group and the city not only served to educate all parties but also strengthen that relationship and may have attracted more individuals to our cause. Even the dialog with the county was beneficial as our representative kept positive and directed the discussion to the overlap in beliefs rather than the differences.

As the event was upon us, a couple of us drew up an agreement to be signed by attendees that released the city, the organization and the individuals putting on the event from legal action. It stated that they understood they might be consuming raw milk foods and put that responsibility on them. The agreement also stated that by signing, they were agreeing that they were not representatives of the state (spies). The reasoning behind this agreement was twofold. First, for the sake of transparency we wanted it known that we were in fact serving raw milk, raw cream, raw eggs. Secondly we wanted the absurdity of it all to be known. Where else would a release need to be signed before consuming food? Certainly not at a fast food joint or any other potluck situation. When people signed the waiver, their name tag was starred to show that they had agreed to the terms. There was no one who didn’t sign.

As I pointed out in my previous post, Minnesota has had enough real-life enforcement efforts for everyone to be on edge. Certainly enough for consumers to develop their own counter-insurgency tactics. Here are a few suggestions for the next event: 

*Reject the food police argument that posting an event on Facebook or elsewhere on the Internet makes it a public event. All kinds of private event information is exchanged on the Internet. Posting there doesn’t make your private event public, as the food police in Minnesota argued to organizers of the Hartke talk. Public is public and private is private. The food police continually blur the lines because they want everything to be considered public, and under their control. They need to be challenged, over and over and over.

*The more local you get, generally speaking, the more understanding you will gain for food rights. The food police generally come from the county and state levels. Even when they are from a particular town or city, they don’t necessarily represent how other local enforcers, like the police or sheriff, actually feel.

*Notify the local police and/or sheriff if there have been even the slightest rumblings of harassment. Often the law enforcement authorities are as repulsed by the strong-arm tactics of the food police as the rest of us, and will cooperate with local residents by insisting that any food police have a search warrant or arrest warrant before they are allowed into a private event. 

*If regulators do show up and challenge the event, insist on presentation of a valid search or arrest warrant before allowing them entrance. If no such document is forthcoming, call the local police or sheriff and have the food enforcers removed. 

The public health regulators are spending huge amounts of manpower monitoring private food-oriented activities. We’ve had ample evidence from major cases like those involving Pennsylvania farmer Dan Allgyer and Rawesome Food Club all the way down to farm-to-fork dinners and, now, talks about raw milk. 

Fight back. There’s no need to beg for permission to privately gather to discuss food, and exchange samples.

**

Thanks to mounting attacks on private food consumption, the food rights movement is spreading and expanding. In the latest example, the Raw Milk Freedom Riders have joined up with the organizers of  the second annual Lemonade Freedom Day to promote private food exchange. Lemonade Freedom Day will be held August 18, 2012, in Washington. It will be preceded by a half-day Food Rights Workshop on August 17.                    

Lemonade Freedom Day grew out of harassment by public health regulators of young people setting up lemonade stands in their driveways and on neighborhood street corners. Lemonade stands are the first introduction of many children to business ways. Too often, they are an introduction to the expanding infringements on our basic rights to privately exchange food. One recent notable example occurred at the start of the Boston Marathon in April.         

18 Comments

  1. To show an avatar with your comment, go to Gravatar and attach your picture to your email!
  2. mark mcafee
    mark mcafee on July 21, 2012 at 3:25 pm
    Go Kimberly!!!!

    Great work.

    More and more I am so grateful that I live, serve, feed, grow, sell, teach and work in California. We have our challenges for sure. No question and it is not easy to do raw milk in CA. But at least our Governor drinks raw milk and he has directed his adminstration to be fair to us. We have stopped the raids on Cow Shares and now have an active dialogue with very promising self certification guidelines for Cow Shares and Small Dairy operators to use in order to sell raw milk off the farm. At least we can sit down and talk with our regulators and Secretary of Agriculture.

    The more and more I live in America, the more and more I believe that there is something wrong with the water in the midwest. Did the GMOs, Monsanto, CARGIL…. or pesticides effect the air or soil or water?

    What is it about the truly stupid, harsh, mean and narrow minded jerks that take a paycheck from the people and regulate food in the midwest and upper midwest. The so called Bible Belt. It is troubling to see the chilling effect that these idiotic asses have on the good conscious people in the midsection of our country. Why do the people allow them to keep their jobs? What is it about the people in that area of the US. Why do they not rise up and throw them out. Are the people that passive?? Are Monsanto, LandoLakes, Cargil, ADM and Tyson that strong? Dollar vote them to their knees. They are the chief supporters and co-originators of our Diabetes, Asthma, Austism and medical industry.

    Makes me sick to think that citizens can not at least be assured of some basics in the USA. That is far from reality. Sounds like we the people must take back our basics….they are certainly not going to be GIVEN to us….we must TAKE THEM. Dollar Voting is an act of a citizens seizure of choice,… not a permission or kind request.

    Teach on Mother Lions!!!

    Reply
  3. D. Smith
    D. Smith on July 22, 2012 at 2:36 am
    I wouldn’t count on that “calling the police” thing to work out too well. We’ve already seen what can happen when they become involved in scuffles of this nature. No, I certainly wouldn’t count on police protection, for sure.

    Also, could someone please tell me why there is a MN Dept of Health and a MN Dept of PUBLIC Health? Really? We’re not all considered public?? Hmmm. Ok. Well, there’s one example of a flagrant waste of PUBLIC money.

    Reply
  4. Mary Jean
    Mary Jean on July 22, 2012 at 5:59 pm
    I think you misread David’s comments. It was the Minnesota Department of Health (a state agency) and the Minneapolis Department of Health (a city agency). The restaurant is located in the city of Minneapolis and is subject to city regulations as well as state regulations, but was not hosting or sponsoring the event, just posting about it on its facebook page. The Hartke lecture and ice cream social/potluck was not held in the city of Minneapolis, but a nearby city. In her account of the situation, Susie mentioned Ramsey County where the event was held. Minneapolis is in Hennepin County.
    Reply
  5. Mary Jean
    Mary Jean on July 22, 2012 at 6:00 pm
    sorry, Minnesota Department of Public Health……..MInneapolis Department of Health
    Reply
  6. Traditional Goats
    Traditional Goats on July 22, 2012 at 7:03 pm
    And Minneapolis Dept of Health can be difficult to work with. I know this from doing farmers markets all over the place but within Mpls city limits, they are fussier! Not altogether bad but more paperwork and equipment needed.

    For example, if I am selling eggs at a farmers market in MN, most places are fine with the eggs in a cooler, no questions asked. In Mpls, the inspector wants them in a commercial cooler at required temp (which is all put out in the info provided by the state anyway). Other markets if you are selling meats, keeping on ice so they stay frozen is fine–they must stay frozen though! Mpls, requires freezer to be working and meats to be in there.

    Labels are of course checked quite well but that should all be worked out before the market season starts anyway.

    The biggest problem I had with Mpls and doing the markets, is they wanted letters from the processors stating that they are processing my animals, and also a copy of the processors license. In MN to sell within state lines meat must be done E2 or USDA, over state lines must be done USDA. No problem getting a copy of the license but none of the processors want to send a letter stating that they are processing animals that they have not processed yet. Mpls wants that info before the market season starts. If they don’t get it, they bury the paperwork and you basically start over. Just a pain in the butt to work thru.

    Tracy

    Reply
  7. D. Smith
    D. Smith on July 22, 2012 at 7:33 pm
    @ Mary Jean: You’re right – I did misread, sorry! Still, we have too many departments for this, that and the next thing. It’s a big part of the reason we also have so much trouble, confusion and now – hostility towards the real food foodies, as if it’s OUR fault. Wanting real food – when did it become so dang complicated?
    Reply
  8. David Gumpert
    David Gumpert on July 22, 2012 at 11:56 pm

    The reality is that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to the local police or county sheriffs. In some places, they are very responsive to local political issues, and resistant to state and federal encroachments. As the states and feds become ever more controlling, local law enforcement is becoming more responsive to citizens wanting to exercise local food rights and sovereignty. I wrote last February about a gathering of sheriffs in Las Vegas, who gave an award to an Ohio sheriff who tried to intervene on behalf of an Amish farmer being harassed by federal authorities.
    http://www.thecompletepatient.com/article/2012/february/1/hows-change-pace-sheriff-who-challenged-feds-amish-raw-dairy-farmer-receives

    Yet the reality is that if federal and state enforcement officials arrive with a search or arrest warrant signed by a judge, the local sheriff and police will nearly always enforce the warrant. And as D. Smith states, not all local officials are yet as politically aware as they should be. That will likely be changing, though.

    I think it was Tip O’Neill, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who once famously stated, “All politics is local.”

    Reply
  10. Shana Milkie
    Shana Milkie on July 23, 2012 at 1:36 pm
    Your suggestions for how to respond to future invasions of privacy make good sense, David. It is disgusting that our public health regulators are monitoring private behavior. I do like the collegial approach Susie Zahratka took in proactively contacting the local health authorities and city to inform them of the event. That sets a good example for future organizers. However, if there is any hint of repression when following that approach, we need to be ready to push back. Keep on asking “Please point me to the statue that we are in violation of,” as the wise people did here. Way to go!
    Reply
  11. D. Smith
    D. Smith on July 23, 2012 at 2:03 pm
    @ Sylvia: Nah, those guys never hafta go to jail or be put into cuffs, or even put up with any of the nonsense the REAL farmers do because they just call their high-paid, high-powered attorneys and let them do all the work. They go back to their golf games or whatever, no worries.

    And the very thought of shutting them down is not even within the realm of possibility anymore. They’re just too big. They got too big because our CONgresspeople weren’t paying attention, as usual. And we trust these morons to make laws. =8-\

    This is where our system of justice stinks. Like a big ol’ hunk of limberger cheese. There IS no justice so they could really just remove that word as far as I’m concerned. They should be called the department of the 1%. Money still yaks – loudly.

    Reply
  12. Susie Zahratka
    Susie Zahratka on July 23, 2012 at 7:55 pm
    Shana- I just wanted to let everyone know that it wasn’t me who did the stellar job of contacting the local county and city. I was away on vacation and asked one of our local WAPF chapter leaders (and a close friend), to follow up with them. When I returned, a day before the event, I visited my city administrators at the space in which the event was to be held just to be sure we were squared away. Credit to Susan W for handling the situation so respectfully.
    Reply
  14. D. Smith
    D. Smith on July 24, 2012 at 4:37 am
    Wow, Denver is really getting nicked lately . . .

    It will be interesting to find out if it was the turkey or something else being served.

    Reply
  15. D. Smith
    D. Smith on July 24, 2012 at 5:05 am
    Yee Haw – this article will make you pull out your hair in frustration, and it will make you WANT to ask those doctors what on earth they are thinking, or IF they’re thinking.

    Shazam. . . . . http://news.yahoo.com/the-milk-wars–should-milk-be-taken-off-the-school-lunch-menu-.html

    If they were serving RAW milk, this wouldn’t be an issue (except for the doctor who actually and truly said that milk is high in sugar, high in fat and high in animal protein. Well, der. . . . . . but that’s only about 1/4 of the story, as usual, from the medical gurus. What a bunch of bona fide jackasses.

    Reply
  16. Sylvia Gibson
    Sylvia Gibson on July 24, 2012 at 9:39 am
    http://theweek.com/article/index/230735/5-ways-milk-doesnt-do-a-body-good

    Linked off D. Smith’s link. In the comments you can see where peoples thought processes lead to, many appear ill-informed. No doubt the milk council or whomever the powers that be are of milk..will be up in arms. Bet they don’t like stories like these. I wonder if they feel they are being attacked from the raw dairy side and these people?

    Reply
  17. D. Smith
    D. Smith on July 24, 2012 at 3:49 pm
    @ Sylvia: Oh maaaan. Mark Bittman again. ARG. I don’t think the general public will ever truly understand saturated fats, and it’s a given than NONE of them understand that calcium doesn’t work alone to strengthen bones, it needs magnesium (which is actually more important than calcium) and it needs some vitamin D and some sodium, as well as boron and silica – not to mention a few hundred other little things.

    This is ALL because modern medicine doesn’t understand it either and they’re the ones trying to give out advice about food (can’t call it nutrition because medicine doesn’t understand nutrition the way it really works, either).

    My DH said something the other day that struck a thought in my brain – he said it could actually be a good thing that medicine, big phood, big phRma, BigDairy, and all the rest are tied together with our gubment and all the alphabet agencies because if we can get a rope around the foot of just one of those, we can pull the whole works up by the bootstraps at one time. They’re so intertwined that they may beat themselves at their own game.

    Reply
  18. Sylvia Gibson
    Sylvia Gibson on July 24, 2012 at 6:16 pm
    I believe you are correct D Smith, the understanding from the general population regarding bone health is confused and lacking. I believe much of the confusion is from the powers that be.. since that is where most of the information comes from. Magnesium is more important that the calcium, (both are important and probably most Americans are lacking magnesium) as is the other nutrients.

    My sister has osteoporosis and fractured vertebrae. She retired from being a letter-carrier, she drank tons of whole milk her whole life. She also slathered on the sunscreen to prevent skin cancer….Her vit D level was less than 20.

    She thought she ate well, She thought ‘salads’ were healthy , after all they are green! . Lettuce just doesn’t hold much nutrition. (I think the combination of deficits contributed to the osteo) They wanted to put her on those toxic drugs, she researched it and told them no. So now she goes out in the sun with no sun screen and eats real greens and less processed foods.

    Oh yes, the domino affect, (effect?) It’s coming to a town near you…. Most already don’t trust the govt et al.

    I find that most people have no problem if you tell them you don’t know something or if you tell them basically, ‘this is what I know right now’, I also find that they get really upset when lied to or misled.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.