Minnesota farmer Alvin Schlangen goes on trial beginning Monday in Minneapolis in what could be a test case for farmers who make raw milk and other food available privately to members.
The case is comprised of four misdemeanor counts alleging that Schlangen illegally sold raw milk and that he sold other foods without a retail license.
According to Schlangen’s lawyer, Nathan Hansen, the trial should go three or four days, with the first half day for jury selection. “Distributing private food is not a crime,” he says. Besides, “Minnesota statute allows people to sell raw milk. You can have someone pick it up for you,” which is the role Schlangen plays.
“The state’s version of the (raw milk) statute is that every person has to go to the farm with their own container.”
As for the charge of selling food without a retail license, Schlangen has argued that he isn’t a retailer, but rather a volunteer coordinator who makes foods available to members of a food club. It certainly seems as if he’d be entitled to be paid for his services as manager of the food club, and still not be considered a retailer.
The state in its complaint says a Minnesota Department of Agriculture agent executing a search warrant March 9, 2011, found a variety of foods at the space Schlangen leased.
“Upon arrival along with Minneapolis Police Officers, Officer Levi observed the following: fluid milk, eggs, meat, poultry, maple syrup, frozen vegetables and frozen fruit, cheese, yogurt, kefir and other foods. The following items had no labeling of any kind: dairy products that appeared to be milk, yogurt and cheese, meat mixed with other ingredients, oranges with mold, and sea salt in plain jars.
“Officer Levi found numerous flyers, website printouts, receipts from personal customers and a receipt pad indicating sales to individual customers listing Schlangen farms as the seller. Jennifer Stephes, Supervisor for the Dairy and Food inspection division of the Department of Agriculture observed that the defendant has a website offering food and fluid milk for sale for human consumption.”
Not mentioned in the complaint is a search MDA agents conducted of Schlangen’s transport van a week earlier in Minneapolis, when they seized food belonging to members. The reason it’s not mentioned, says Schlangen, is that it was an illegal search, “trespassing,” in his words. Presumably that event will come up at the trial.
According to the complaint, MDA agents have been at Schlangen’s farm before. The first time was in May 2010, in the wake of allegations that illnesses from E.coli 0157:H7 were associated with farmer Michael Hartmann’s raw milk. Schlangen wasn’t associated in any way with the Hartmann situation, nor was a private food club in Minneapolis, Traditional Foods Minnesota, but both Schlangen’s farm and the food club were raided. The food club has remained shuttered, but Schlangen has persisted.
Schlangen faces similar charges in Stearns County, about an hour and 15 minutes northwest of Minnealpolis, in a trial due to begin Oct. 15. For more on Schlangen and his experiences challenging the charges against him, see this documentary.
Supporters will be gathering each day of the trial, to attend the proceedings and share meals together. Here is more information.
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Former Rawesome Food Club manager James Stewart should learn Tuesday whether his motion to dismiss fraud and securities charges associated with the purchase of the Ventura County farm run by Sharon Palmer is accepted. If so, he could be off the hook in that case, and freed after some six weeks in a Ventura County jail.
Technically, Stewart has filed a California Penal Code 995 motion, asking that the 34 charges of securities law and fraud charges be dropped.
At a hearing yesterday, the judge asked for additional time to review some 500 pages of testimony from a pretrial hearing held last March. At that five-day hearing, there was no direct evidence presented tying Stewart to promotion of the farm to about half a dozen individuals who loaned Palmer anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 apiece to help her put funds together to acquire the 75-acre site. She produces primarily chickens and eggs at the farm.
Yet Stewart is charged, along with Palmer, with 34 counts of fraud and securities law violations. Originally, Palmer was held in $2 million bail and Stewart in $1 million bail.
Eventually, bail was reduced significantly for both of them and they were released–Palmer after spending three weeks in jail and Stewart one week. Stewart was jailed again in the case last July, after he failed to attend a hearing. Mark McAfee, who had put up his home at Organic Pastures Dairy Co. as collateral on Stewart’s bail, had Stewart jailed when it appeared as if the dairy owner’s home could be called on to make up for Stewart’s disappearance.
Stewart has remained in jail since then, living with 34 other men in a dormitory situation, with lockdown every two hours. “I am the innocent guy being persecuted because he is challenging the system,” Stewart told me in August from the jail, the last time I was able to reach him.
If Stewart is freed on Tuesday, he would still face charges in connection with the Rawesome Food Club case in Los Angeles County. Last week, two of his co-defendants, Sharon Palmer and Victoria Bloch, agreed to plead guilty to single misdemeanors to settle the case.
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Might there be more certified raw milk producers coming to California? Though the state currently licenses only two raw dairies–Organic Pastures Dairy Co. and Claravale Farm–the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has alerted county health departments via an August 30 memo about “questions they may receive from producers interested in starting, or transitioning to, an approved source of raw milk…” The memo advises the county inspectors about bacteria counts, cooling requirements, and other rules for producers. Seems conventional producers may be getting tired of losing money year after year selling to processors.
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I reluctantly blocked a blog visitor’s account. I don’t like to do that, especially when the visitor has intelligent comments to make and useful information to share, as Terry Dean Nemmers did. Lots of intense discussion and debate goes on here, but personally abusive and bullying tactics can’t be part of that. Ongoing, I’d request that individuals who comment here try hard to be civil, even when the discussion becomes highly controversial.
” Seems conventional producers may be getting tired of losing money year after year selling to processors. ”
People will usually allow themselves to be abused for only so long…..
She shared with us that she loves Nourishing Traditions and that Sally Fallon had changed her life 7 years ago. It was NT that drove her to get her PhD and study nutrition and breast milk…and also raw milk.
Can not say more because she is under contract with funding from the Dairy industry and exposing her would cause a loss of funding. She loves raw milk and will be doing much to study it and prove that our anectdotal experieces are true and we are no just fringe foodies. She validated so much just in the 2 hours of discussion. Practically all of my experiences with all of our customers that drink raw milk are backed by her findings.
The end is near for dead milk. Not becuase of any thing I am doing…just because the end is being brought closer by the actions of the industry that brings us dead milk and arrogantly thinks that they know more than mother nature and a million years of evolution. As Rome Burns they dance and sing…as Dairies die…they cash their creamery bonus checks…as the Pasteurized Fluid Milk Allergy Lactose Intolerance Titanic hits its iceberg and sinks…they are drunk in the bar.
Mark
FDA pressures are intense but they have no control over inside state operations. I know, I have been there. The FDA shut down my interstate pet food sales three years ago, but this had no effect on intrastate sales.
Dan can just sell all products on his farm to a third party and not ask where it went…he has no obligations after the sale on his farm. Consumers have not been pursued by the FDA.
The FDA tried to get the judge in CA to enforce FDA make up rules against OPDC and those tactics failed miserably. The farmers responsibility to assure that his products do not ever cross state lines is very limited. Once that product enters commerce and is out of his personal control…his liablity for CFR 1240.61 ceases. Thats basically the rule as it came down in the CA Federal Court.
This is a real fight and a true war….we must think and act accordingly.
I would not put it in the healthy category.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2202434/Taking-Prozac-Don-t-drive-Pills-raise-risk-having-accident-70.html
Wonder what legal outcome would be, if you sued someone who was on this or other drug like it and they crashed into you.
http://www.foodqualitynews.com/Food-Alerts/Listeria-outbreak-in-tainted-cheese-linked-to-at-least-one-death/
Pasteurized dairy killed another….
Eating pink slime is like playing Russian Roulette with your life.
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20120914/NEWS01/309140019/Dairies-take-back-control
Another way to do local dairy.
Anyone want to donate money to a good cause?
Raise money for the hospital? No thanks.
These so called foreign invaders are not foreign nor do they invade our body. They are natural and routinely frequent our body on an ongoing basis. If our body becomes a hostile environment then problems will arise.
Indeed if we use drugs to suppress or manipulate the problems/symptoms then our body will becomes a toxic battleground that results in considerable collateral damage.
Ken
When cantaloupe,pasteurized milk cheeses, tomatoes, cookies,lettuce, spinach,pasteurized milk, properly pasteurized milk ( allergies ) kill kids and people….the greater cause is building immune systems and reduction of antibiotic resistant bacteria. That is what we should be raising money for. The emotional pictures of kids in the ICU is really pitiful and low blow to the greater good.
I was shopping this morning at Jimbos in San Diego County. They have a new product from a local farmermilk sold in glass bottles from jersey grass fed cows that is vat pasteurized and non-homogenized. Looked delicious. There was a three inch accumulation of cream at the top. This is the type of milk people should be drinking. The pathogen risk from drinking raw milk is great. It is a high risk food. Parents need to know this before they choose it to feed to their children.
You should be disturbed by the video. This is what your contaminated raw milk does to children. Im not sure how you sleep knowing this could be around the corner for you again .and it will happen again.
Modern medicine is certainly no miracle. It has caused a great deal of harm as well. People who have survived the harmful effect at the hands of modern medicine have described it as a curse.
What hope is there for medical science to ever become a true science when the entire structure of medical knowledge is built around the idea that there is an entity called disease which can be expelled when the right drug is found? John H. Tilden, M.D.
I believe that Modern Medicine’s treatments for disease are seldom effective, and that they’re often more dangerous than the disease they’re designed to treat. … I believe that more than ninety percent of Modern Medicine could disappear from the face of the earth – doctors, hospitals, drugs and equipment – and the effect on our health would be immediate and beneficial. I believe that Modern Medicine has gone too far, by using in everyday situations extreme treatments designed for critical conditions. Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.
The following article describes why this so-called miracle of modern medicine is coming to an end. Although easier said then done, people need to educate themselves and start making informed decisions with respect to their well-being and good health.
http://www.natural-cancer-cures.com/modern-medicine.html
Ken
With these ‘scientific’ studies, do you think the govt will shut down and remove this? Or just keep poisoning people?
Having lived through this myself, the doctors have to stay two steps ahead of the damage the Shiga toxin does to the human body. Ventilators, dialysis, insulin, multiple drugs, blood, platelet, and plasma transfusions, along with surgeries to remove all or part of the colon can all be a part of the HUS scenario to keep a child alive. In the Oregon outbreak, one child died and they brought her back to life.
This is what I mean when I say modern medicine saved these children.
Apparently irradiation of food has shown that it has ill affects on animals (being facetious here), yet our govt allows it to be done to human food.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/consumer/recalls&id=8808622
Pasteurized cheese killed at least 3 more people and many ill.
by not naming the restaurant the govt is allowing more people to become contaminated….indeed I can see how much they care..
How is our personal belief about the cause of disease relevant to the food we eat? Personal beliefs are very important to our health.If we believe in the germ theory of disease it is wise to get our food from a source that also produces the food in harmony with our beliefs.If we believe that disease arises from within our bodies when there is an imbalance in our symbiotic community of micro organisms,then we should search out food that is produced according to these principles.When beliefs and actions are in conflict this will lead to disease.
Do not get your point at all. 30 years ago, ecoli 0157h7 had not emerged or was about to emerge as a pathogen. 30 years ago….we had not yet been innundated by CAFO antibiotic resistant bacteria yet….
25 years ago your wondrous modern medicine killed many people because of treatment with antibiotics when the antibiotic was a unrecognized serious problem.
Sometimes I wonder if you can read….did you see the post about DEAD consumers after eating pasteurized cheese!!!! On your moral scale it appears that death is better than illness with full recovery???? You are so fixated that you can not see that hundreds of kids per year are saved by raw milk….4000 kids per year die from asthma…raw milk prevents asthma.
When you start talking like this your political affiliations and agendas become evident.
Some information on probiotics.
http://fedup.com.au/
Here’s a group that chose to educate about foods/intolerance/additives, etc.
http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/September-2012/Turning-Vaccine-Exemptions-Into-Class-Warfare.aspx
Parents, who have witnessed their children regress into chronic poor health or die after vaccination, belong to every class and every race, religion, philosophy and political party in America. Today, they are joining hands with parents of healthy children and fighting to protect medical and non-medical exemptions that it looks like doctors will try to gut or completely take away next year in states like Arizona, [19] Connecticut, [20] Maryland, [21] Oregon, [22] [23] Colorado, [24] New Jersey [25] and many more. [26].
Ken
” accused them of becoming too educated about vaccination.”
Becoming too educated? That statement sounds moronic.
” Dr. Pan said: In private schools, these are people who have money, who are upper middle class, and they are going on the internet and seeing information and misinformation.
Perhaps he is deafened by his own need for superiority and control?
Mark, you need to read this. Yes, soft cheese is a high risk food for listeria. That is why they tell pregnant women not to eat it. Both raw milk and soft cheese come with pathogen risks. People should know this before consuming either. Listeria kills the most people and E.coli 0157:H7 is the number 1 cause of acute kidney failure in children.
Im not sure what your point is making light of the suffering of children who have contracted HUS after drinking contaminated raw milk. I think you need to look at this picture again. http://www.marlerblog.com/legal-cases/marler-clark-clients-step-up-to-bat-for-doernbecher-hospital/ The one that looks just like Chris you said was a fake video.
As for all who drink raw milk and asthma gets better, Id like to see what would happen if they quit consuming dairy products and added probiotics to their diet. Specific probiotics have been targeted to help with asthma.
As for my political agenda (it always makes me laugh when you say this), it is to make people aware that raw milk is a high risk food for pathogens. That is my big agenda. Im really fond of the warning label I sent you.
“Ranking the Risks: The 10 Pathogen-Food Combinations With The Greatest Burden on Public Health”
http://nmconline.org/articles/MilkQualFoodSafety.pdf
“the increasing number of reports on detection of foodborne
pathogens in pasteurized fluid milk and ready-to-eat dairy products clearly indicates that
pasteurization alone is not the final solution for the control of milkborne pathogens.”
This artical referrs to “bulk tank” , since it did not specify, I assume that they were at cafos. I can’t imagine consuming milk, raw or boiled, from one of them.