The US Department of Justice is seeking to stop a Lancaster, PA farm from selling meat without inspection. The farm had been selling the un-inspected meat as part of an exclusive membership club as a way to get around Federal regulations.
Lancaster Online
Full Story - https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/department-of-justice-sues-lancaster-county-farm-to-enforce-food/article_1c959144-5ba0-11e9-ac71-3bc66931701c.html
Department of Justice sues Lancaster County farm 'to enforce food safety laws'
HEATHER STAUFFER | Staff Writer Apr 10, 2019 Updated Apr 10, 2019
The U.S. Department of Justice has gone to federal court in its effort to force a Lancaster County farm business to stop selling what it says are “non-federally-inspected, misbranded meat and poultry products.”
The department is seeking an injunction against Miller’s Organic Farm on Mill Creek School Road in Upper Leacock Township, which describes itself on its website as private club that sells only to members.
Owner Amos Miller said late Wednesday that getting federally inspected would be "extremely expensive" and he's concerned that inspection of meat products could lead to interference in the farm's raw milk production.
He'll be doing some more research and seeing what the membership wants to do, he said: "Our goal is to get nutrient-rich foods out to our private members that appreciate the grass-fed meat and dairy products."
A news release says the civil lawsuit in the federal Eastern District of Pennsylvania is believed to be the first ever of its kind from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service “against a so-called ‘private membership association’ farm business to enforce food safety laws.”
Farm's Milk linked to Listeria cases in 2015 - https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/department-of-justice-sues-lancaster-county-farm-to-enforce-food/article_1c959144-5ba0-11e9-ac71-3bc66931701c.html
“We will not allow commercial sellers to ignore the rule of law, make up their own sets of rules, and attempt to hide behind a private-membership-association structure in an effort to thwart federal laws,” United States Attorney William M. McSwain said. “ Congress enacted food safety laws to ensure that the nation’s food supply is safe, wholesome, and properly labeled and packaged. It’s our job to enforce those democratically enacted laws, which we will do in this case.”
According to LNP reporting in 2016, Miller’s had about 2,000 customers across the country, and said in court filings that members “mistrust the status of the regulatory framework of the federal government and believe that said framework causes more harm to American citizens than good.”
The recent court filing says Miller’s sold more than 14,000 pounds of meat and poultry “to nationwide customers” for more than $124,000 in just three months of 2016.
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