(IntegrityPress.org) – Pennsylvanian authorities are very upset that one Amish farmer is selling his products without their express permission.
Amos Miller operates Miller’s Organic Farm in the town of Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania. His operation is designed to offer nutrient dense, organic products of the highest quality, which he distributes through a private membership club.
Despite his operation being completely within the confines of the law, authorities raided his farm in January. They seized over $100,000 worth of goods, according to reporting from local activist Max Kane. Kane also indicated that Miller’s operation has been heavily scrutinized for nearly a decade with officials looking for any excuse to allege wrongdoing.
The target of the officials ire is so-called “raw milk.” Raw milk is cow’s milk that isn’t pasteurized: a process that involves heating the milk to above boiling temperatures which kills off all bacteria and denatures many of the enzymes and proteins naturally found in the milk. The process is typically required to sell milk commercially.
Miller also sells grass-fed and grass-finished beef, butter, eggs, and other products from his farm and nearby Amish community farms. They’re attempting to bring farming products from 300 years ago into the present by using traditional methods. Their customers appreciate the service.
The DOJ became interested in 2015 and has been scrutinizing Miller ever since. His farm has been raided multiple times over the years, and his lawyer, Robert Barnes, has claimed that the raids were completely illegal due to the manner in which they were conducted. Barnes highlighted that the state did not give any notice, ignored prior settlements reached with the feds, and violated their own rules in conducting the raids.
Barnes called the harassment of Miller “patently illegal,” and suggested Miller’s operation was completely legal.
The case highlights a debate in food safety regarding raw milk, which has been consumed by humans for millennia prior to the invention of the pasteurization process in the 20th century. Pasteurization leaves milk stable for longer periods of time, allowing it to be shipped around the country and sold weeks after it’s been secreted from a cow. Raw milk must be consumed within days and has to be kept refrigerated.
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