Will Jury Trial Make a Difference in Schlangen Food Rights Case? Mmmm, Pasteurized Eggs; A Primer on Raw Milk Debate
At long last there will be a jury trial of a raw dairy provider.
After six years of legal cases involving raw dairy providers in New York (Meadowsweet Dairy), Wisconsin (Max Kane, Zinnikers, Craigs), Missouri (Morningland Dairy), and Ohio (Carol Schmitmeyer), a jury will be asked to decide the fate of Alvin Schlangen in Minnesota. In only the Ohio case did a judge rule in favor of the raw dairy provider.
The Schlangen trial is now scheduled to begin next Monday, May 21, and is expected to last three days. The Schlangen trial was originally scheduled to begin today (Monday), but apparently got crowded out by the usual overload of cases. The Minnesota farmer and food club manager is charged with four misdemeanor counts of selling mislabeled and “adulterated” food, as well as selling without a permit. He could receive a maximum of a year in jail.
The judge in the case offered Schlangen a possible deal, whereby he would have pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count and been placed on probation. Schlangen rejected it.
Prior to the brief court proceedings, approximately 150 demonstrators gathered outside the Hennepin County courthouse in Minneapolis to hear Minnesota food rights participants, along with Canadian farmer Michael Schmidt, demand that regulators and prosecutors stop their campaign against private food availability in the state.
Elisa Berry, a member of Schlangen’s food club, said her two children were lactose intolerant, and could only tolerate raw milk. Their health has improved since she began feeding them raw milk. “What Alvin Schlangen does with our food is between him and us. It is a private contract. We have the right to the products of our choice.”
Said Schmidt: “It doesn’t help if they tell you you can eat as much as you want, so long as you eat only what they tell you.”
On Sunday, about 60 participants heard from seven different activists at the sold-out Food Rights Workshop outside Minneapolis. Presenters included John Moody, a Kentucky farmer and food club organizer; Liz Reitzig of the Raw Milk Freedom Riders; Michael Schmidt; Mary Gercke, an Illinois nurse and mother; Michael Badnarik, a U.S. Constitution expert; myself; and Mel Olson, a Minnesota mother who is among nine or ten individuals targeted with warning letters threatening criminal prosecution by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture for providing their homes as drop points for raw milk, eggs, meat, and other products from farmer Michael Hartmann.
Mary Gercke discussed the dilemma facing a health care provider who provided raw milk to her own family, but advised patients of the obstetrical practice where she worked to abide by U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines. The nurse wasn't ready to risk her own position by sharing her real feelings with patients. “Sacrifice is a difficult thing to carry out,” Gercke said.
Olson said she has only become an activist in the last two years, since Hartmann was accused by the Minnesota Department of Public Health with being responsible for eight or more illnesses from E.coli 0157:H7. “This regulatory Frankenstein…is crippling another avenue of freedom,” she told the attendees, encouraging them to become more active. “I’m often tempted to think I’m an average mom. I’m not. And you are not, either.”
Olson has publicly said she plans to defy the MDA’s warning. According to Hartmann, who attended the workshop, none of those warned have indicated to him they plan to discontinue allowing their homes to be used as drop sites. Moreover, additional individuals who allow him to drop off products at their homes, and weren’t formally warned, have similarly indicated they won’t be intimidated.
“They all know that (the MDA) isn’t after them,” he said of his drop site families. The MDA “is after me.”
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USA Today had a story about Alvin Schlangen’s legal situation. The state of Minnesota attempted to present the situation as one in which it is responsible for monitoring the safety of all food in the state, including that sold privately. Schlangen and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund presented it as a case of a private contractual relationship between a food club and its members.
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So when can we expect eggs to come under attack as a dangerous food, requiring pasteurization? The buildup may already be under way. And what would a world dominated by pasteurized eggs be like? Take a look at this taste test comparing real eggs with the pasteurized variety. Something to look forward to.
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Finally, I wrote an overview about the raw milk controversy for a food site, CookingUpaStory. It is intended for individuals just beginning to learn about raw milk.
This site's mission is to provide news and analysis about food rights and raw milk. Increasingly, our access to privately available food is under attack by government and industry forces that seek to impose their choices on us. The Complete Patient seeks to provide up-to-date information and encourage the development of community to maintain traditional food acquisition options.
Thanks David for the report and the links. Will you (anyone) be posting the trial proceedings?
David
Your article in CookingUpaStory was well written.
Egg Pasteurization?
It would be interesting to know how much energy is actually spent on the pasteurization process not to mention having to use three times more electricity (if one use an electric beater) to whip up your egg whites. Eventually we may have to factor in the rising cost and limited availability of energy into the scenario.
So what then, do we adopt the military practice of using spent fuel rods to irradiate milk and eggs or use genetically enhanced lactic acid food additive in order to extend shelf life and/or so called safety?
http://www.canbiocin.ca/
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMPBIGT.php
“But as every microbiologist knows, the proportion of gut bacteria that can be cultured is very small, certainly not greater than 10 percent, and little attempt was made to recover partial diploids, or to test whether the lysate of dead transgenic therapy bacteria could transform other gut bacteria. Nevertheless, the investigators concluded that containment of the transgenic bacteria was complete. “
“ Complete” indeed, these are the type of ignorant assumptions that are going to get us into deep shit.
Ken
I thought we all had a right to a trial by jury, is that not true?
Gee, I haven't had milk in a long time, now they will stop me from consuming eggs too? Guess they don't want to address the environment the chickens are in, that may be a huge contributor to the contamination..... no money in that. I bake a lot and use eggs, 9 minutes to 2 whip egg whites tells me there is something wrong with the egg. I don't want adulterated eggs or any other food.
Theoretically we have the right, but there are all kinds of exceptions, like administrative-type trials or certain civil trials. Plus, jury trials can be presented as crapshoots. I heard the judge in the Alvin Schlangen case review the options with a man accused of resisting arrest for grabbing his jacket from a cop, as part of an Occupy demonstration. The judge told the man he could have a jury trial, but that the odds were at least 50% he'd lose, and then be subject to the maximum penalty. Or, he could plead guilty to one misdemeanor, for which the penalty would be a year's probation, after which the case would be expunged from his record. Which option do you think the fellow took?
This David sounds very much like a terroristic threat from a judge interfering with justice since he would be the person doing the sentencing. This judge is implying that the punishment for declaring your innocence and asserting your rights is the threat of having the book thrown at you.
IMHO this judge, and most of them from what I have seen, are the really dangerous criminals in our society and belong off the bench and in jail.
Not in America Sylvia.
What do you think family courts are all about? They were set up explicitly to deny you trial by jury when it comes to your most precious assets -- your children.
Be enlightened though - if you can not get a jury trial for matters concerning your children (The state can take them with NO due process or trial) you can still get a jury trial for really important things like a littering charge.
Here is something that should stir the conscious soul.
When CDFA and DPH recalled our products last week, they demanded a shipping list for consumers that had been delivered OPDC products via UPS. We should never have given it to them. We apologize to all of our consumers and for giving up this list. Never again!!
Yesterday, I get a call from a very upset 36 year old Dori Copperthite (she said I could use her name and tell the world ) from the LA County area. She said she had recieved at least 6 or 7 calls from the LA County Health Department demanding that she give up her stash of OPDC raw milk. When she refused, they showed up at her door and demanded that she give them her raw milk. She refused again and called me instead. She was so upset and felt violated by the inspector that had demanded that she turn over OPDC raw milk that she had in her refrigerator. I told her that unless they have a warrant to call #911 and have them removed from her property and or arrested by the Sherrif if they ever show up again. She said she would answer the door with a camera in her hand and take a picture of the Health Inspector and post his face on FB for all the world to see....the Food Nazis are here. She had been drinking OPDC raw milk for more than a year and loved the stuff. Finally she had gotten rid of problems with her digestion and allergies from pasteurized milk!!
I then get a call from the San Diego Department of Public Health...demanding that I give them the addresses of private food clubs that buy OPDC and have it delivered. I told them that we had notified these buyers clubs of the recall...then she still demanded that they have the names and addresses so they could follow up and visit them in person. I refused and told that them I was uncomfortable with the actions of other health departments violating consumers rights. So the answer was NO....
Do you think that the health departments go door to door demanding the return of Tysons Chicken or Egg Lands Best eggs that sicken or kill, or Canteloup that killed 34 last year.
When CDFA investigated the CA creamery that sickened 1600 in 2006 from pasteurized milk that was the origin of campylobacter....the creamery was down for a couple of hours and all went sailing along like nothing was wrong. Not even a CDFA Press Release. They blamed raw milk instead. 7 went to the hospital on that recall.
Friends....my words do not describe this time in history....the actions, bias and discriminatory actions of the regulators and those that use them as puppets describe this time in history.
Senate hearings...coming up.
Mark
They slither around like snakes in the grass and they won’t be happy until they have outlawed it nation wide just as it is in Canada.
Look at what they did and are doing to Taylor’s Produce Stand as well as dairy farmers Randy and Karen Sowers of Maryland. This is not a food safety issue, their action tell us otherwise.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/15/raw-milk-f...
Take time to watch the 7 minute video.
Ken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrsr8ztzL3Q
BRAVE INVOLVED MOM interview. Her right to speak out? She is one of "the 10" don't we wish their where more like her?
TWEED
It came to me that the *real* reason the trial was re-scheduled is because the activists probably not be there. I hate to sound conspiratorial but I'd hate to be naive.
Sharon, I had the same thought, and quizzed Schlangen's lawyer closely about it. He insists there is nothing irregular about it, just the fallout from a crowded court system. The trial might actually have launched this week, but then it might have had to skip days because of the crowded calendar. Schlangen chose to have the trial start Monday, when it will be able to proceed uninterrupted. Supporters can thus plan to attend, and my understanding is that a number of them will be there. But who knows, you may be correct.
FYI....
Our bacteria tests came back from our 3rd party lab..... as perfect.
Coliforms 1, 2 and 3 on Whole Skim and Cream. respectively.... ( max 10 allowed in CA )
Zero Ecoli pathogens detected ( not allowed )
SPC all less than 1200 ( 15,000 allowed )
We now wait for the state to find the same data on samples they took the same day but lag behind by 24 hours for the results. This signals a return to shelves in a couple of days if everything matches up, which they should.
The CDFA requested improvements for this recall are:
Required to install wire mesh to prohibit birds from nexting anywhere near the creamery ( tough one....we are an organic refuge and biodiverse habitat...birds love OPDC!! ( Birds "Camp with the Cows" and we will not evict them )
A small change to our rinse protocol ( is not meaningful and has to do with which brand we use )
Pour a concrete pad for our crate wash area and dip all crates in a sanitizer ( even though we wash them thoroughly now ).
A couple of other small details....
All of these things are done....
On our own, we installed an onsite bio-lab to rapidly test for Coliforms, SPC and some pathogens using advanced 3M technoology. We will no longer drive 45 miles for lab tests and we will no longer wait 48 hours for results. We will know our data in 6-12 hours. All batches will continue to be tested for surveilance bacteria. By November we should be able to test for pathogens including Campylobacter and Ecoli 0157H7 with rapid test technology on site at our lab.
As state agencies push harder on us...we push harder on ourselves. We are getting sharper, better and stronger....I guess I owe our state regulators a big thank you!! Pretty soon there will absolutely nothing to complain about or shut us down with....ever.
Glad to hear, Mark, of course I had no doubts all along! Hopefully, by the time I get back to San Diego from Miami, FL, my store will be restocked...starting to get arthritic pain back again due to being deprived of my raw milk! Unbelievable about the nit picking they did with these additional requirements! So glad that you hang in there & carry on!
Pasteurized eggs?? My gosh, normal food is so dangerous it makes you wonder how the human race has survived all these years!
When our owners "allow" us a jury trial, the judges illegally withhold evidence, lie to the jury about it's responsibilities, and otherwise practice jury tampering, because after all the judge's salary is paid by the state and he is anything but impartial. The juries are for the most part are so dumbed down that they do not know their purpose or their rights. Is it a wonder that we rarely see justice from the in-justice system?
http://fija.org/document-library/videos/