Feds shut down Amish farm for selling fresh milk

The FDA has won its two-year fight to shut down an Amish farmer who was selling fresh, raw milk to eager consumers in the Washington region, after a judge this month banned Daniel Allgyer from selling his milk across state lines, and he told his customers he'll shut his farm down altogether.

The decision has enraged Mr. Allgyer's supporters, some of whom have been buying from him for six years and who say the government is interfering with their parental rights to feed their children. But the Food and Drug Administration, which launched a full investigation complete with a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and a straw-purchase sting operation against Mr. Allgyer's Rainbow Acres Farm, near Lancaster, said unpasteurized milk is unsafe and said it was exercising its due authority to stop its sale from one state to another.

Adding to Mr. Allgyer's troubles, Judge Lawrence F. Stengel said if he is found to violate the law again he will have to pay the FDA's costs for investigating and prosecuting him.

His customers are wary of talking publicly, fearing the FDA will come after them.

"I can't believe in 2012 the federal government is raiding Amish farmers at gunpoint all over a basic human right to eat natural food," said one,

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/13/feds-shut-down-amis...

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Permalink Reply by Robert Doyle SR on February 13, 2012 at 1:15pm

Were we to be Dairy Farming, our raw milk in glass bottles would display a skull & crossbones with

the words warning, TOXIC SHIT 99.99999% safe to imbibe. No clause other than, "Sold As Is" $1.50 per qt.

GREAT for home yougurt mixing.

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Permalink Reply by apeman2502 on February 13, 2012 at 1:55pm

If nobody complained, raw milk could be sold as cleaning solvent. it is good for presoaking yogurt cups, oatmeal, and removing technical glitches from scrambled eggs.

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Permalink Reply by suzie on February 13, 2012 at 1:17pm

Do the regular drinkers of the crap they sell out there called "milk" realize it causes heart disease and many other really SH*TTY consequences. The only milk that "DOES A BODY GOOD" is RAW milk in the 21st century it is incredible that we have been dummied down so much that the thought of drinking RAW milk is disgusting to the masses. Hiding the benefits of raw milk consumption is a crime against the FDA. Heap it on to the top of the BIG LIE LIST.. Next we'll hear the Amish are radical domestic terrorist.. stated differently "American terrorist" i really hate these murderers of freedom may they get there just deserts soon!!

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Permalink Reply by apeman2502 on February 13, 2012 at 1:51pm

Dear friends, be very careful when some dumass on steroids and a Jody Foster fixation has a loaded gun shoved in your face. It just might go off. Then you will have the joy of hearing your assailant's best phony voice apologizing as you fade away. All these sub-normal IQ bullies armed to the teeth and bundled up for defense are prepared to make mistakes and apologize later.

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Permalink Reply by Vincent L. Guarisco on February 13, 2012 at 2:47pm

Plus, I bet the fines will be very costly. If he does not pay, the Fed will put a lien against his property and confiscate it. The gig is to put him out of business, take his land and lock him up. They'll make an example of him. It's way overdue, we need to go Greek and riot.

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Permalink Reply by cowgirl on February 13, 2012 at 4:57pm

you are spot on, Vincent. When this happened to a Mennonite farmer in nearby Harrisburg, they confiscated his equipment..25K worth, preventing him from even being able to milk his cows. They took his copy of Joel Salatin's book "Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal" and took him into custody, leaving his wife and children at home, wondering what to do about the cows. Luckily neighbors stepped in and milked his cows for him. After questioning, the police offered the farmer a ride home, but he was so upset with them he chose to walk 8 miles rather than sit in a car with them.

It is about putting them out of business. It has NOTHING to do with our health and 'safety'. All of the biggest food outbreaks come from mass produced food. The worst Salmonella outbreak EVER in the US came from pasteurized milk at a dairy in Chicago in the 1980's. Think about the outbreaks from tainted meat, tomatoes, green onions, spinach? All from corporate agribusinesses.

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Permalink Reply by Ragnarok on February 13, 2012 at 4:06pm

Those damn amish living in harmony with nature.... kill them. More aspartame and flourides!!!!

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Permalink Reply by vernon dodge on February 13, 2012 at 4:14pm

Daniel you need to put those responses in the joke group,your killing me here with that Amish one.

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Permalink Reply by Amaterasu Solar on February 13, 2012 at 7:40pm

Gotta love the Feds. Spend Our money "protecting" Us from good, raw dairy products! You rock, Feds. [I roll My eyes]

The enzymes in Lactaid are the very same enzymes They destroy through pasteurization. Homogenized milk is VERY unhealthy. But We need to keep paying for these things! Money, money, money!

There is no reason to be concerned about the milk these days. Any farmer who contaminates a truck load of milk has to pay for the whole truck load! Lots of incentive to use clean practices! Money, money, money!

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Permalink Reply by prashanth kamath on February 13, 2012 at 7:43pm

I am coming after breast feeding next - FDA

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Permalink Reply by Cryptocurrency on February 13, 2012 at 9:51pm

Use to go to the same bootleggers in the hood when I was a teenager. Had been there for yrs and yrs. Way before I had any interest in alcohol. That's what these milk farmers should do -- go underground.

The black market can be cool and very exciting!

I have a question though, why is unpasteurized milk not safe? Guessing it has something to do with bacteria...

Heard only Goats milk is fully digestible for humans...

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Permalink Reply by mystery on February 13, 2012 at 10:29pm

Dairying was very prolific around my neck of the woods years ago. You can drive along our roads and see skeletal remains of once useful buildings that not only provided nourishment, but also jobs and community to a vase array of people. As our dairies have went by the wayside, so has our independence, our sense of community has also been damaged. No longer do we concern ourselves with our neighbors welfare when we purchase our food. When you went to the farmers house to purchase from him, you made small talk, showed concern for little Johnny and asked after the misses. The electronic scanner that reads the bar codes only cares to know what you are buying and track you if you buy to many of one item. You could be storing food! The camera that watches you does not care if you or your family is feeling well or if little Johnny has a cut on the bottom of his foot. All of our natural instincts to thrive and be concerned for our fellow man are systematically being removed before our very eyes, disguised as concerns for our health and well being. They have taken the natural from each of us in one way or another and replaced it with a machine of some kind. Even now as I type this I am reminded that I refused to buy a computer for exactly this reason. But finally I gave in because I felt I had something to say and was pretty isolated. No longer when I went out to shop did people stop and chat, most have a communicator stuck to the side of their head and barely even move out of my way. Nobody looks up to see who you are, they don't care or are afraid. Isolation is a most valuable weapon, when community is lost people lose.