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Feds Sue Raw Milk Producer To Stop Shipments

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

The federal government is suing a California organic dairy producer, alleging that the company labeled  shipments of unpasteurized milk as "pet food'' even though the product was intended for human consumption.

The U.S. Justice Department, in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration, filed the lawsuit earlier this week in an effort to ban Organic Pastures Dairy Co. of Fresno from shipping any of its raw milk across state lines.

"Raw milk and raw milk products contain a wide variety of harmful bacteria including, but not limited to Listeria moncytogenes, E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Brucella, all of which may cause illness and possibly death,'' according to the lawsuit.

Shipping raw milk products across state lines for purposes of consumption by animals is not illegal, but the lawsuit said Organic Pastures Dairy was using the "pet food'' label as a ruse. The labeling information on the milk containers themselves showed the products were clearly meant for human consumers, according to the lawsuit.

The agricultural website Capital Press reported Friday that the lawsuit seeks an injunction banning Organic Pastures from shipping its raw milk products across state lines no matter how its packages are marked or labeled. The suit says that between 2000 and 2005, seven people died and more than 460 fell ill in the United States from diseases associated with raw milk consumption in general.

The complaint said epidemiological studies have established a direct link between raw milk and gastrointestinal disease. Proponents of raw milk say the product is beneficial to human health and that such studies are unreliable.

Mark McAfee, founder of Organic Pastures Dairy, told Capital Press that the FDA 's lawsuit is meant to intimidate him and that the agency is "way beyond'' its authority.

The company no longer labels its containers as "pet food'' unless would-be buyers sign an affidavit, swearing it will go to animals, McAfee told the website.

"They fail to understand that what we are doing is completely legal,'' McAfee said of the FDA. 

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on November 22, 2008 (boomark / email).