Federal agents have raided a farmers’ market in Gillette, Wyoming, ordering one seller to destroy his homemade chili or have it confiscated, even though the product was fully legal under a state law that has been described as an economy-boosting “giant cottage foods bill.”
The details of the confrontation between local food producers and agents of the United States Department of Agriculture have been reported by the activist Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.
The group’s Pete Kennedy reported on a precedent-setting law adopted by Wyoming in 2015 to cut through red tape that Washington now applies to those who want to sell food products directly to their neighbors and acquaintances.
The Wyoming Food Freedom Act has been cited as an example of what states should do to allow the cottage industry of food production to flourish, as it allows virtually unlimited sales of food from farms, ranches and private-home kitchens.
Many states allow cottage foods as long as they are “non-potentially hazardous” foods, such as meat, which has time and temperature requirements to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation.
The Wyoming law still bans most meats but contains an exclusion for poultry, requiring only that the seller advise the buyer that the product is not inspected.
Kennedy said the law simply returns Wyoming to previous precedents.
“Before the 20th century, farmers were scarcely regulated if at all; towns may have required licenses for farmers selling and peddling the products of the farm but licensing was for purposes of raising revenue only, not to be a mandate to conduct inspections. It shouldn’t be any different today.”
The model law now could become a test case in court, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund said, because of the Sept. 21 raid by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service on the Wyoming farmers’ market.
The agents ordered one vendor to “dispose of food prepared for sale,” John Moody reported at the Farm to Market website.
“The USDA’s actions are puzzling given that, since the Wyoming Food Freedom Act passed, there have been no reported or documented increases in food born illnesses or other problems in the state on account of it (in spite of dire warnings and predictions to the contrary).”
He continued: “What has happened is an explosion in small-scale, artisanal, and home/farm-based businesses among the people of Wyoming, a boon to growers and markets, and an example for the rest of the nation as to what a decentralized, self-regulated local food system can do to improve food quality, safety, and affordability around the nation, while helping to rebuild communities and economies at the local and state levels.”
He reported on that day: “Three suspected USDA agents showed up at the farmers market in Gillette, Wyoming, and harassed vendors operating under the Wyoming Food Freedom Action. The vendors in question had produced foods in accordance with the act and were operating solely in the state of Wyoming.”
Moody’s report quoted state Rep. Tyler Lindholm: “We had no clue that they were coming. They didn’t notify any of our state agents. These were products sold from Wyoming vendors to Wyoming people. In my opinion the FSIS didn’t have the authority to inspect that food because it didn’t involve interstate commerce.
“Of course they [the agents] haven’t read the Wyoming Food Freedom Act. They have to protect us from chicken chili,” Lindhold said.
In a telephone interview with Moody, Lindholm said: “The biggest part of this from a policy standpoint is that the Wyoming Food Freedom Act was written with input from FSIS. We asked if there would be any issues with federal law, and they replied back stating no.”
Noted Moody: “The USDA’s actions now make the Food Freedom Act far more than just a simple state bill intended to help Wyoming’s communities and citizens thrive. It is a test case for how far the federal government will go to stomp out food freedom in the individual states, and how far states and their communities will go to protect their freedoms and their folk from government run amok.”
Multiple messages left with the USDA offices in Colorado and Washington by WND requesting comment did not generate a response.
See a video of the encounter:
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At the County 17 blog, there was a report the agents demanded answers from John Thompson about his Big John’s Chili.
“Under the Wyoming Food Freedom Act, the selling of processed foods is allowed at farmer’s markets as long as they do not contain any meat other than poultry. Thompson told agents that the chicken in his chili had been purchased from a grocery store, and so had already been subjected to federal inspections,” the report said.
Thompson was told he was violating federal law and had to either throw away his food or have it confiscated.
Frank Wallis of EZ Rocking Ranch was present and said the federal agents didn’t stop there.
“Some of the agents got out of their car and were very threatening to me and another person standing there, saying we were intimidating federal agents.”
When the taping started, the federal agents objected and called local police, who explained to them that recording the encounter was legal.
Kennedy explained that the state law was adopted specifically to allow such transactions.
The federal government, in a court fight several years ago over food sales direct to consumers, made plain its perspective.
“There is no absolute right to consume … any particular food,” the government argued.
PropagandaGuard 