An Amish farmer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—embroiled in a lawsuit by the state’s Department of Agriculture over the sale of his raw dairy products—will be permitted to sell his goods anywhere in the world except in the state where he resides, a court ruling affirmed on April 12.
Lawyers for the state Department of Agriculture, which had participated in an armed raid of Amos Miller’s farm in January in which authorities seized his raw dairy products, requested Lancaster County Judge Thomas Sponaugle to clarify his March 19 order that barred Mr. Miller from selling to customers in Pennsylvania. The government claimed that the judge’s order didn’t go far enough and that specific language was needed to prohibit all sales. In the request, the department cited a Pennsylvania law that it claimed meant no one without a state permit could sell any raw milk, no matter where they live.
Judge Sponaugle denied the request, writing in his two-page order that the law only referenced sales “within the commonwealth,” adding that “other applicable regulations do not indicate ‘within the commonwealth.’ This court shall not hold the above ambiguity against the defendants.”
Attorney Robert Barnes, who represents Mr. Miller, told The Epoch Times the state’s demand that the Amish farmer be prohibited from selling his raw dairy products to anyone, anywhere, is a textbook case of government overreach.
“The state demanded the court prohibit all food sales everywhere that would make food illegal if not made by a government-approved facility,” said Mr. Barnes. “The state even demanded deliveries of food made at home be banned, even if for a potluck church picnic, Easter brunch, or Thanksgiving.
“The court rejected both, preserving and protecting Constitutional liberties in the process,” he added.
In January, the state attorney general’s office had obtained an injunction preventing Mr. Miller, owner of Miller’s Organic Farms, from selling his raw dairy after alleged failures to adhere to the state’s regulatory policy led to the farm being the subject of an armed raid by officials on suspicion of selling “illegal milk,” among other products.
Mr. Barnes had argued during a Feb. 30 court hearing that the agriculture department “materially misled the court with perjured affidavits based on events that occurred many years before.”
Following the raid, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture filed a lawsuit against Mr. Miller, alleging that he had violated the state’s Milk Sanitation Law by operating without government-mandated permits.
However, in an affidavit submitted to obtain a search warrant, agents falsely claimed a person died in 2016 after drinking raw milk traced to Mr. Miller’s farm, according to Mr. Barnes.
In the filing, Mr. Barnes wrote: “The problem is: it never happened. ... In fact, the elderly lady who died had advanced cancer and never drank any raw milk product of Amos Miller’s, as her caretaker testified to under oath and a former Wall Street Journal reporter had already previously investigated and independently found.”
The court sided with the farmer, permitting the sales across state lines while continuing the ban on his raw dairy products in Pennsylvania, according to the attorney.
The ruling is expected to allow Mr. Miller, who was facing bankruptcy because of the injunction, to remain in business.
Mr. Miller has served over 10,000 customers during his 25 years as a farmer, none of whom has ever complained about the safety of his food, according to his lawyer, who submitted 170 pages of testimonials to the court from customers, many of whom claiming his products have helped them with health problems, including fixing cracked teeth.
Pennsylvania grants permits to manufacture and sell raw milk and raw cheese but not butter, yogurt, and eggnog, which Mr. Miller sells to customers nationwide. It’s illegal to commercially produce those products in the state.
Civil Lawsuit Continues
For decades, a community of dairy farmers and nutrition advocates have campaigned for the right of individuals to produce, sell, and consume fresh, unprocessed milk.Advocates claim the consumption of raw milk can lead to numerous health benefits, including improving the immune and digestive systems and curing eczema and irritable bowel syndrome. According to raw milk enthusiasts, the pasteurization process not only destroys dangerous pathogens like E. coli, salmonella, and campylobacter but also destroys its healthy nutrients.
However, government agencies insist the potential downside of drinking raw milk far outweighs any perceived benefits.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies advise against it, claiming that raw milk “can carry harmful germs, such as campylobacter, cryptosporidium, E. coli, listeria, brucella, and salmonella” that “can pose serious health risks to you and your family.”
The CDC claims that raw milk-related outbreaks led to 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations between 1998 and 2018.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also warns against its consumption.
“Decades ago, pasteurization of milk was adopted as a basic public health measure to kill dangerous bacteria,” the FDA said in a statement. “This measure largely eliminated the risk of getting sick from one of the most important staples of the American diet.”
“As Amos fights this injustice, he needs to keep paying his employees and supporting the small farms that rely on Amos to sell their natural products,” reads a note on the GiveSendGo page. “If you would like to help keep Amos in business, please consider a donation.”
