California regulators frame Organic Pastures and force raw milk shut down over fabricated E. Coli scare

Friday, December 16, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: Organic Pastures, California, E.coli

(NaturalNews) It has been nearly a month since the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) swooped in like vultures on Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno, Calif., and demanded that the farm recall and stop selling all of its raw milk products immediately and indefinitely. Five children in four nearby counties had developed E. Coli, and officials automatically blamed it on the farm's raw milk without so much as a shred of evidence proving this to be true. Nearly a month later, the state's own tests have now determined that Organic Pastures raw milk was not the culprit.

USA Today reported back on November 20, 2011, that the five children were all infected with the O157:H7 strain of E. Coli, which is believed to be contracted through food that has been contaminated with tainted fecal matter. Since all of the children's families had allegedly purchased Organic Pastures raw milk at some point, authorities automatically blamed those products for the outbreak, and immediately ordered a full recall and quarantine of every product the company produces.

This unsubstantiated, knee-jerk reaction on behalf of the State of California is hardly surprising, as both it and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been on a crusade to destroy raw milk for decades. But what might be surprising to some is how easily these government agencies were able to target Organic Pastures without first providing a single, credible piece of evidence linking the dairy's milk to the outbreak.

Organic Pastures employs a rigorous food safety protocol called "RAMP" (Risk Analysis & Management Program) that "voluntarily goes far beyond what is required by the CA DHS (California Department of Health Services), USDA (US Department of Agriculture), FDA or CDFA to assure that [their] raw milk is delicious and very safe." If you review the document outlining the dairy's step-by-step safety process for yourself, you will see that it is near-impossible for Organic Pastures dairy products to become tainted with E. Coli, let alone make it out the door to customers if it somehow ever does (http://www.organicpastures.com/pdfs/2010-4-2...).

But none of this matters to state regulators, which arbitrarily and immediately shut down Organic Pastures dairy before even testing the milk and verifying whether or not it was tainted. So for nearly a month now, Organic Pastures has had to sit and wait for these tests, which should have been conducted before any type of recall or quarantine, to be conducted -- and all results, of course, have turned up negative for E. Coli (http://organicpastures.com/pdfs/Recall%20Lab...).

Government assault against Organic Pastures an act of domestic terrorism

The government's reactionary approach to "food safety" issues involving raw milk are neither scientific nor rational. One would think that, in order to declare a food product unsafe, it might be a good idea to test it first. But when raw milk is involved, regulators always assume the worst, which typically results in a bout of hysterical and overbearing tyranny against the parties involved.

What the CDFA has done to Organic Pastures is nothing short of domestic terrorism. There was never any evidence that Organic Pastures milk products were in any way unsafe or tainted, and yet authorities appear to be doing everything in their power to keep the company from resuming production, which could eventually put it out of business.

"This is yet another example of the government engaging in outrageous acts of economic terrorism against farmers and food producers," commented Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, on the matter.

To follow the ongoing issue as it progresses, visit:
http://organicpastures.com/

Sources for this article include:

http://organicpastures.com/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/20...