|
<Back
| Home | Basics |
Departments | Get
Involved | Site Map | What's
New
Restoring Raw Almonds from California --
Farmer Lawsuit Moving Forward
With Your Help We Can Win This Fight!
A lawsuit filed in the Washington, D.C. federal district court late last
year, which would throw out the USDA’s raw almond pasteurization
mandate, is moving ahead. Enacted in the name of food safety, the USDA
rule requires treatment with a toxic gas (propylene oxide) or steam heat
for all raw almonds produced by American growers and sold commercially
to domestic consumers.
Eighteen California almond farmers and wholesale nut handlers are the
formal legal parties suing the USDA to overturn the rule. Their businesses
and farming practices have been ruined by the rule, they charge. The
Cornucopia Institute, a family farmer watchdog group, is helping coordinate
the legal strategy. It’s an expensive process and Cornucopia is
working to help raise money for legal costs associated with repealing
the almond treatment mandate.
In late December, the USDA moved to dismiss the court challenge on
procedural grounds. It’s a move that Cornucopia lawyers anticipated
and they expect will be rejected.
The case is growing in importance as federal regulators weigh a number
of other onerous food safety treatment plans for the nation’s
fresh vegetables, fruit and nuts. If allowed to stand as a precedent,
the USDA and the FDA will be further encouraged to apply similar treatment
schemes to many fresh foods.
“We have a very strong legal case,” says Will Fantle, Cornucopia’s
Research Director. “It appears that USDA clearly exceeded its
regulatory authority with this rule and bungled its enactment. But we
need to make sure that we have the necessary financial resources to
have our say in court and to prosecute this case to the fullest extent.”
Fantle suggests that the USDA and FDA should instead focus food safety
efforts on proper management of the mountains of manure created by the
nation’s livestock factory farms. Many believe that dangerous
E. coli and Salmonella bacteria contained in the manure are escaping
into the water, air and land of our agricultural regions and contaminating
other food crops.
Cornucopia is asking those interested in protecting access to truly
raw and fresh foods to support the almond farmers and handlers with
their lawsuit. Online donations can be made at www.cornucopia.org
(please note that the donation is in support of the almond lawsuit).
Updates and news on the almond issue can also be found under The Authentic
Almond Project on Cornucopia’s web page.
- Mark Kastel, The Cornucopia Institute
<Back
| Home | Tour
| Calendar | Contact
Us | Funding | Join
Now
|