Page 83 - Fall2011

RAW MILK UPDATES by Pete Kennedy, Esq.

CALIFORNIA: THE RAWESOME RAID
On August 3, 2011 federal, state and local government officials raided the Rawesome Foods store in Venice, seiz-
ing food, records, computers and cash from the store. The officials seized almost the entire food inventory at the store,
dumping out all the raw milk on the premises and carting the rest of the seized food out on trucks that were suspected
to be heading towards a county landfill. At the same time this was going on, police were arresting James Stewart, Sharon
Palmer and Victoria Bloch.
Stewart, the owner of the Rawesome store in Venice, had defied an order by the Los Angeles County Health De-
partment prohibiting the re-opening of the store after it was temporarily shut down by a government raid on June 30,
2010 (see Wise Traditions Fall 2010 issue for background). He believed the court had no jurisdiction over the club and
reopened the next day. Government officials seized records and a computer from Stewart’s home as well, in addition to
taking nine thousand dollars in cash he had on his person. Stewart was charged with thirteen felony and misdemeanor
counts, the majority of which related to the production and sale of raw milk and raw milk products. Bail was originally set
at one hundred twenty-three thousand but was later reduced to thirty thousand dollars. Before he was released, Stewart
had to prove to the judge that the bail money did not come from his business proceeds, a treatment mostly reserved for
drug dealers.
Palmer, the owner of Healthy Family Farm in Santa Paula, had been raided three times before by government officials
and had been arrested in 2008 for the production and sale of raw dairy products. Like Stewart, the majority of the ten
felony and misdemeanor counts she was charged with were related to the production and sale of raw dairy products.
Bail was set at over one hundred twenty thousand dollars but later reduced to sixty thousand dollars. Palmer also had to
prove to the judge that the bail money did not come from her business proceeds.
Bloch, the Weston A. Price Los Angeles chapter leader, worked for Palmer as an independent contractor taking orders,
signing members up for Palmer’s CSA and being responsible for communications for the farmer. Bloch was charged with
three felony conspiracy counts related to the sale and distribution of raw dairy products and labeling violations. The three
underlying crimes that Bloch was charged with “conspiring to commit” were misdemeanors. Bail for the WAPF chapter
leader was initially set at sixty thousand dollars but she was released on her own recognizance.
Much of the illegal activity the three were accused of centered on a herdshare contract the Rawesome Club in Venice
had with Palmer. Rawesome owned forty goats that were boarded at Palmer’s farm. As part of the contract, Palmer was
to provide raw dairy products to the Rawesome members. Criminalizing Rawesome’s use of its property is an ominous
development for food freedom of choice and the sanctity of private contract. An agreement like the one Rawesome had
with Palmer was the only way its members could obtain raw goat milk and raw goat milk products within the state of
California (see Wise Traditions Summer 2009 issue for background).
There were nine different government agencies taking part in the investigation of Rawesome and Healthy Family
Farms including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA),
the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and the California Franchise Tax Board. The questions now arising
involve who funded the investigation and why the state of California is putting so much time and resources into the in-
vestigation at a time when the state is in such poor condition financially. There had not been any complaint about anyone
becoming sick from consuming the food produced at Rawesome. The Rawesome raid was the most extreme police state
action taken yet in an effort to criminalize the activities of those who have opted out of the government-sanctioned food
system.
A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for the Rawesome defendants in the Los Angeles County Superior Court
October 6.

CALIFORNIA: EVERGREEN ACRES GOAT FARM
CDFA enforcement actions weren’t limited to Rawesome. The agency sent a cease-and-desist letter to a Mendocino
County herdshare operation and worked with the district attorney’s offices in El Dorado and Santa Clara Counties in
investigating shareholder dairies. The DA’s office in both counties each sent a letter to a shareholder dairy within its juris-
diction warning the dairy that it was violating state laws. In the case of the Santa Clara County dairy, Evergreen Acres Goat
Farm of San Jose, the letter demanded that the dairy stop distributing raw milk immediately with the threat of criminal
prosecution if it didn’t.
The May 18 letter to Mike and Jane Hulme, owners of Evergreen Acres, accused the Hulmes of illegally manufacturing
and selling dairy products. The letter informed the Hulmes that “the unlicensed manufacturing or processing for resale
of any milk or milk product is a crime, punishable by a fine of up to ten thousand dollars and/or imprisonment of up to
one year in the county jail.”

Wise Traditions FALL 2011 FALL 2011 Wise Traditions 83

82725_WAPF_Txt.indd 83 9/15/11 2:01 PM