(2010-07-15) Govt Vs Private Food Clubs

People are forming private food clubs (like a CSA) to product/distribute non-mainstream food goods without the licensing requirements associated with running a retail operation. (This also supports Locavore Resilience.) BigGov don't like that.

When the 20 agents arrived bearing a search warrant at her Ventura County farmhouse door at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday a couple weeks back, Sharon Palmer didn't know what to say. This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat's milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.)

While there have been a number of raids, especially in recent months, as I described previously for Grist, there have yet to be any legal challenges brought against the lease arrangements, he says. "If they had jurisdiction, they would have busted us a long time ago," he told me.