In July of 2014 the Michigan Department of Agriculture forced a Standish, Michigan farmer to dump over 240 gallons of milk and over 1,000 eggs over a technicality. If you carouse the internet you will find a lot of stories about how the MDA was wrong and what a waste of food. A lot of people are saying it is because the government is against small, family farms. It was a major waste of perfectly good and I’m sure delicious food. I cannot tell you how heart wrenching it is to watch the food you work hard to produce be destroyed. My heart goes out to the Golimbieski Family (owners of High Hill Dairy) and Jenny Samuelson the owner of My Family Co-op.
However, we all need to remember why the MDA forced them to dump that food over a technicality. It is two little words, that mean a lot: Food Safety.
Food Safety is Important to the Government and Agriculture
The MDA and other similar organizations through the country and world are the reason why you can safely eat the food on your dinner table each night. They are the reason why in today’s society most of us don’t know what a serious or deadly food borne illness is. No one loves it when the inspector shows up to inspect their farm, restaurant or other food establishment. But honestly, I appreciate them for what they do. Without them we would not have the safe, healthy food supply that we have today.
The majority of dairy farmers ship Grade A milk today. So what does Grade A milk mean exactly? For us, the normal people, it means we get inspected. At least twice a year a state inspector comes out to our farm and our farm is inspected by our milk cooperative twice a year as well. An FDA inspector goes around the area as well every 15 months. They have a big sheet of criteria that we have to meet. There are different sections and each bullet under a section is worth a number of points. Each farm when the inspector comes on start with 100 points and as the inspector sees things wrong, they write it down and subtract the number of points that infraction is worth. At the end of the walk through if our total is still over 90 then we pass and can keep our Grade A license.
If a farm doesn’t pass, they first get what is called a reinsepection. The inspector wrote down all of the things that need to be fixed. We are expected to fix them and the inspector comes back within 30 days of the original inspection usually. When they come back, all the suggestions on the inspectors sheet has to be fixed, otherwise we will loose our Grade A permit. Which means our milk cannot go to human consumption or we simply cannot ship any milk at all. By holding our farms and procedures to a standard the state is making sure our milk is up to human consumption standards.
Licensing a Food Co-op
Now onto the licensing issue. To you, this might seem like just a tiny mix up. But here is where the MDA is coming from. According to MDARD (the Michigan Department of Agriculture leg that does Food Establishment licensing) a Food Co-op is only exempt from the regular Food Establishment licensing if it is a non-profit, meaning that it is not selling the food for an income. Once the food is being sold for profit (whether big or small) the farm needs to have their Food Establishment license. This license is of the similar mindset of our Grade A permit on our dairy farms. Inspectors come in to make sure they are using standards and keeping the environment up to a standard for food processing and preparation.
Is this a move by the MDARD to get rid of small, local, family farms? Absolutely not. This has nothing to do with farm size or philosophy. Once the farm begins selling food for a profit they must go through the licensing process. By bringing in a state inspector they are saying the food is processed in a safe, sterile, environment and following their guidelines to providing safe, quality food to their customers. This has nothing to do with raw milk or being anti-small farms. When you sell food for a profit you have to follow certain standards according to the government.
Personally, I am not picking on the members of food co-ops. I support everyone having access to healthy, fresh food. I love having garden fresh food! However, I do not support skipping food safety regulations. After I and my family contracted Norovirus this past spring I would not wish any food borne illness on anyone. That is why I take food safety very seriously. I hate seeing so much food go to waste but rules are rules and I appreciate the work these state employees do in providing safe, nutritious food for my family. Although the rules may not be perfect, I do believe they accomplish what they are set out to: Provide safe food for everyone.
