Controversy is brewing in rural Pennsylvania after an organic Amish farm was accused of contributing to the death of a raw milk drinker and eschewing federal regulations for processing meat.
In 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it found listeria in the raw milk sold by Millers Organic Farm, located in Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania. Two people were sickened by raw milk in the area and one died.
The FDA said it identified the strain of listeria as being genetically similar to the one that sickened the drinkers, and concluded that Miller’s milk was the “likely source” of the potentially harmful bacteria.
The farm’s owner, Amos Miller, denied the allegations according to a report from Fox43 in Harrisburg, PA.
Miller told the news station that the milk was not proven to have caused the illnesses, and said that the person who died after drinking it had pre-existing conditions.
“Her family is very upset that FDA and USDA is using her case to make us look bad,” Miller said.
Federal prosecutors have since accused him of ‘flouting federal food safety laws,’ leading to further controversy, a threat of fines and jail time, as well as a debate about whether farmers should be given the freedom to process food according to their own preferences.
Organic Farmer Held in Contempt After 39-Page Ruling
At stake is whether or not the Millers should be able to process their organic, grass-fed meats the way they choose.
Miller’s private food club members have said that they don’t want their grass-fed meats preserved with chemicals as is typically required by the FDA.
All meat processed by the FDA must be treated with chemical preservatives, Miller said.
Among the ingredients used is citric acid, which is often made from genetically engineered corn that likely has been soaked in pesticides including glyphosate, the main component of Monsanto and Bayer’s Roundup herbicide.
“Often they use citric acid, which you’d think comes from oranges or lemons, but it’s a modified substance made from corn…and they don’t even have to label it on the meat,” Miller said.
“The USDA processing plants require the meat to be treated with a chemical cocktail of citric acid, lactic acid and peracetic acid,” said a customer who handles Miller’s website and other electronic communications (since the Millers are Amish), according to ReturntoNow.Net.
To Miller, processing his meat in this way would undermine his commitment to producing meat the old fashioned way, without chemicals, a service his customers pay a premium for at the cash register.
“The peracetic acid is toxic and the citric and lactic are GMO,” Miller said.
The farm’s practices are organic, non-GMO, chemical-free, hormone-free, and antibiotic-free, according to its website.
“[The cows] get sunshine, they get green grass. If the animals eat good then we can eat good as well,” Miller said.
“They use it as their medicine.”
In 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) won a lawsuit by an injunction against Miller and the farm over his refusal to follow these rules.
In 2020, Miller signed a consent decree that acknowledged he violated the injunction.
On June 16 of this year, he was held in contempt of court after a 39-page ruling was published detailing his interactions with Food and Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) agents.
The agents accused him of ‘intentionally ignoring federal regulations’ on the slaughter of his livestock, as well as processing and labeling meat.
Time is Running Out for the Miller Family to Save Their Farm
Petition organizer Niki Adamkoba and her “helper.” Adamkoba said she reversed her endometrial and ovarian cancer and infertility through a series of natural protocols including eating organic food from Miller Organic Farm.
Time is running out for the Miller family as they stare down two fines that threaten the future of the farm itself, as well as possible jail time.
The first fine of $250,000 was handed down by U.S. District Judge Edward Jr. Smith, who found Miller in contempt for violating the 2020 decree.
The second fine is an additional $14,436 the court is demanding to cover enforcement costs.
The farm has launched a petition titled ‘HELP SAVE OUR FARM FOOD! Farmer Amos Miller vs. USDA,’ which has raised over $73,000 of its goal of $100,000 as of the writing of this article.
Miller originally was given 30 days to pay the fine according to the August 3 article, and could face further fines and possible jail time if the court’s demands are not met.
The petition states that the FDA is forcing the farm to sell out of its existing inventory, which could happen by the end of August, and USDA investigators have demanded that they not process any not process any pork, beef, chicken, or turkey.
“[I’ll] do do whatever it takes to keep our children on the farm rather than going out into the world looking for jobs, which can not be good in our culture,” said Miller, who is Amish, to Fox43.
“If we have to pay it all ourselves, very likely we will not be able to move forward.”