Along with the many other important duties that the government is entrusted with, it is responsible for raiding Amish farms to confiscate illegally used milk.
On April 20, 2010, Dan Allgyer, an Amish farmer from Kinzers, Pa., came out of his house at 4:30 a.m. to head toward his barn to milk his cows. Suddenly, five cars pulled up to the barn in the dark, shining their headlights directly inside. When Allgyer walked over, he was intercepted by two Food and Drug Administration agents, a state trooper and two deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service.
According to Allgyer, one FDA agent demanded that he open his barn for inspection, stating with grave severity, “You have cows. You produce food for human consumption.”
A milk bust. And Allgyer, with his milk pail, was caught red-handed.
The officials detained Allgyer for interrogation at the barn. At the same time, they proceeded to root through the barn, digging through coolers and freezers and taking copious pictures of milk. Allgyer had, apparently, violated federal law.
His crime? Allgyer had sold raw milk (not processed) without a milk vendor license from the government. (Raw milk is considered by some to be healthier than the processed milk usually found in grocery stores, but can carry infectious bacteria that can be harmful, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
Allgyer wasn’t the only one in on the illegal milk network. In a separate instance, on Aug. 10, 2007, a SWAT team-like invasion consisting of six police cruisers and five unmarked federal government cars descended on the property of Mennonite farmer Mark Nolt, in what a fellow farmer termed a “Gestapo raid.”
The group of government officials confiscated some $30,000 of dairy products (cheese, milk and the sort) and barn equipment. They refused to answer Nolt’s questions about what prompted the raid, and then, after searching his house, they handcuffed Nolt and led him away.
It was later revealed that the government had spent months leading up to the attack piling up evidence to confirm Nolt’s illegal milk trade. Undercover agents had bought raw milk from him on eight separate occasions, documenting each transaction as evidence of Nolt’s wrongdoing. Because Nolt had sold milk across state borders, he too, like Allgyer, was convicted of violating federal law, thanks to the interstate commerce clause.
Public reaction was immediate and angry. Hundreds of people rallied outside of the magistrate’s office, wearing shirts proclaiming their love for the raw milk that Nolt produced. A spokesperson for Nolt accused the U.S. government of squashing the private raw milk industry to help eliminate competition for the big businesses that produce processed milk.
One woman gave particularly emotional testimony: “My heart is pounding. I can’t believe what a goddamned police state this is. I gave him $100 last week for a huge delivery of stuff, including raw cream that I planned on using to make cream puffs.”
Oh, God. Not the cream puffs.
But I have to say, she’s got a good point. Why is the government controlling what kind of milk we buy? By extension, we can look at the connections to New York’s recent restrictions on soft drink sizes at fast food restaurants, or Boston’s limitations on sugary beverages.
We understand that the government is concerned about the welfare of its citizens. We understand that the government wants to impress upon us the importance of eating healthily. But the government has to refrain from reaching too far into our lives. Choices such as drinking soft drinks or consuming locally produced raw milk are choices that should be made by the consumer alone.
With every overreach regulation and licensure requirement, the government extends itself to telling us what and how much we are allowed to eat, removing the personal liberties and freedoms of its citizens. The government should step back and leave personal choices to the people.
And the government should probably desist from raiding Amish farms as well.
Kevin Hwang is a senior at Athens High School who is taking classes at Ohio University and a columnist for The Post. Should the government tell you what kind of milk to drink? Email Kevin at kh219910@ohiou.edu.
