Federal regulators are testing eggnog from Amos Miller’s private food club in a case involving illness outside of Pennsylvania. Edible products on his farm at the time of inspection were taken for testing or placed in detention.
Amos has put his attorney in charge of fundraising. They have switched the crowdfunding platform to GiveSendGo, where you can get the most up to date feed on Amos Miller’s situation.
Updates
January 20th, 2024
Newsletter from Miller’s Organic Farm:
Dear Members,
We have received a letter from the State of Pennsylvania demanding that we stop providing our members with raw milk products.
We disagree with their right to demand this, and our legal team is working aggressively to resolve this situation.
At this time, all of our dairy products will not be available, including yogurts, cheeses, kefir, ice cream, butter, smoothies, cottage cheese, colostrum, cream, probiotic drinks, and milk.
This is going to take a significant toll on our farm financially. If you would like to make a contribution to help keep us running during this shutdown, please visit https://www.givesendgo.com/supportamosmiller. And if you are a person of faith, please pray for us.
We thank you for your continued support, and for being a valued member of our farm!
With gratitude,
Amos and Becky and everyone at Miller’s Organic Farm
January 12th, 2024
PA Dept of Ag extended their detention over food items related and (apparently) not related to their investigation.
January 10th, 2024
Lancaster Online: PA Ag Department wants farmer Amos Miller to succeed, ‘frustrated’ at failure to follow food safety rules
Note: the above writer’s disbelief in the concept of private food clubs – and the regulator’s misrepresentation of Amos Miller’s food as retail, while they know the food is not available without contract – isn’t relevant. This situation isn’t about whether or not Amos Miller is free to run his private food club.
Regulators are hunting a microbe. If found on Amos Miller’s farm, they’ll destroy the affected food. His dairy production equipment will most likely be stripped down, tested, and sanitized in any case. Once the microbe in question has been eradicated, their job is over, and they leave the farm. Whether or not this investigation leads to citations will be announced once their investigation is complete.
January 6th, 2024
Amos Miller’s fundraising has been consolidated to his attorney.
From the GoFundMe:
We wanted to thank everybody for your unstoppable support and inform you that we no longer accept donations on this platform. We have consolidated the fundraiser to our legal team and we ask you to follow that campaign for further updates. …
Please share this link far and wide and thank you so much for your targeted prayers, and your faith and trust, that will lead to a positive outcome.
https://www.givesendgo.com/supportamosmiller
With much appreciation, Anke
January 5th, 2024
Lancaster Online: Prompted by reports of foodborne illness, Pa. Agriculture Dept. conducted search at Amos Miller farm in Upper Leacock Township
On-scene footage
Lancaster Patriot arrives, asked to leave.
Background
You might have heard of Amos Miller in 2022, when a case starting in 2016 was caused by the USDA taking issue with Amos Miller refusing to spray his meat with a citric acid solution found on all USDA approved commercial (non private membership association) meat. Amos contests the USDA’s jurisdiction, as his private membership association members have knowingly opted out of using the USDA’s guidelines and most likely prefer the meat without this preservative.
Amos Miller’s private food club
Journalists have compared Amos Miller’s private membership organization to the sovereign citizen movement. The word “movement” strikes a second note, as we people on the Internet generally remember “sovereign citizens” as the guys (sometimes girls) who aren’t driving but traveling and proceed to get arrested by local pd at max speed on YouTube dot com.
I don’t know if Amos has a driver’s license, but his food is not available without informed customers signing away their right to consumer protections. He is not “evading the law,” as the law does not allow for raw dairy products to be sold across state lines. He cannot get a permit to retail raw milk in New York City, so he has created a closed organization that feeds itself and does not enter the commercial food supply.
What complicates things is that Amos Miller was temporarily using actual sovereign citizen arguments in court, which didn’t bode well. He has since dropped those arguments and teamed up with criminal defense attorney Robert Barnes who reached a settlement between Amos and the government in January 2023.
Retail vs private association
In order to receive food from Miller’s Organic Farm, you have to sign off that you understand the food is not USDA approved. This food does not appear in grocery stores for sale to the general public. Amos approves membership applications in states outside Pennsylvania and ships his product to his private food club members across state lines. USDA and FDA don’t like this arrangement.
U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith hasn’t been so eager to shut down Amos’s food club. Amos has been engaging with the legal and regulatory system since 2014. One month ago, his members were receiving the products of Amos Miller’s food service without interference.
Inspections
Pennsylvania Department of Ag will test the food products that were taken to see if they can find a match with the bug found in another state. They will most likely tear down and test the equipment, which will then be sanitized.
Any charges that may come from this investigation will be announced once their investigation is complete.
If you want to support Amos Miller, here’s the GoFundMe.
