It's a Crime to Sell Raw Milk?

Written By: Jerry Gilbertson  |  Posted: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Its hard to believe that in the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, that the selling of unpasteurized (raw) milk would bring down the wrath of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection (WDATCP) upon a small family farm in Pepin County. Here we are in "America's Dairyland, " and Wayne and Janet Brunner of Midvalleyvu Family Farm near Arkansaw, Wisconsin are in the fight of their lives just trying to sell wholesome, natural, unprocessed milk. They have a product that is in demand by many who believe raw milk is superior and safer than pasteurized milk.

Since 2000 the Brunners have been jumping through all the hoops the WDATCP has thrown at them. They thought they had the WDATCP's sanction when they were selling "cow shares" so investors could have the milk from cows in which they owned shares. In 2002 the very same WDATCP's Cheryl Daniels, then Administrative Law Judge ruled the Brunners had to sell "farm shares" in order to sell raw milk to the investors. Now the same Cheryl Daniels, who is now Assistant Legal Counsel for WDATCP, has served the Brunners with a Request for Interogatories and Demand for Production of Documents to serve as evidence in the preliminary investigation of possible violations of Wis. Stats. Ch. 97, and Wis. Adm. Code Chs. ATCP 80, 75, 69, 77, 85, 60. The request demands that the Brunners provide to DATCP by March 1st documents back to Jan. 2002 related to 38 issues ranging from tax returns to all signed contracts of their share holders along with all their share holders' personal information.

Sign into your account to read the rest of this article. »