MNdropsite5-12The Weston A. Price Foundation’s annual conference in Anaheim got off to a rocky start when Orange County public health officials placed an embargo on an Amish vendor’s raw dairy products.

On the opening day of the four-day conference,  agents from the Orange County Health Care Agency placed a sizable quantity of raw milk, cream, yogurt, kefir, and butter into boxes with embargo stickers, which were apparently placed into the kitchen facilities of the Anaheim Marriott Hotel, where the conference is being held.

The Amish farmer vendor was understood to be distributing a variety of food items, like sausage, cheeses, and fermented vegetables, along with  raw dairy products, to individuals who joined its private membership organization. I learned about the embargo from multiple sources, none of whom wanted to be identified.

The action was a surprise because WAPF has, in recent years, prohibited the serving of raw dairy products by non-permitted dairies at its annual conferences. So, in states that allow retail distribution of raw milk, like California, a permitted dairy like Organic Pastures Dairy Co. could make raw milk available; Organic Pastures  is understood to be selling raw milk at the Anaheim conference, and was apparently unaffected by the public health seizure. But other non-permitted dairies would be prohibited by the WAPF conference, so as to avoid conflicts with hotel contracts and public health regulations.

In states like Illinois or Indiana, where WAPF has held conferences in recent years, vendors were prohibited by the organization from selling any raw dairy products (except cheese aged at least 60 days), to avoid just the kind of scene that unfolded on Friday afternoon. Indeed, raw milk wasn’t even served at meals for those events, for the same reason.

WAPF had instituted the prohibition because its conference is an obvious target of public health and agriculture regulators fearful of raw dairy. Indeed, public health officials are understood to have visited previous WAPF annual conferences in California. But this is the first time they are known to have actually taken a confiscatory action.

It’s not clear in the Anaheim embargo that occurred today what the regulators were objecting to, although they could have cited any number of possible violations, including product mislabeling, or raw milk sale by a non-permitted vendor.

Food sellers who have their food embargoed usually have the right to challenge the seizure, and public health officials usually need to obtain a court order to actually dispose of products. Some Amish and other non-permitted dairies, including the dairy targeted in Anaheim, have established private membership organizations, and required buyers to become dues-paying members before being able to buy. The purpose is to avoid coming into conflict with public health regulators. But clearly, the Orange County officials didn’t accept the private-member status of this farmer.