State officials raided Amish farmer Amos Miller’s farm in January, seizing $100,000 worth of food products over allegations that his raw dairy products had caused E. coli outbreaks in Michigan and New York. Miller’s lawyer had called the sudden raid “patently illegal” and a violation of state rules.
Amos Miller offered traditional, nutrient-dense food to his community via a private membership association. In January, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture raided Miller’s farm, searching for raw dairy products and placing wholesome foods ranging from pickled beets and maple syrup “under detention.” According to local food activist Max Kane, the officials detained about $100,000 worth of food. Miller’s traditional farming practices had been under scrutiny by regulators for close to a decade. The Amish live life much the way it was 300 years ago, and this includes producing the majority of their own food.
Miller’s traditional farming practices had been under scrutiny by regulators for close to a decade, and in January, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture raided Miller’s farm, searching for raw dairy products and placing wholesome foods ranging from pickled beets and maple syrup “under detention.”
Problems began in 2015 when Miller came under scrutiny from federal officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Food Safety Network prominently featured Miller’s situation, dedicating significant coverage to the issues faced by his farm.
The conflict escalated when the U.S. Department of Justice, at the USDA’s behest, initiated legal proceedings against him, as reported by journalist David Gumpert. Miller had first become aware of the USDA’s concerns in November 2015 while attending a conference hosted by the Weston A. Price Foundation, where he temporarily stored his raw milk products in hotel coolers. In an unrelated event, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had identified two cases of listeriosis, attributing them to products from Miller’s Organic Farm.
By 2016, the court had authorized armed law enforcement officers to accompany USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) investigators during inspections of Miller’s home and farm, despite his status as an Amish pacifist.
During these investigations, the USDA had demanded food purchase records dating back to 2012 from Miller, who had refused, citing contractual obligations to maintain the privacy of such information, Gumpert had reported.
While Miller had assumed the investigation stemmed from the CDC’s report on listeriosis, it had actually been launched by the National Organic Program within the USDA in March 2015, predating the CDC’s identification of the listeria “outbreak” linked to Miller’s farm.
In 2022, Miller had continued to face ongoing scrutiny from the USDA, including another visit by armed federal employees to his farm in Pennsylvania. The government had attempted to issue hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, which would essentially have put the farm out of business.
Rebel News had called the court-ordered armed threat “an attack on Amish religious freedom just 150 miles from Washington, D.C.”
The farm raid had been declared ‘patently illegal.’ The January raid had stemmed from accusations from Michigan and New York states’ departments of health, which had suggested two E. coli illnesses had originated from Miller’s raw milk or raw milk products.
As reported by Food Safety News:
“This time, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture had executed a duly issued search warrant on Amos Miller and Miller’s Organic Farm.
“The state’s responsibility had been to determine if raw eggnog and other unpasteurized, raw dairy products produced by Miller were responsible for positive Shiga toxin-producing E. Coli tests in Michigan and New York, causing human illnesses. It had been against federal law to sell raw milk and raw dairy products across state lines.
Pennsylvania state police had come along for the raid with state agricultural officials. The raid had come on the heels of federal litigation against Miller that had resulted in a Third Consent Decree.
That order had prohibited Miller from “conducting livestock/poultry slaughter and processing” intended for sale, resale, offer for sale, transportation, donation, or distribution to his “customers or elsewhere,” according to Food Safety News.
The Decree had also granted the FSIS access to Miller’s properties. But, according to Miller’s attorney, Robert Barnes, the way the raid had been conducted had been illegal:
“The Department of Agriculture of the State of Pennsylvania had suddenly come, without notice, raided Amos’ farm, and detained everything Amos had in the farm’s freezer.
“They had done so in a lawless manner, without appropriate authority, in violation of their own rules and regulations, despite never objecting to the prior resolutions reached with the federal government, and despite a complete failure by the state to even reach out to Amos’ known counsel, Robert Barnes.
“The state’s rules had required advance notice, reasonable time frames for inspections, and a showing of credentials, none of which had occurred here.
“Instead, the state had unlawfully obtained a search warrant based on materially false statements in an affidavit by a high-ranking state official in an agency with a known grievance against independent farmers like Amos, and, after the raid and finding no evidence of wrongdoing, then illegally ordered detained every item of food in one of Amos Miller’s coolers, including buffalo meat not even subject to federal regulation.
“The detention order had been patently illegal under Pennsylvania law. Despite the constant harassment, Amos had continued to do all he legally could to provide the food his members deeply needed. Amos had thanked you for your continued support at that critical time for food freedom in America.”
Raw milk had long been symbolic of food freedom.
For millennia, humans had consumed “raw” milk, also referred to as fresh milk, as it had been the sole type of milk available.
However, accessing raw milk had become increasingly challenging for Americans in numerous states, requiring them to navigate various obstacles to procure this natural and nutritious food.
The decision to sell, purchase and consume raw milk should have rested with the individual rather than being dictated by state or federal authorities. Nevertheless, Big Dairy had effectively restricted access to raw milk for many Americans who had sought it.
Despite assertions by health departments, the underlying motive behind these restrictions had been financial gain, rather than genuine concern for public health and safety.
A Campaign for Real Milk had outlined the stark difference in income for farmers selling conventional, pasteurized milk compared to those selling raw milk — and it had been easy to see why Big Dairy had wanted to keep this under wraps.
A conventional dairy farmer had received about $16 per hundred weight, which had kept him and his family in near poverty.
In contrast, a farmer selling raw, grass-fed dairy directly to consumers had had a very different outcome — one that had allowed him to thrive while selling a superior, healthier product to his customers.
