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Organic Pasture’s owner accepts consent decree in 15-year-old raw milk case
U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston for Eastern California has signed a Consent Decree agreed upon by attorneys for the United States and Organic Pastures and Mark McAfee.
It continues the 15-year-old jurisdiction of the Eastern District Court over the civil matter involving the concern over RAW FARM LLC, Organic Pasture’s new legal name.
Last March, the U.S. Department of Justice raised possible civil contempt allegations against RAW FARM, Mark McAfee, and Arron McAfee. An evidentiary hearing on that issue was set for Aug. 9, 2023, but has now been canceled by the Consent Decree.
It means that the Court’s jurisdiction continues over the Defendants, and an April 2010 Order remains in effect for all the directors, officers, agents, representatives, attorneys, and others involved.
The RAW FARM defendants, after 60 months, can petition the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for “relief from this Decree.” In the meantime, they must “abide by the decisions of the FDA.”
FDA gets the power of inspections without prior notice. The Decree spells out specific requirements for audits and labeling that must be followed. It includes hiring an independent “labeling expert.”
The Department of Justice reopened the 2008 litigation last March, claiming Organic Pastures, known now as RAW FARM LLC, was violating the April 2010 Permanent Injunction, which imposed restrictions from distributing in interstate commerce unapproved drugs, misbranded food, and raw milk and raw milk products for human consumption.
The production and sale of raw milk by Organic Pastures within California, where it is legal, was not impacted by the April 2010 order. It’s estimated that OP has 60,000 retail customers of raw milk in the Golden State.
In re-opening the case, DOJ said a raw cheese claiming it can cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent human disease, including heart disease, osteoporosis, and viral infections, violates the April 2010 order.
The Court previously agreed with the DOJ that RAW FARM and the McAfee parties violated the Permanent Injunction Order issued on April 20, 2010. Before any new testimony was taken, the Defendants agreed to the Consent Decree.
The government also takes issue with RAW FARM’s claim that its raw milk labeled as “pet food” is safe for human consumption.
“Organic Pastures and its principals, Mark and Aaron McAfee, have thus continued their pattern of distributing their products in interstate commerce with unproven claims about the ‘wonders’ of raw milk and its associated products,” said the DOJ petititon.
In that March 2023 petition, the government wanted to hold RAW FARM/Organic Pastures and McAfee in contempt with contempt sanctions.
While the 2008 civil case was pending, Organic Pastures 15 years ago also faced similar charges in a criminal action involving similar conduct. The criminal matter concluded in settlement by plea agreement on Dec. 22, 2008, and was approved by Magistrate Judge Sandra M. Snyder on Jan. 9, 2009.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, Organic Pastures pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor introduction and delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of misbranded food. McAfee entered into a deferred prosecution agreement whereby he agreed to the filing of a two-count information charging him and Organic Pastures with the same violations.
In these agreements, both defendants admitted that: (1) on two separate occasions “one or more of defendant Organic Pastures’ agents or employees, with the knowledge and consent of Organic Pastures, caused [a] box of raw milk and dairy products, labeled as or otherwise represented to be ‘pet food,’ to be sent by defendant Organic Pastures” into interstate commerce, “knowing that the intended use of such foods and/or dietary supplements was for human consumption;” and (2) Organic Pastures’ raw milk and raw milk products “were foods and/or dietary supplements, and were misbranded when so introduced into or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce, in that they were falsely and misleadingly labeled as, or otherwise represented.
In the April 2010 order, Organic Pastures and McAfee acknowledged violating federal food safety law by introducing and/or distributing raw milk into interstate commerce in 2007. They also conceded that they violated the “unapproved raw drugs” provision of the FDA.
They did oppose the order as inconsistent with the State of California’s regulation of the raw milk industry.
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