Health department raids community picnic and destroys all food with bleach

Video: Swat Teams Raid US Farms, Destroy Food with Bleach and kill Livestock

We were told our food was unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event...

Quail Farm

The evening was everything I had dreamed and hoped it would be. The weather was perfect, the farm was filled with friends and guests roaming around talking about organic, sustainable farming practices. Our guests were excited to spend an evening together. The food was prepared exquisitely. The long dinner table, under the direction of dear friends, was absolutely stunningly beautiful. The music was superb. The stars were bright and life was really good. And then, …for a few moments, it felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath us and my wonderful world came crashing down. As guests were mingling, finishing tours of the farm, and while the first course of the meal was being prepared and ready to be sent out, a Southern Nevada Health District employee came for an inspection.

Community Dinner at Quail Farm

Because this was a gathering of people invited to our farm for dinner, I had no idea that the Health Department would become involved. I received a phone call from them two days before the event informing me that because this was a “public event” (I would like to know what is the definition of “public” and “private”) we would be required to apply for a “special use permit.” If we did not do so immediately, we would be charged a ridiculous fine. Stunned, we immediately complied.

We were in the middle of our harvest day for our CSA shares, a very busy time for us, but Monte immediately left to comply with the demand and filled out the required paper work and paid for the fee. (Did I mention that we live in Overton, nowhere near a Health Department office?) Paper work now in order, he was informed that we would not actually be given the permit until an inspector came to check it all out. She came literally while our guests were arriving! In order to overcome any trouble with the Health Department of cooking on the premises, most of the food was prepared in a certified kitchen in Las Vegas; and to further remove any doubt, we rented a certified kitchen trailer to be here on the farm for the preparation of the meals.

The inspector, Mary Oaks, clearly not the one in charge of the inspection as she was constantly on the phone with her superior Susan somebody who was calling all the shots from who knows where.

We were told our food was unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event because:

EH Specialist II Mary Oakes

1. Some of the prepared food packages did not have labels on them. (The code actually allows for this if it is to be consumed within 72 hours.)
2. Some of the meat was not USDA certified. (Did I mention that this was a farm to fork meal?)
3. Some of the food that was prepared in advance was not up to temperature at the time of inspection. (It was being prepared to be brought to proper temperature for serving when the inspection occurred.)
4. Even the vegetables prepared in advance had to be thrown out because they were cut and were then considered a “bio-hazard”.
5. We did not have receipts for our food. (Reminder! This food came from farms not from the supermarket! I have talked with several chefs who have said that in all their years cooking they have never been asked for receipts.)

At this time Monte, trying to reason with Susan to find a possible solution for the problem, suggested turning this event from a “public” event to a “private” event by allowing the guests to become part of our farm club, thus eliminating any jurisdiction or responsibility on their part. This idea infuriated Susan and threatened that if we did not comply the police would be called and personally escort our guests off the property. This is not the vision of the evening we had in mind! So regretfully, again we complied.

The only way to keep our guests on the property was to destroy the food

Bleach is poured on organic food

I can’t tell you how sick to my stomach I was watching that first dish of Mint Lamb Meatballs hit the bottom of the unsanitized trash can. Here we were with guests who had paid in advance and had come from long distances away anticipating a wonderful dining experience, waiting for dinner while we were behind the kitchen curtain throwing it away! I know of the hours and labor that went into the preparation of that food. We asked the inspector if we could save the food for a private family event that we were having the next day. (A personal family choice to use our own food.) We were denied and she was insulted that we would even consider endangering our families health. I assured her that I had complete faith and trust in Giovanni our chef and the food that was prepared, (obviously, or I wouldn’t be wanting to serve it to our guests).

Farm food is destroyed

I then asked if we couldn’t feed the food to our “public guests” or even to our private family, then at least let us feed it to our pigs. (I think it should be a criminal action to waste any resource of the land. Being dedicated to our organic farm, we are forever looking for good inputs into our compost and soil and good food that can be fed to our animals. The animals and compost pile always get our left over garden surplus and food. We truly are trying to be as sustainable as possible.) Again, a call to Susan and another negative response. Okay, so let me get this right. So the food that was raised here on our farm and selected and gathered from familiar local sources, cooked and prepared with skill and love was even unfit to feed to my pigs!?! Who gave them the right to tell me what I feed my animals? Not only were we denied the use of the food for any purpose, to ensure that it truly was unfit for feed of any kind we were again threatened with police action if we did not only throw the food in the trash, but then to add insult to injury, we were ordered to pour bleach on it.

Food Lined up to Be Destroyed by Health Department

Now the food is also unfit for compost as I would be negligent to allow any little critters to nibble on it while it was composting and ingest that bleach resulting in a horrible death. Literally hundreds of pounds of food was good for nothing but adding to our ever increasing land fill! At some point in all of this turmoil Monte reminded me that I had the emergency phone number for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) on our refrigerator. I put it there never really believing that I would ever have to use it. We became members of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund several years ago as a protection for us, but mostly to add support to other farmers battling against the oppressive legal actions taken against the small farmers trying to produce good wholesome food without government intrusion. The local, sustainable food battle is being waged all across America! May I mention that not one battle has been brought on because of any illness to the patrons of these farms! The battles are started by government officials swooping down on farms and farmers like SWAT teams confiscating not only the wholesome food items produced but even their farm equipment! Some of them actually wearing HAZMAT suits as if they were walking into a nuclear meltdown! I have personally listened to some of their heart wrenching stories and have continued to follow them through the FTCLDF’s updates.

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Source: A Distinctive World ^  - Thursday, March 15, 2012 7:06:09 PM · by Sopater – h/t to AJ

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Genetically Engineered Foods… and what they can do to your immune system

Before talking about genetically engineered foods, we first need to know a little about DNA. DNA is nature’s way of creating the individuality of a living organism; it is a complex molecular structure that acts as a code to tell our cells and bodies what to do. DNA molecules make up genes and genes are the blueprints of life, life as lived and life as passed on to future generations. Genes make an astounding variety of proteins, proteins that are central to the body’s operating systems like neurotransmitters, enzymes, antibodies, and hormones.

As part of normal living, genes mutate. A mutation is any change in the coding of the gene. These occur naturally, often as a result of accidental omission or reversal of any of the thousands of molecules that make up the complex string of molecules that we call a gene. One species evolves from another as a result of mutations, which increase adaptability to the local environment. However, through the introduction of man-made chemicals, radiation, prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and cooked foods, man has doubled the natural mutation rate with unknown consequences for the future of the human race. These changes are thought to be playing a major role in our epidemic of cancer and other chronic diseases.

Because DNA is so important to life itself, playing deliberate games with DNA requires extra careful scrutiny and caution. This is why all of us should be alarmed at what is happening in our food industry with genetically engineered foods. These foods are already on the market! They include corn, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, soybeans, and cotton. In addition, other foods like apples, rice, wheat, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, melons, and grapes are in the process of being engineered. Because the FDA does not require these foods to be marked, consumers are unaware of what they are buying. Right now, the only way to be sure you are buying natural foods is to buy organic foods.

The reason we must be concerned about these developments is because genetically engineered foods have the potential for seriously damaging us as individuals as well as the entire ecosystem of the planet. With a potential like that, we need to be careful! We are introducing changes with unknown consequences, and unlike chemical contaminations, gene contaminations cannot be contained or cleaned up. Once they have been released into the environment, if they prove to be dangerous, we can’t simply recall them. Meanwhile, they could be setting off a chain reaction throughout our entire ecosystem. Every living thing could be exposed to completely unanticipated and uncontrollable side effects.

Here are some examples of what I’m talking about. Fields of genetically engineered crops are capable of cross pollinating neighboring fields and thereby creating new and potentially harmful species. Right now, the safest thing to do is eat organically grown foods, but if insects, birds, and wind carry seeds and pollen to the organic fields and cross pollinate them, we lose even that haven of safety. A genetically engineered bacterium produced toxic metabolites that rendered soil infertile. Corn crops that were planted in this soil grew only a few inches tall and fell over dead. What would happen if this bacterium got out of the lab? In 1989, 37 people died, 1500 were permanently disabled, and 5000 became extremely ill by taking a genetically engineered version of the amino acid tryptophan. The tryptophan was contaminated by a “novel amino acid” that was toxic. The problem is there was no way to test for this. Existing safety tests only test for known contaminants, not for new and “novel” ones.

Genetic engineering is no minor development. This is not crossbreeding potatoes with potatoes or corn with corn. This is inserting insect genes into potatoes, human genes into pigs, and fish genes into tomatoes. This has never been done before! This is creating species that have never existed with potential for lots of unanticipated side effects and unknown long-term consequences. Genetically engineered foods could contain allergens, toxins, and be of reduced nutritional value, and the unexpected results might not show up until years after the food is introduced, but then it’s too late. The fact is that putting those genes into a living organism is an extremely imprecise process, so you are never sure of what you are doing. All kinds of unintended things can happen.

What to do? For now, the best thing to do is eat a diet of organically grown foods. Insist on laws to label genetically engineered foods. The public has a right to know what they are eating. Safety tests should be at least as rigorous as those for new food additives. Right now we are on an honor system. The biotech companies do their own testing and are not required to inform the FDA if they suspect a problem. An organization called The American Campaign to Ban Genetically Engineered Foods has begun a nationwide campaign to collect one million signatures from people opposed to biotech foods.

Source:  Sanoviv Medical Institute Blog

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth