This is a follow-up report to the government raid on Nourish Cooperative (a farm cooperative providing fresh food from the farm) on May 28, 2024. A link to the full article published last week is here.
Long story short, on May 28, 2024 (the beginning of nationwide fear-mongering about avian influenza on raw milk), Nourish Cooperative was raided and the State of Michigan issued a “cease and desist” order on over $90,000 worth of raw dairy products.
This means that all the nutrient-dense food was sitting in refrigerators and freezers and “being seized.” Over two weeks.
Paying energy bills just to store unsellable products in your refrigerator and freezer can be quite expensive. Plus, there's an endless shortage of refrigerator and freezer space for new products (that can be sold like raw, aged cheese or meat).
So on June 8, after it became clear that the government would not allow this product to be sold, we emailed MDARD (Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) to ask if we could get this product out of the refrigerator. I needed some space, the product started to turn sour and the kefir carafe started exploding. (Expect more and more gas production as the kefir continues to ferment.) I needed to clean out the fridge ASAP!
Please email MDARD requesting that products be removed from the refrigerator on June 8th so that Nourish Cooperative can continue to stock new products for sale.
Some of the healthiest foods on Earth have ended up in the trash.
Six days later, on Thursday June 13th, MDARD was finally able to bring two inspectors to our premises to observe product disposal (after several email requests — the work must continue!). Hilary and another inspector, Christopher, are the company's senior feed inspectors. MDARD showed up at the farm around 2:30 PM ET. Their mission was to witness the destruction of raw dairy products in refrigerators.
We asked Christopher and Hilary if we could keep some of the products for personal use and throw the rest in a large bin to feed to the animals. They requested an unknown connection to MDARD, which denied this request. No reason was given.
The product had to be thrown in the trash. But as a public servant, I can't throw anything away. So they forced America to do it. The first step was to count all the products in the confiscated refrigerators to ensure none had been used or sold since the last visit. All products were removed from the refrigerator and counted. Pet food supplement products include:
raw kefir | Raw beef cream |
Raw Greek Yogurt | Raw Maple Greek Yogurt |
Raw Vanilla Greek Yogurt | Raw goat kefir |
Raw goat yogurt | Raw Sheep Kefir |
raw sheep yogurt | Lightly pasteurized bovine skyr yogurt |
Once all the products are accounted for, it's time to toss them in the trash. And we couldn't just put the bottle in the bin. There was a mandatory process of opening all the lids on each product, discarding the lids, stacking the products into cardboard boxes and then using tractor forks to move 25 large cardboard boxes. In the trash can.
The lid was removed from the jar so that the product spilled into the trash can and could not be taken out and used later. If the glass shattered, it would have been dealt with as it would have been a significant safety hazard.
After all the products were disposed of, Christopher recorded a few photos of the bin and Hilary recommended: “Ask the bin service to come sooner or it can get really smelly in here.” The two inspectors then left the farm. Hillary and Christopher were very friendly during our visit. After all, they were just “doing their job” under current MDARD policy.
Sarah Armstrong recorded all the footage and witnessed the food destruction. She described the day's mix of emotions as discouragement, disgust, disgust, anger, sadness and disgust. How wasteful!
What’s next for Nourish?
These are not easy times for us at Nourish. From May 28th we had to stop selling all raw dairy products. (Excluding raw cheese, which was re-saleable after the initial 8-day seizure because Brandon could not read the plant number on our label, even though he read it), was removed from the label on the day of the raid) and others seized by the government due to label misunderstandings. product.
In addition to raw cheese, you can also sell 100% grass-fed needleless meat (beef, yak, lamb), corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA chicken and pork, and raw dog food. , pure Michigan maple syrup, raw honey, and several other products are available on our website. We are continuing to think about how we can move forward and hope to soon be able to sell all of our products and fully reopen for business.
Get nourished and fight for your right to nutrition by emailing us in support.
One way to help in the fight for food freedom is to send MDARD a short email (see below for instructions).
*Please understand that raw dairy products are sold as pet food supplements because it is “illegal” to sell them for human consumption. Our labels have been submitted verbatim, but Nourish customers are certainly free to do whatever they want with these pet food supplements.
However, at this time, MDARD says it is illegal to sell raw dairy products as pet food supplements, despite the fact that there are numerous pet food stores that sell and ship raw dairy products across the state. There are many companies that ship raw dairy products as pet food to Michigan (including Amazon!).
Please help us remove this “cease and desist order” so we can continue to sell raw dairy products as pet food and support our farm partners (who currently do not have a market for them).
We would be very grateful if you would send a short email to Tim Lyons, Director of the Pet Food Department at the State of Michigan, along with an example email template below that you can tweak slightly if you would like. Please email us politely, even if the process does not respect your pet's right to eat nutritious food.
Sample email script to send to tlyonst1@michigan.gov:
Hello team,
I am sending you an email to request that you reconsider the cease and desist order against Nourish Cooperative. We desperately need Nourish raw dairy products as a pet food supplement for our dogs' continued health.
I can purchase a variety of raw dairy brands at numerous other pet food stores throughout Michigan, but none of them compare to the quality that Nourish Cooperative provides.
best,
*Enter your name here*
Send email to: Tim Lyons, Feed Safety Manager
Email: tlyonst1@michigan.gov
Phone = 517-719-1696
You may also contact:
Wendy Powell
Email: powellW2@michigan.gov
Phone = 248-369-5136
Abbey Lowell
Email: rowella@michigan.gov
Phone = 616-813-9207
If you would like to support our cooperative financially during this difficult time, help us recover $90,000 in lost product, and cover mounting legal costs, we have a GiveSendGo fundraiser underway that you can support by clicking below. .
Or you can buy a t-shirt with our motto “Fight for the right to nutrition” and a portion of the sale goes to support our cause. Any efforts to support are greatly appreciated. We are determined to not let this be the end for Nourish and will do our best to keep moving forward.
About the author
Ashley and Sarah Armstrong co-founded Nourish Cooperative, which ships low-PUFA pork, beef, cheese, A2 dairy and traditional sourdough to all 50 states.
