Here’s a ridiculous story out of Ohio:
An Ohio Department of Agriculture agent seized food, electronic devices and documents from a Pittsfield Township organic and natural food cooperative believed to be unlicensed, according to a search warrant filed yesterday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court.
The “organic and natural food cooperative” was called Manna Storehouse, and it was a local group of people that bought organic food at wholesale prices, then divided it up amongst themselves.
Sounds like a great idea, until Uncle Sam gets involved. Why is it that we’re free to buy a billion different food items everyday that have God-knows-what in them, but when a group of people try to band together, save a few bucks and eat healthy, they’re targeted by the state?
Oh yeah, because it’s the state. Do as they like, or you’re wrong.
Peacechicken has an excellent, lengthy post on this story. In regard to the possibility that Manna wasn’t cooperating with regulations set in place:
After the first contact by state ODA officials, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered.
Is a SWAT team really necessary? Was the Manna Storehouse endangering anyone’s lives, or had they caused harm to anyone? No, yet the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) went to great lengths to make sure these eco-terrorists were brought to justice. Once again, from The Morning Journal:
…ODA enforcement agent William Lesho confiscated hundreds of pounds of processed beef and large amounts of lamb, turkey and other perishable products in addition to office files, a computer, two cell phones and other electronic devices, according to the search warrant inventory.
I don’t agree with absolutely every economic idea that many food cooperatives operate under. With that said, I think they are one of the best ways to buy food at this time in our country. The people that run them seem to be incredibly genuine individuals who simply want to help supply their communities with healthy foods. I know I feel very comfortable buying and eating food from the local farmer’s market here in Brookings, S.D. – definitely a lot better than purchasing high fructose corn syrup slop from a supermarket. And speaking of high fructose corn syrup:
The researchers wanted to know whether it was the fructose or the glucose moiety that was causing the problems. So they repeated their studies with two groups of rats, one given high amounts of glucose and one given high amounts of fructose. The glucose group was unaffected but the fructose group had disastrous results. The male rats did not reach adulthood. They had anemia, high cholesterol and heart hypertrophy–that means that their hearts enlarged until they exploded.
If anyone would like to contact the Ohio Department of Agriculture, please do so:
Ohio Department of Agriculture
call: 614-728-6201
email: administration@agri.ohio.gov, enforcement@agri.ohio.gov
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Update:
The Bovine is doing an incredible job covering this story. Please take a look:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
