permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

[This is old news but a heads-up for people holding permaculture events,
i.e. prospective N.A. Permaculture Gathering - LL]

Health department raids community picnic and destroys all food with bleach
- A Distinctive World | A Distinctive World
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Health department raids community picnic and destroys all food with bleach*
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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