Organic Pastures, the nation’s largest raw milk dairy, has launched a lawsuit against the FDA for allegedly turning its back on the dairy’s request for the agency to change its current law banning sales of raw milk across state lines. The Fresno-based dairy submitted its request to the agency back in December 2008.

According to statute, the FDA is supposed to respond to this sort of request – referred to by the agency as a “citizen petition” – in 180 days. The FDA promotes this administrative procedure as a way to examine issues such as this to see if changes should be made.

Organic Pastures’ lawsuit against the FDA was filed on Dec. 12, 2012 in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California. It names Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg – as well as the agencies they head – as defendants.

As far as the dairy’s owner, Mark McAfee, is concerned, it’s high time for the feds to stop dragging their bureaucratic heels on this issue.

According to Food Safety News, the agency did send McAfee a notice 90 days after he sent the request (citizen petition) in 2008, but it was just to let him know that it had received it. And that was it, said McAfee.

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But after some recent prodding on his behalf by Gary Cox, general counsel for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, the FDA said they were “working on it,” but that it wasn’t a priority. McAfee said that was about six months ago and that nothing has happened since.

Pure and simple, said McAfee, all that Organic Pastures is asking for is that the agency promptly come up with a ruling on the petition. As part of the legal action, the dairy is also seeking to recover legal fees.

McAfee said he would like the current ban against interstate sales of raw milk for human consumption, which was adopted in 1987, to be changed so that raw milk that is produced legally in one state can be shipped across state lines to another state that also allows sales of raw milk.

California and Arizona, both of which allow sales of raw milk for human consumption, would be an example of states that would participate in this sort of interstate commerce.

If the agency doesn’t give McAfee what he’s looking for when it responds to his request, he wants to press for a full-on jury trial.

Organic Pastures, which is milking 450 cows on 500 acres of pasture, currently has 75,000 customers – up from 65,000 customers several years ago. Four hundred stores sell the dairy’s raw milk and raw-milk products.

“Every month we set new records,” McAfee said. “We’re almost at $10 million in annual sales right now.” PD

—From Food Safety News (Click here to read the full article.)