The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported this morning that a state judge yesterday ruled against a Minnesota farmer who denied responsibility for an outbreak of illness from the sale of raw milk and dairy products made from raw milk. The case has been on-going since last June.
The judge also ordered the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to destroy confiscated dairy products that were seized from Michael Hartmann’s farm last May. Hartmann had wanted the products returned to him so that his family could use them. But Judge Rex Stacey said the “claim that a family of four will personally consume 900 packages, forty odd tubs and boxes of cheese and 76 cases of butter is not credible.”
Stacy also ruled that MDA officials and state epidemiologists “properly determined that the Hartmann farm and product was the source of illness” in eight people who purchased the products last spring.
In the meantime, MDA officials continue with their regulatory process against Hartmann. And Hartmann continues to fight for his right to sell unpasteurized products, contending no license or permission is required from the state of Minnesota.
