U.S. District Choose Jennifer L. Thurston for Japanese California has signed a Consent Decree agreed upon by attorneys for the USA and Natural Pastures and Mark McAfee.
It continues the 15-year-old jurisdiction of the Japanese District Court docket over the civil matter involving the priority over RAW FARM LLC, Natural Pasture’s new authorized title.
Final March, the U.S. Division of Justice raised attainable civil contempt allegations in opposition to RAW FARM, Mark McAfee, and Arron McAfee. An evidentiary listening to on that difficulty was set for Aug. 9, 2023, however has now been canceled by the Consent Decree.
It signifies that the Court docket’s jurisdiction continues over the Defendants, and an April 2010 Order stays in impact for all the administrators, officers, brokers, representatives, attorneys, and others concerned.
The RAW FARM defendants, after 60 months, can petition the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) for “reduction from this Decree.” Within the meantime, they need to “abide by the choices of the FDA.”
FDA will get the facility of inspections with out prior discover. The Decree spells out particular necessities for audits and labeling that have to be adopted. It contains hiring an unbiased “labeling professional.”
The Division of Justice reopened the 2008 litigation final March, claiming Natural Pastures, recognized now as RAW FARM LLC, was violating the April 2010 Everlasting Injunction, which imposed restrictions from distributing in interstate commerce unapproved medication, misbranded meals, and uncooked milk and uncooked milk merchandise for human consumption.
The manufacturing and sale of uncooked milk by Natural Pastures inside California, the place it’s authorized, was not impacted by the April 2010 order. It’s estimated that OP has 60,000 retail clients of uncooked milk within the Golden State.
In re-opening the case, DOJ stated a uncooked cheese claiming it could actually remedy, mitigate, deal with, or stop human illness, together with coronary heart illness, osteoporosis, and viral infections, violates the April 2010 order.
The Court docket beforehand agreed with the DOJ that RAW FARM and the McAfee events violated the Everlasting Injunction Order issued on April 20, 2010. Earlier than any new testimony was taken, the Defendants agreed to the Consent Decree.
The federal government additionally takes difficulty with RAW FARM’s declare that its uncooked milk labeled as “pet meals” is secure for human consumption.
“Natural Pastures and its principals, Mark and Aaron McAfee, have thus continued their sample of distributing their merchandise in interstate commerce with unproven claims in regards to the ‘wonders’ of uncooked milk and its related merchandise,” stated the DOJ petititon.
In that March 2023 petition, the federal government needed to carry RAW FARM/Natural Pastures and McAfee in contempt with contempt sanctions.
Whereas the 2008 civil case was pending, Natural Pastures 15 years in the past additionally confronted related prices in a legal motion involving related conduct. The legal matter concluded in settlement by plea settlement on Dec. 22, 2008, and was accepted by Justice of the Peace Choose Sandra M. Snyder on Jan. 9, 2009.
Pursuant to the plea settlement, Natural Pastures pleaded responsible to 2 counts of misdemeanor introduction and supply for introduction into interstate commerce of misbranded meals. McAfee entered right into a deferred prosecution settlement whereby he agreed to the submitting of a two-count info charging him and Natural Pastures with the identical violations.
In these agreements, each defendants admitted that: (1) on two separate events “a number of of defendant Natural Pastures’ brokers or workers, with the information and consent of Natural Pastures, induced [a] field of uncooked milk and dairy merchandise, labeled as or in any other case represented to be ‘pet meals,’ to be despatched by defendant Natural Pastures” into interstate commerce, “understanding that the meant use of such meals and/or dietary dietary supplements was for human consumption;” and (2) Natural Pastures’ uncooked milk and uncooked milk merchandise “have been meals and/or dietary dietary supplements, and have been misbranded when so launched into or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce, in that they have been falsely and misleadingly labeled as, or in any other case represented.
Within the April 2010 order, Natural Pastures and McAfee acknowledged violating federal meals security legislation by introducing and/or distributing uncooked milk into interstate commerce in 2007. In addition they conceded that they violated the “unapproved uncooked medication” provision of the FDA.
They did oppose the order as inconsistent with the State of California’s regulation of the uncooked milk trade.
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