The Fork to Farm Event at the Quail Family Farm

So this news is a little old but still worth reporting.  I was too busy with the Holidays to post when I first heard it.  Basically as I understand it in a nut shell,  Quail Hollow Family Farm hosted their first annual "Farm to Fork Dinner Event," which offered guests an opportunity to tour the farm, meet those responsible for growing and raising the food, and of course share a meal from the farm with others.  They were told they need a permit so they did only to have the health department come without a warrant at the event with no warning saying their food was "unfit for consumption" and needed to be destroyed by bleach.


My Take On This Issue
This is even worse than the raw food raids we have seen recently.  While I am totally against them, for the fact that I believe it takes away the consumers right to chose what they eat.  They can at least make the argument of health concerns.  What serious health concerns were found at this event?  Hmm.. no receipts for food and cut organic freshly harvest veggies, and meat butchered on the farm and not inspected by the USDA (was certifed by Utah state but not Neveda where it was served), sounds like a "bio-hazard" to me.  They even had it cooked by a chef in a certifed kitchen and trailer!  

Considering what is allowed by law to be in our food,  (wood, ammonia, pus, insects, rat feeces, etc (articles to come on that)) I find it odd that the health dept, FDA, CDC, USDA, etc are so concerned about small organic family farms, and the Amish and not about the practices of big agriculture. Considering that most of the processes used by Agriculture to sanitize food such as pasteurising, irradiation, and adding ammonia, actually allow for unsanitary conditions in food production because it will be killed anyways.  I know once I saw an industrial slaughter house with animals covered in poop being slaughtered I never looked at my meat the same again.

The thing I don't understand about targeting small family farms and the Amish is if someone was to get sick from their products you would at least know who was at fault because you know where your food is coming from.  Also the amount of people at risk is so small compared to the big agricultural producers.  I think it is either a bullying campaign or they just need to look busy and don't want to target the real big agriculture dogs that actually should be closely regulated. Can you imagine a raid ever happening on a big agricultural company like ConAgra or Cargill?



Here is an excerpt from a letter from the co-owner of Quail Hollow Family Farms Laura Bledsoe October 24 2011 to her guests in response to the events:

Dearest Guests, (You have all become dear to us!)

What an evening we had this last Friday night!  It had all the makings of a really great novel: drama, suspense, anticipation, crisis, heroic efforts, villains and victors, resolution and a happy ending.
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 young interns were teaching and sharing their passion for farming and their role in it.  (A high hope for our future!)  The pig didn’t get loose.
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.
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.

Susan deemed our food unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event because: 

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.

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).

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.  

 Read the rest of the letter here.

Natural News article here.  You can check out the Quail Hollow Family Farm's site here.

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