Pennsylvania State Rep. Dave Zimmerman (R-Lancaster County) is publicly siding with the regulatory control of the state and the Democrat-appointed Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture in the case of local Amish farmer Amos Miller, a man who has been selling food to private buying club members for decades.
In a Jan. 17 statement released on his official Facebook page, Zimmerman said that he stands for “the rule of law” and it would “not be fair” to allow Miller to “violate basic regulations that all other farmers must follow.”
Zimmerman’s statement was released nearly two weeks after the state raided Miller’s Bird-in-Hand farm on Jan. 4, seizing 37 items from the organic farmer and forbidding him from selling hundreds of his items to willing buyers in his private buying club.
On Jan. 11, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture issued an order extending the detainment of Miller’s food. The order, signed by Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, forbids Miller from selling, delivering, consigning, or offering for sale large portions of his inventory, including “raw meats, raw milk products, ice cream, and cheese.” Items tagged in Miller’s walk-in cooler include popcorn, nuts, and maple syrup.
The order states that Redding has 40 days from the issuance of the original detainment order to determine the outcome of the food. Redding could decide to order all the food to be “destroyed.”
A video of Redding being interviewed by Zimmerman at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg was posted to Zimmerman’s Facebook page on Jan. 8.
During the interview, Zimmerman brought up the subject of Miller by saying, “Because I’m Lancaster County, I’m going to have to bring up the whole Amos Miller situation.”
Redding responded by saying that he wants to see Miller “succeed,” but Miller refuses to apply for state licenses.
“We have asked repeatedly for him to have a license to do some of the things he’s doing, which then would allow for some of the inspection,” Redding said. “He’s got neighbors who are in the same business, who are doing everything they need to do, and they’re putting product into commercial space…all under the structures of both Food and Drug Administration, USDA, PDA, local health departments.”
Redding expressed frustration at Miller’s rejection of the demands of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA). “It’s not personal,” Redding added, “this is about a business decision he has made.”
Zimmerman did not challenge Redding’s position on Miller but offered a follow-up question regarding food being imported from other nations.
“Are we pretty confident in food coming from other nations, for example, like imports,” Zimmerman asked. “Are they safe and secure as well?”
Redding responded that he feels “pretty confident” that food being imported from other nations is safe.
The USDA reported that from 2002 to 2019, there were over 22,000 pathogen/toxin violations discovered among imported shipments.
Growing Customer Base
Redding did not mention that Miller faces the disadvantage of not selling his products at grocery stores or food outlets, but only through his private buying club. Despite those challenges, Miller’s business has continued to thrive because of his nationwide reputation among his customers for healthy and safe food. One customer in California told The Lancaster Patriot that she could not find the raw beef bones needed for the soup her diet required because of her state’s regulatory control and was thankful she could order from Miller.
Miller’s customers go out of their way to purchase food products from animals raised free from the hormones, steroids, antibiotics, and additives that are widespread in commercial, government-approved food sources. His customers also intentionally seek out his products because they lack the government regulation of commercial food.
The latest government raid on Miller’s farm has helped to spread his reputation as a sustainable, alternative food source to more people. One of Miller’s supporters told The Lancaster Patriot that he would not have known about Miller if the media had not covered the recent government raid of his farm.
With a growing customer base of private buying club members across the nation, and a reputation for quality food, claims that his food is unsafe are specious. And the claim – spread by media outlets such as LNP | LancasterOnline – that Miller’s milk killed someone in 2014 has been debunked.
“As an informed consumer, I would use Amos Miller’s products over the grocery store products any day of the week,” wrote Stephanie Coxen for Harrisburg 100. “It is time to lift up small farmers who are trying to do things correctly and stop big agriculture from poisoning us.”
Zimmerman’s Lack of Public Support for Miller
On Jan. 10, Zimmerman, who sits on the state’s agriculture committee, posted a picture of himself on Facebook, along with other Republican representatives, holding glasses of milk at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
“Taking part in a milk toast at the Pennsylvania Farm Show with my Lancaster County colleagues (from left) PA State Rep. Tom Jones, PA State Rep. Brett Miller and PA State Rep. Keith Greiner, courtesy of the PA Dairymen’s Association, the American Dairy Association North East and Feeding Pennsylvania,” Zimmerman said in the post. “This year’s theme is Fill a Glass with Hope.”
Comments on the social media post focused on Zimmerman’s support for the state’s dairy industry while simultaneously declining to publicly stand with Amos Miller.
“These clowns can’t possibly be this out of touch. Right now there should be one [dairy] farmer you’re worried about…Amos Miller,” one user wrote. “Should be, fill a glass with tyranny.”
Another user commented, “This is a huge slap in the face to Amos Miller who has tried to produce pure, natural products [for] his community and [for] his clients. What a joke you are.”
In a video released on Jan. 10, Chris Hume, managing editor of The Lancaster Patriot, challenged Zimmerman to practice civil disobedience and defy Redding’s edict. “Come on Amos Miller’s farm with me, stand as a man, defy the order,” Hume said.
Hume called Redding a “tyrant,” and challenged Sen. Doug Mastriano to defy the order as well.
In a post from his personal Facebook account, Zimmerman responded to Hume’s video.
“It appears Chris Hume wanted me to go after the Secretary in this interview,” a post from Zimmerman’s personal Facebook account said. “To what end? [Losing] all opportunities to communicate with the Secretary in the future? Being removed from the Agriculture Committee? [And] that would accomplish what?”
Zimmerman said he could theoretically introduce legislation to change the laws regarding food, but he never stated any intention to do so, nor did he express a desire to eliminate the state’s regulatory control of the food choices of Pennsylvanians.
“As a legislator I could introduce a bill to change regulation,” Zimmerman wrote, “however with Democrats in charge of the House and a Democrat Governor the odds of that are zero.”
Zimmerman was first elected to the Pennsylvania House in 2014, and in 2018 Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate. The Lancaster Patriot was unable to find any proposed or sponsored legislation from Zimmerman over the past decade that would have eliminated the state’s control of the food supply.
A source close to Zimmerman told The Lancaster Patriot that Zimmerman “cannot defend” Miller’s unwillingness to follow the regulations of the state.
Zimmerman’s Jan. 17 statement alleged that Miller “does not allow for regular inspections that every farmer in the state must perform.”
“Mr. Miller’s case is about following basic agriculture regulations that every other farmer in the state is subject to for the production of safe food,” Zimmerman wrote. “Is it too much to ask our farmers to follow these basic requirements to ensure food safety?”
Zimmerman said he is “100% against government overreach,” but “allowing current regulations to be broken would violate our justice system.”
Pennsylvania Food Laws
The detention order against Miller was issued pursuant to Section 5726(a) of the Food Safety Act. The section contains a law created by state legislators that allows the state to detain any food the agriculture secretary has “probable cause to believe…is adulterated or misbranded.”
The code does not require prosecution of violators “if the secretary believes that the public interest will be adequately served in the circumstances by a suitable written notice or warning.”
Another portion of the Pennsylvania code outlaws the selling or exchanging of milk without a state issued permit. The law effectively forbids a homesteader with a single dairy cow from exchanging a glass of milk with his neighbor unless he gets permission from the government.
State law also requires individuals who desire to sell homemade cookies or other baked goods to their neighbors to receive permission from the government. The code requires “anyone wishing to prepare food from home or [a] home style kitchen” to apply as a Limited Food Establishment.
If the application is approved, the government will conduct an in-home inspection. The state also requires people to pay recurring annual fees for the permission to sell products.
As the state legislature continues to add more statutes and codes, many Pennsylvanians, both producers and consumers, regularly defy the ever-increasing laws or look for loopholes in order to acquire the food they desire.
For example, Pennsylvania law outlaws the sale of raw butter for human consumption (with or without a permit), a statute that has caused some producers to label raw butter as “approved for pet food only.”
One producer’s website states, “Everything in our Raw Butter process is done to human consumption standards, including cleanliness, testing, etc…However, since PA state regulations make no provision for Raw Butter, by law, we are forced to label it as pet food.”
Zimmerman contends that Miller’s case is not about selling raw milk.
“I can go to a local farm right now to purchase raw products,” Zimmerman said in his statement. “There are many farmers with roadside stands right here in Lancaster County who sell raw products.”
For Miller and his customers, however, the issue is about more than raw milk. It is about having the liberty to make food choices free from government regulation.
Travis Schmalhofer, former sheriff’s sergeant in Lancaster County, told The Lancaster Patriot that he is concerned with the increasing regulation in Pennsylvania.
“If they’re saying [Amos Miller] can’t do that and sell it to people who actually want it,” Schmalhofer said on The Lancaster Patriot Podcast, “it is just one more step” for the state to forbid families from consuming milk from their own farm animals in the name of “safety.”
“There should be freedom here for us to actually put into our own mouths what we think is good and healthy for our families,” Schmalhofer said.
“Representative” Zimmerman, you remind me of the Nazi brown shirts who were “just doing their job”.
You are a weak man. More specifically, you are an abomination.
‘He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.’
– Proverbs 17:15″
Well said – You would think these people would be concerned about real world pressing issues like Cancer causing ingredients in our food TODAY. No Zimmerman & his crony’s need to pick on an Amishman. Your priorities are all screwed up.
The Amish as a whole say they believe Jesus is God’s Son, but they do not confess Him as Lord. Go to ministry.org if you want to learn more before you use scripture inappropriately.
That is mapministry.org.
Another episode of the incremental enslavement of us all.
Unite America. The government is not here to save us.
Make NO mistake about it, the only reason they are attacking Amos Miller is because he is providing the most healthy food the USA has to offer, AND doing it without the USDA bloating him with fees and red tape to keep his profits to a minimum.
All you patriots that are reading this, I encourage you to do as I did, go and give NOW to the GiveSendGo account (above) for Amos Miller to help him fight, for food freedom in America and for MY and YOUR own food freedom!!! And share this news with people in your life: YOU and I prayerfully doing what you can will make a difference! Please pray for our country 2 Cron 7:14! Amen.
“The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those who blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves.” Dresden James
Hear! Hear!
To refuse walking through the door of blood-bought American freedoms is its own crime. Repentance is a rare work in this hour, yet the first step to well-ordered Liberty. All false religions have words—true religion is the embracing the virtue of our unseen King.
Hear! Hear!
Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.
You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down – [up] man’s old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
—President Ronald Reagan
Inaugural Address, 1981
We the People have the Right to use products that We want in Our Bodies. Just because an Amish man won’t Be bullied by Bureaucrats! There are Way too many MADE UP AGENCIES that We the People DID NOT ELECT! Time to Break down this Over reach and Abolish these man made Bureaucrats! If this Representative was Truly and Honorable Man and Gave his Oath to Support the US /Pennsylvania Constitution, he is Violating such Oath! Shame on these Elected Turants! Many of these State Reps are up for Re election! Time to send them Packing! They won’t even put Recalls of those in Government who Disobey their Oath that they swore to uphold! We need Change in All Government entities. Learn your Rights of the US Constitution so We can Lawfully and Constitutionally Remove such Fools. God Bless Amos Miller.
I just feel sad for the many multitudes of Amish children who are raped and beaten daily which seems to be in part because the Amish do not have to abide by US law. Watch on True Crime Daily, Cults To Consciousness, and yodertoder40.