The Traditional Foods Warehouse in Minneapolis is a warehouse and buying club here in Minneapolis where members and customers can purchase hard-to-get and off-the-grid foods.
Around here, the TFW is known as a place where one might be able to purchase raw milk, assuming you are a member and know the right farmers. Well, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture may be putting an end to that.
From an email sent to members of the Traditional Foods Warehouse in Minneapolis:
Yesterday the Warehouse was inspected by several people from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Their principal concern was Alvin’s raw milk being held on his part of the warehouse for pickup by his customers. Of Warehouse concern was the fact that we did not have a license for what we are doing. I had been previously told that as a Buying Club we did not require one. The Department was also concerned that some of the labeling of our products was not up to standard. I agree with that point and some of their other less serious issues (temperature of cooler, mold etc). I believe that it is possible to correct the Warehouse issues and I am working hard to accompanist that task. It is not possible to predict when we will be open for business but I will let you know as soon as I know myself. On a positive note I was just rung by the Department who want to release the CSA product at 4 p.m. today. I will be down at the Warehouse then. Please keep positive and let us not fall into the fear or blaming game as it is easy to do in such circumstances. Yours sincerely, Warren M. Burgess
If you have any more information for our readers, please let us know in the comments.
UPDATE
The Minneapolis Star Tribune confirms our story, reporting last night (several hours after Fair Food Fight posted) that the Traditional Foods Minnesota Warehouse was shut down yesterday during a Minnesota of Department of Agriculture probe. Via the Strib:
On Wednesday, a sign was taped to Traditional Foods Minnesota’s door saying it was under an Agriculture Department “embargo” and “hoped to reopen soon.” Food is embargoed when the state has probable cause that it’s adulterated or misbranded. Embargoed food is put on hold, essentially freezing sales.
I spoke to Michael Schommer, Communications Director for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, who said (repeatedly) that he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation of the Warehouse. When asked if the Department kept matters of public health a secret (that is, was the MDA placing an embargo on the warehouse due to E. coli traced to raw milk, for example), Schommer stated that “If that were the case, if we could prevent people from getting ill, we would certainly share that information.”
While Schommer could not confirm that raw milk was part of the investigation, and in the Traditional Foods Minnesota Yahoo Group, local farmers say that the warehouse doesn’t sell raw milk on its premises, it seems clear to me from the email sent out to TFMW patrons that (a) one farmer in particular is being examined, and (b) that this investigation probably isn’t specifically part of the Hartmann E. coli case (or Schommer would be able to say if the public was at risk from a raw milk sold at the Warehouse).
We’ll post more information on this Traditional Foods Minnesota Warehouse investigation as we receive it.
UPDATE 2
Doug Schultz of the Minnesota Department of Health confirms with me that MDH is not investigating Traditional Foods of Minnesota Warehouse and that it’s not part of the Hartmann investigation.
This says to me that the Dept of Ag is probably investigating a labeling, bottling, retailing, or distribution violation in regards to “Alvin’s raw milk,” as the Tradtional Foods Minnesota Warehouse email put it.
Since TFMW calls itself a “buying club” on its home page, any suits that come from this investigation will quickly call into question the ability of such groups to distribute raw milk among themselves in the State of Minnesota. Ditto “cowshare” groups, etc.
vendors (not just milk) received a letter late last week from MDA telling them to go and pick up their products held at the warehouse on tue and thurs of this week or it will be destroyed.
This makes little sense as the warehouse purchased much of this product so its not the vendors property anymore.
or wait its a buyers club …..maybe they are telling MDA its there on consignment? are vendors supposed to refund TFM then? sounds like a cluster in the making….
It certainly brings up some interesting questions, though, about who owns that food. Does the entire membership of the club own that food? Is the warehouse incorporated (like a co-op)? I don’t know the answers, but I’ve always wondered how that worked at TFM.
Maybe the state intends to find out too…
Bugger, I was just thinking of joining. I hope it all get’s cleared up soon.
says they are not buying the buyers club shtick. thus the reason they are slapped with a license violation. they are a retail store like a coop pretending to be something else that does not have to meet health codes.
the refridgeration requirements to meet code will be the end of the warehouse. it can cost 50K in a hurry to meet some basic code requirements.
farmers can always direct market and get around these codes as long as its at the farm. drop off sites do not count.
i feel bad for Warren and members who will lose their investment and membership money. some of these folks were unfairly taken of advantage of in the sense they did not realize they were putting their money into an illegal enterprise. some will try and claim government subversive actions but that’s BS. the rules are the rules and meant to protect vendors and customers to ensure food is maintained in a safe and healthy environment prior to sale or consumption.
the morrow of the story is you can’t just sell food from a garage or warehouse without meeting code.
Even MN inspectors are not clear about the legality of selling raw milk cheeses this morning. The law is clear: http://www.pastureland.coop/Raw+Milk+Cheese+guidelines.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=32.482
32.482 MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE, REQUIREMENTS IN PROCESS.
No person, firm, or corporation shall manufacture, transport, sell, offer, or expose for sale or have in possession with intent to sell, at retail to a consumer any cheese which has not been (a) manufactured from milk or milk products which have been pasteurized in accordance with sections 32.391 and 32.392 or (b) subjected to a heat treatment equivalent to pasteurization during the process of manufacture or processing, or (c) subjected to an aging process whereby it has been kept for at least 60 days after manufacture at a temperature not lower than 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Any cheese which has been made from unpasteurized milk and which has been repackaged, handled or processed in any manner so as to obliterate or destroy its date of manufacture shall be labeled to show the true date of manufacture or in lieu thereof bear a statement that such cheese is more than 60 days of age.