DVD!
A Video Interview with Dawn Story of New Moon Naturals
by Kimberly Hartke, Publicist Weston A. Price Foundation
At the recent Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association lobby day in the state legislature, I met an inspiring homesteader, who has a small business and established a successful farmers market to help others, like herself, bring their products to market.
It never ceases to amaze me the burdens our over-regulated society puts on these budding entrepreneurs. Here, in her own words, Dawn Story, of Charlottesville, Virginia explains her predicament in complying with conflicting laws imposed by different government bureaucracies.
Dawn Story on Regulatory Confusion
Unfortunately, the Food Safety bills S 510 and HR 2749 threaten to add even more laws and another layer of confusing regulations to frustrate these small, local enterprises. The FDA wants to be on the farm, not only telling farmers what to do, but adding paperwork, fines, and criminal penalties for non-compliance. Oh, and the right to shut down your business if they decide it is “in the public interest.”
If you don’t want to see that happen, please contact your Senator’s office and ask them to exempt direct selling farms from these proposed regulations. These are food producers that look each customer in the eyes, and there is a built in accountability and transparency in their direct-to-consumer mode of operation.
In the case of local farms, the current state regulations are sufficient to protect the health of the public.
In fact, they are more than enough!
To visit Dawn’s website, visit New Moon Naturals.
Kimberly Hartke is the publicist and a volunteer chapter leader for Weston A. Price Foundation, a 501c3 nutrition education non-profit. She is a health conscious consumer and she and her husband have lost weight and regained their health through lifestyle changes. These new habits include: sourcing ingredients from local farms, cooking at home, and embarking upon a dedicated fitness regime at their local health club.
This post is part of the Fight Back Fridays blog carnival on Food Renegade blog. If you want more fuel for your activist fire, please visit other food activists there.
Thank you for your amazing work!!
One Comment
Hello Dawn,
I hear your frustration and I understand completely. I have been addressing issues with cottage laws for some time for home-based bakers who just want to prepare “non-potentially hazardous” home baked goods. I think you may want to do a little research and find out which states actually allow the sale of dry teas and see what their cottages laws state and see if you can get both agencies to agree. Give them sometime to compare to since if it is accepted in another state they might come up with something more logical that “we don’t do that in this state.” Sounds crazy but you are going to need to educate both agencies. This has been the issue for some time, there are food processing methods allowed in North Carolina that are not in Georgia or Michigan. Honestly, it is all about education on both sides. Food entrepreneurs need to receive the education necessary to produce safe, consumables and government officials need to learn what other states are doing to educate their food processors. Sometimes I think it is easier for gov. officials to just say no, but that will never get this economy-country where it needs to be. Look, the bottom line is “SMALL BUSINESS IS THE LIFE BLOOD OF AMERICA.” ALWAYS HAS BEEN — ALWAYS WILL BE…
.-= Denay´s last blog ..FDA to fight portion size? Really? =-.
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