Dear Friend,
On January 7, 2022, FTCLDF and member Mark McAfee of Raw Farm by Organic Pastures Dairy filed our brief before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals continuing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) prohibition on the interstate sales of raw butter.
Some of you may have been following our challenge to the FDA’s ban on raw butter. Back in 2016, we at FTCLDF and our member McAfee filed a petition with the FDA to overturn the ban, which the FDA ignored. In 2019, we sued to get a response, and in February 2020, the FDA issued a decision upholding its ban. We challenged this decision and a District Court upheld the ban. In this decision, the Court ruled that FDA has authority under the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) despite the fact that Congress intentionally decided not to grant FDA authority to regulate butter.
FTCLDF and McAfee explained to the D.C. Court of Appeals that years ago, Congress intentionally chose to retain authority to regulate butter rather than grant authority to the FDA to do so. Congress did this because of the importance of butter to farmers and consumers, and the proliferation of substitute products that were harming the industry. Despite this history and without Congressional authority, FDA has prohibited and enforced its ban on the interstate sales of raw butter.
Such a decision could potentially permit the FDA to regulate other raw foods with minimal justification, such as vegetables, oysters, sushi and even rare meat. In response, we at FTCLDF along with McAfee filed our appeal and brief against the raw butter ban.
In addition, the potential regulation of raw foods inspired the creation of the Campaign for Raw Food!
Please know that we at FTCLDF can only bring about these kinds of challenges with your financial support. To help with the expenses of this challenge to government overreach, please donate at www.farmtoconsumer.org/donate
In good health,
Alexia Kulwiec Executive Director |
