Raw Food Raids on the Rise

California's Rawesome Foods recently got the SWAT-team treatment. Last month, local authorities burst into the private food club, guns blazing Wild West-style. They looked under counters, poked around veggie bins, and raided the store's fridges. The cops found what they were looking for, confiscated it, and temporarily shut down the grocer.

The scenario sounds like a drug bust, but police officers came away with nothing more than some cartons of milk and blocks of cheese. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Rawesome Foods got shut down because it sold raw dairy products (unpasteurized milks and cheeses), among other raw food items.

Rawesome is just a recent example in what's been a rash of raw food raids across America. Also in June, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture shut down Traditional Foods Warehouse for selling raw foods. And it's not just businesses either. As Grist reported, state authorities raided a number of farms in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in recent months after cops suspected farmers were distributing raw dairy. The situation might sound comical — police officers pulling their guns on a couple of nerdy cheesemakers when there are hardened criminals running amuck —  but it highlights a larger issue: How much control should the federal government have over what citizens are allowed to eat?

Folks seek out raw foods for a number of reasons, including potential health benefits. But many think the trend's gained popularity in recent years because of the number of food contamination incidents in conventionally produced goods. Just check the FDA's food recall Web site, and you'll see a bevvy of recent warnings about E. coli-tainted romaine, listeria-loaded alfalfa, and potential allergens in pasta. I'm not surprised, then, that so many folks turn to private food clubs that offer up raw dairy, honey, nuts, and other products that aren't exactly street legal. Sure, these goods haven't been inspected by FDA-approved facilities or processing plants. But given the agency's track record lately, can you really blame consumers for staying away from conventionally made goods?

The raw food movement also upholds one of the main tenets of the sustainable food movement: knowing where your food comes from. Purchasing many raw dairy products requires going out to the very farm that produces them. For some folks, then, consuming raw foods means connecting with local farmers, inspecting where food is made, and taking a more active role in the food production system at large. You'd be hard-pressed to feel that kind of connection with a bag of lettuce bought at Walmart.

That's not to say that raw food doesn't come with its own potential health risks (it does), and I want to make it crystal clear that I'm not advocating that people become raw food consumers (Understood? OK? OK.). But people who go out of their way to find raw food purveyors and risk legal action to purchase these products obviously know what they're getting themselves into. Perhaps it's time, then, to let consumers decide for themselves what they want on their dinner tables.

Photo credit: AlishaV via Flickr