“Tennessee Welcomes You” sign at the state border

On July 1st Senate Bill 693 (SB 693), also known as the Tennessee Food Freedom Act, went into effect as law. SB 693 is a major step in expanding consumer access to homemade food in Tennessee and keeping more of the food dollar in the state. State Senator Frank Niceley sponsored the bill; Representative Justin Lafferty was the sponsor of companion legislation House Bill 813 (HB 813).

SB 693 allows the unregulated sale of all food that does not require time or temperature control for safety (including fermented foods) by homemade food producers direct to the consumer or “a third-party vendor, such as a retail shop or grocery store.” Sales can be made to the consumer remotely through telephone or internet order. Deliveries of homemade food can be made through third-party carriers; all transactions under SB 693 must be in intrastate commerce only.

The production and sale of homemade foods is exempt from all “licensing, permitting, inspection, packaging…laws of this state, except when the department of health is investigating a reported foodborne illness.” The only requirement under the bill is the disclosure through labeling or other communication (depending on the food sold and the type of transaction) of the following information: the producer’s contact information, the name of the food item, its ingredients, and the statement: “This product was produced at a private residence that is exempt from state licensing and inspection.”

Prior law allowed the sale of “not potentially hazardous” foods (mostly the same foods that can be sold under SB 693) by the producer without a permit directly to the consumer only; further, the producer was subject to inspection and other requirements under the old law. The deregulation of the production and sales of homemade foods along with the now legal third-party sales of these items should increase the number of homemade food producers as well as consumer access substantially. Food buyers clubs, food hubs, and mom-and-pop stores are all possible venues for the sales of homemade food

Niceley has made a huge impact on the fortunes of small farmers in Tennessee. In 2009 he was the sponsor of a bill legalizing the distribution of raw milk through cowshare agreements; he followed up on that success in 2012 by getting an Attorney General’s opinion that it was legal to distribute other raw dairy products through a cowshare arrangement as well. In 2019 he sponsored a successful bill legalizing the retail sale of raw butter by licensed dairies.

In 2014 Niceley sponsored a bill adopting the federal poultry exemption enabling farmers to process up to 20,000 birds a year; the state has since expanded that exemption by policy to include rabbit processing on the farm. In 2017 he sponsored a bill adopting the federal exemptions on custom slaughter and on non-amenable species—the latter exemption allows the sale of meat from animals such as bison and domestically raised deer that are slaughtered and processed at a custom facility. That same year he also sponsored a bill that exempted from licensing and inspection food buyers club and other entities that distribute the products of farmers.

A fifth-generation cattle farmer himself, Niceley is largely responsible for Tennessee having one of the strongest local food systems in the country. He is the legislator small farmers across the state most turn to when they have a regulatory issue.

With the looming engineered shortages in the conventional food supply, it is critical to deregulate the production and sale of locally produced foods. Shortening the supply chains and enabling communities to be more self-sufficient in food production is a way to fight back against corporate tyranny and the threat of food scarcity. All 50 states have Cottage Food laws, with some states such as Wyoming and Montana allowing the unregulated sale of nearly all foods other than meat; illnesses attributed to producers operating under cottage food and food freedom laws are almost nonexistent. States like Tennessee and laws like its Food Freedom Act can be a model going forward for deregulation in other states.

Congratulations to Senator Niceley, Representative Justin Lafferty, Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader and lobbyist Shawn Day, and others who worked in support of the bill for their success!

Photo Credit: Andrey Krav via iStock.com

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Help Support Maine Right to Food (Nov. 2nd Referendum)

National opposition is working to defeat the constitutional protection of freedom of food choice and food security in Maine. The vote next Tuesday (Nov. 2nd) is a bellwether of things to come on your freedom to produce and obtain the foods of your choice. The same forces will be working to restrict freedom of choice in your state; Maine’s fight is your fight. [Click here to view Action Alert – Please donate at RightToFoodForMaine.org/donate]—donations received by 10pm EST Monday can still go toward radio spots running throughout Election Day on Tuesday.

Real vs Synthetic Food in Maine

On November 2nd, Maine voters will decide Question 3, a referendum to adopt a right to food amendment to the state constitution to enshrine the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the foods of their choice.

The resolution is a common sense protection of a basic fundamental right–something that is especially needed with supply chain disruptions and the deprivation of fundamental health freedoms throughout the country over the past year and a half. According to the New England Food Vision (nefoodvision.org) webpage, “Where Are We Now“, the New England region imports 90% of its food and 15% of the residents in the region are food insecure (i.e., “regularly do not have enough to eat”).

The vote should be a lock, but powerful interests from outside the state led by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are lobbying against the resolution. The national opposition has now turned Question 3 into a bellwether for freedom of food choice and food security elsewhere in the U.S. The opposition has significant investments in synthetic food which it is pushing on the consumer; less access to real food increases potential market share for synthetic food.

Question 3 on the Maine referendum election ballot reads:

Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to declare that all individuals have a natural inherent and inalienable right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being?

The amendment would add a right to food to the Declaration of Rights in Article 1 of the Maine Constitution. Article 1 would be amended to read:

Section 25 Right to food. All individuals have a natural, inherent and inalienable right to food, including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being as long as an individual does not commit trespassing, theft, coaching or other abuses of private property rights, public lands, or natural resources in the harvesting, production or acquisition of food.

There is in-state opposition to the proposed amendment from organizations such as Maine Farm Bureau and the Maine Municipal Association, but the lead opponent to the measure is HSUS. According to its 2020 annual report, the nonprofit (based in Washington, DC) has $322.3 million in assets; in 2020 HSUS received $214.4 million in revenue, with $39.6 million dollars earmarked for “public policy and enforcement”[1]. HSUS has hired Preti Flaherty, one of the most influential lobbying firms in Maine to help it defeat the proposed amendment.

The stated reason HSUS opposes the right to food is that the measure doesn’t adequately protect animal welfare. In a flyer the non-profit released titled Vote “No” on Question 3, the Misleadingly “Right to Food” Amendment HSUS claims, “The measure could also be used to thwart companion animal cruelty investigations. If, for example, a person was torturing a dog or cat (or any other animal) they could simply claim that they are raising the animal for food and possibly be shielded from prosecution”[2]. To this point HSUS has not mentioned specific incidences of animal cruelty that the amendment would prohibit prosecution of; it has only brought up hypothetical cases.

Proponents of the amendment point out that its language does not provide an absolute right to food and that the measure does not conflict with existing animal welfare laws. One supporter of the measure commented, “Industrial operations make up 5% of the farms in the United States, yet they receive roughly 95% of animal and safety violations not local Maine farmers. So now the lobbyists of these nonprofits want to divert resources meant to combat industrial meat abuses toward oppressing individual small farmers in Maine?”[3]

Another DC-based nonprofit working with HSUS in lobbying against the measure is Animal Wellness Action (AWA), a corporation founded by former HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle in 2018 [4]. Pacelle has been quoted saying, “We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in California. Then we will take it state by state”[5]. AWA is currently running ads on The Voice of Maine radio station urging people to “vote no on 3 if you care about animals or the environment.”

When HSUS brought Pacelle in as CEO in 2004, the nonprofit increasingly worked on opposing hunting [5] and stopping or significantly reducing the use of animals in agriculture [6]. A look at its leadership provides evidence that its opposition to the Maine amendment is not based as much on animal welfare as it is pushing synthetic food on the people of Maine. The weaker the rights of Maine residents to raise their own livestock and produce their own (traditional) food, the greater the potential market share for synthetic food.

One name comes up more than any other in HSUS leadership and that is McKinsey & Company. McKinsey has been advising governments, military and corporations for over 90 years; McKinsey’s clients include 90 of the world’s 100 biggest companies [7]. It also manages a $12 billion hedge fund that has been used to assist its clients in increasing profits [8].

One HSUS board member is an active partner at McKinsey; another is a former principal for McKinsey, and the Chief Operating Officer for HSUS is a former partner at McKinsey [9].

The McKinsey Center for Agricultural Transformation partners with governments, donors and companies “to improve evidence-based planning and set priorities for accelerating agricultural transformation” [10].

McKinsey works with European biotech companies to expand markets for their products [11]. It was brought in as a consultant [12] to promote the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation started in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation [13]. The Gates Foundation previously hired McKinsey to assist in implementing vaccine drug trials in Africa [14].

AGRA is pushing changes to seed laws that protect patented seeds and penalize seed trading [15]. McKinsey has been developing policy plans for AGRA and organizing lobbying meetings between agricultural investors and government representatives in African countries [16]. McKinsey is promoting policies in Africa to encourage land-spreading of sludge and industrial waste by farmers [17], consolidation of farmland control, and increased use of AI in farming [18]. Over the past 5 years McKinsey has actively promoted the value of synthetic meat products manufactured by the corporations Beyond Meat [19] and Impossible Foods [20]. Impossible Foods CEO, Pat Brown, has publicly stated, “We have a simple mission: to replace the use of animals as a food production technology, globally, by 2035” [21].

Aside from the McKinsey influence on HSUS, another Humane Society board member is the co-founder and managing partner of Rethink Food LLC [22]. That company is a venture fund investing in agriculture technology, processing and consumer package goods. Rethink Food partners include Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, McKinsey and Impossible Foods [23].

For its own part, HSUS–along with Tyson Foods and Bill Gates–invested venture capital in Beyond Meat in 2016 [24,25]. Since that time, both HSUS and AWA have been actively promoting Beyond Meat as a solution to animal welfare concerns [26].

The result of the Maine referendum on Question 3 will be a harbinger of things to come in other states. Will governments protect the freedoms of individuals to produce their own food and help build community food systems and resiliency or will well-financed corporations and foundations be successful in further restricting access to nutrient-dense, real food?

Maine’s fight is your fight. You can support the Maine effort to strengthen freedom of food choice by donating via PayPal to Right to Food for Maine at RightToFoodForMaine.org/donate.

It’s not too late to help. Your contributions will go towards purchasing print ads and radio spots to counter the message of well-financed interests from outside Maine who want to reduce freedom of food choice and prevent a constitutional right to food from getting a foothold anywhere.

Consider this rebuttal to the opposition published by The Ellsworth American [27]:

Federal laws, such as the Animal Welfare Act of 1966, the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 (amended in 1978), The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act of 2019 and the Endangered Species Act would still apply, contrary to the opposition argument that a yes vote would open the door to animal cruelty and abuse.

Opponents also say the measure will not “fix” Maine’s food-related problems, including hunger. Fair enough, but that’s not the point. A constitution lays out the foundation. From there, we build.

REFERENCES [last updated 10/30/2021]
[1] The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), & The Humane Society International (HSI). (2021). 2020 Annual report: Achievements for animals. (PDF, p. 31). https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/docs/HSUS-HSI_AR2020_LR.pdf

[2] HSUS. (2021). Vote “No” on Question 3, the Misleadingly “Right to Food” Amendment. (PDF). https://www.realmilk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HSUSNoRightoFoodsheet-flyer-MaineQuestion3.pdf

[3] Davis, D. (2021, October 21). The right to grow, eat the food we choose. Sun Journal. https://www.sunjournal.com/2021/10/21/the-right-to-grow-eat-food-we-choose/

[4] Animal Wellness Action. (2020). Our team. (webpage). http://animalwellnessaction.org/our-team
      Screenshot (2021, October 29) of Wayne Pacelle as AWA founder and former HSUS CEO posted at https://www.realmilk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AWA-WaynePacelle-founder-2021-1029.png

[5] Robinson, S. (2014, May 20). Trahan: The rise of the animal rights movement. Maine Wire. https://www.themainewire.com/2014/05/trahan-rise-animal-rights-movement/

[6] HumaneWatch.org. (2016, January 26). 10 Things you should know about HSUS. http://humanewatch.org/10-things-you-should-know-about-hsus
      Updated PDF: HumaneWatch.org. (2020, February). 10 Things you should know about HSUS. https://humanewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/04/10Things_April2020.pdf

[7] McKinsey & Company. (2021) About us: McKinsey today. (webpage). Accessed October 29 at https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/overview/mckinsey-today

[8] Forsythe, M. (2019, February 19). As McKinsey sells advice, its hedge fund may have a stake in the outcome. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/business/mckinsey-hedge-fund.html

[9] HSUS. (2021). Board of directors. (webpage). Accessed October 29 at https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/overview/mckinsey-today
      Board of Directors (see Frankleton, Kumar & Patrick) PDF posted at https://www.realmilk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HSUS-BoardofDirectors-fromMcKinsey-2021-1029.pdf

[10] McKinsey Center for Agricultural Transformation. (2021). How we help clients. (webpage). McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/how-we-help-clients/mckinsey-center-for-agricultural-transformation

[11] Le Deu, F, & Santos da Silva, J. (2019, August 23). Biotech in Europe: A strong foundation for growth and innovation. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/biotech-in-europe-a-strong-foundation-for-growth-and-innovation

[12] Malkan, S. (2021, September 9). 200 Organizations ask Gates Foundation to stop funding ‘failed’ green revolution. The Defender. Children’s Health Defense. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/gates-foundation-stop-funding-failed-green-ag-revolution/

[13] Loffredo, J., & Greenstein, M. (2020, July 8). Why the Bill Gates global health empire promises more empire and less public. The Grayzone. https://thegrayzone.com/2020/07/08/bill-gates-global-health-policy/

[14] Loffredo, J., & Greenstein, M. (2020, July 8). “Guinea pigs in the Global South”. Why the Bill Gates global health empire promises more empire and less public. The Grayzone. https://thegrayzone.com/2020/07/08/bill-gates-global-health-policy/

[15] Curtis, M. (2016, June). “Powerful and profitable monopolies” (p.18). Gated Development – Is the Gates Foundation always a force for good? 2nd ed. (Report). Global Justice Now. https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/gjn_gates_report_june_2016_web_final_version_2.pdf
      Report (PDF) download link at https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/resource/gated-development-gates-foundation-always-force-good/

[16] Klawitter, N. (2021, June 9). Agrarian alliance AGRA: Empty promises for Africa’s farmers. The Limited Times. https://newsrnd.com/business/2021-06-09-agrarian-alliance-agra–empty-promises-for-africa-s-farmers.rJWhAgAqd.html
      translated from Falsches Versprechen für Afrikas Bauern. Der Spiegel. https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/agrarallianz-agra-leere-versprechen-fuer-afrikas-bauern-a-2132bf23-24c6-4b2e-bde5-a2e9020389f1

[17] Caner, D., De Clercq, D., & Taksvak, M. (2020, September 1). Needle in a haystack: Patents that inspire agricultural innovation. Kinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/needle-in-a-haystack-patents-that-inspire-agricultural-innovation.pdf

[18] Goedde, L., Katz, J., Ménard, A., & Revellat, J. (2020, October 9). Agriculture’s connected future: How technology can yield new growth. Kinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/agricultures-connected-future-how-technology-can-yield-new-growth

[19] Bashi, Z., McCullough, R., Ong, L., & Ramirez, M. (2019, August 16). Alternative proteins: The race for market share is on. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/alternative-proteins-the-race-for-market-share-is-on

[20] Katz, J. , & Lee, D. (2019, August 27). An incredible year for Impossible Foods. (Interview) McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/an-incredible-year-for-impossible-foods

[21] Brown, P. (2019). Impossible Foods’ 2019 impact report & letter from CEO. Impossible Foods. https://impossiblefoods.com/impact-report-2019/letter-from-the-ceo
      PDFposted at https://www.realmilk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Brown-ImpactReport-2019-ImpossibleMeat.pdf

[22] HSUS. (2021). Board of directors. (webpage). Accessed October 29 at https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/board-directors#jakeman
      Board of Directors (see Jakeman) PDF posted at https://www.realmilk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HSUS-BoardofDirectors-fromMcKinsey-2021-1029.pdf

[23] Rethink. (n.d.). Corporate Partners. www.rethinkfood.org/corp
       Webpage of logos (see Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, McKinsey, & Impossible Foods) PDF posted at https://www.realmilk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Rethink-Corp-Partners-2021-1030.pdf

[24] Pacelle, W. (2016, October 11). Beyond amazing news about Beyond Meat. A Humane World: Kitty’s Blocks Blog. (Blog). Humane Society of the United States. https://blog.humanesociety.org/2016/10/tyson-invests-beyond-meat.html

[25] Delbert, C. (2021, February 20). Bill Gates Wants Us to Eat 100% Synthetic Beef. He Has a Point. Microsoft News. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/bill-gates-wants-us-to-eat-100percent-synthetic-beef-he-has-a-point/ar-BB1dR02Y

[26] Pacelle, W. (2019, August 1). Where Do The Presidential Candidates Stand On Animal Protection? Animal Wellness Action. https://animalwellnessaction.org/2019/08/01/where-do-the-presidential-candidates-stand-on-animal-protection/

[27] The right to food. (2021, October 22). The Ellsworth American. (editorial). https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinions/the-right-to-food/

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So how has it been going?

Lindholm says, “Wyoming’s first season under the Wyoming Food Freedom Act was one of bounty without a doubt…the results have been exactly what we all knew already. The free market will thrive if given the chance…I’ve talked with several Farmers Markets and their managers and have found the numbers being reported as doubling the number of consumers and produces in a multitude of products.”

Wyoming’s success is apparently inspiring other states, including Utah, to consider their own food freedom bills.

Read more via Reason.com.

To learn more about raw milk and other nutrient dense foods, visit westonaprice.org

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