Cops Raid Rawesome Foods; Owner James Stewart Arrested

•  I do believe the main reason people are circumspect about drinking raw milk is because the sellers of lower quality milk that has to be pasteurized, homogenized, or ultrapasteurized or rirradiaated are so anxious to unload their profit-making milk that they make sure their products will not be threatened by the quality of raw milk, which by the way does not cause allergies which processed milks do cause.

•  Stockholders of Whole Foods Market's products include corporations like Pepsi-Cola, and many more of that category of big business. They know how to make a buck.

•  Whole Foods is afraid to take a stand for raw milk because they are playing ball with everyone so they don't get into complications with the likes of Monsanto. They are still good, but they have compromised.

•  Do you honestly believe that the processed foods, often junk foods, offered in the supermarkets will keep you well?

•  The sellers of pasteurized, homogenized, and ultrapasteurized milk feel threatened because their shelf-life is not indefinite, and they want to sell their inferior milk.

• It's a Membership Only market. The undercover agent in the parking lot must have signed his membership agreement. You pay for your membership and buy at your own risk. 

•  Why did the authorities shut him down and spill out all the milk, when all they should have done was to tell him to get the permits? What a waste of healthful milk, and how many homeless people could have been nourished by the products that were dumped.

• Thank you thank you for your infor on the "goats milk" crisis.  Wow!  That is crazy. On the main news they are talking as if our health is part of "National Security" - we must stay healthy to keep the cost down for our country. The cost is skyrocketing!  Well...of course!             People who are growing organic food, raising the animals without chemicals...especially "Neotame",.....they are the ones who should be thought of as The Heros...They are the TRUE AMERICANS.  They are going "Outside of the box", being creative and energized to help other people STAY HEALTHY!             The TRC and the CFR are the ones who pushed the Food Modernization Act.  It is totally unconstitutional, and being so...should not be followed.  We must make a stand - the stand is worth it.  A very peaceful stand....exactly the way you are doing it. Thank you for your care and all of your efforts 

• Do you want total government control, Government medical care, Government burial, or are you ready to rise up and elect Don Cordell for President in Nov. 2012. It is time for us as American citizens to reclaim our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Right now, all Rights have been cancelled. On Dec 31, 2011 Obama passed a law giving our Military the right to confine us for the duration of the emergency, What emergency? People interfering with the government. When You have had enough, ReVote, to ReStore America. The Republicans and Democrats will only continue to subdue us. We now have Monsanto taking over all the individual farms, California farms are going to defalt when they have no water for crops. Then the government will own all the farm land. Total control from birth to our deaths. Is that the future you want for America?

• Does it ever end...is nothing safe.  I hadn't realized there was an extreme war on natural food...I'm beginning to hate what we stand for in the US.  Thanks Nation of Change for keeping us informed!

• Because the Undercover Agent signed a membership form, including an understanding of risk.  Once you sign such a form, you ARE A MEMBER, because the form SPELLS OUT the risk and benefits which you FREELY accept, or are FREE to reject.  Members TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for knowns risks.  Non-members do not.  How hard is this to understand?

• I wonder how someone can be so dumb to be a police officer wanting to be engaged in such stupidity, in stead of choosing the side of wise people who want a healthy life?

• "The government has regulations to keep consumers safe."  HAHAHA!  Really?  Did you learn that in your government school?  I bet you were a good little boy who memorized what the text book said so you could correctly answer the teacher and get a pat on the back.  So what incentive does the government have to keep the diaper baby safe?  They get your tax money no matter what, so why should they care if their government approved foods are extremely unhealthy or not?  The best you can do is have a tiny, minute fraction of a say of who gets to be the guy who appoints the guy to the post in the institution which is not at all subject to the threat of losing "consumers" and which decides what is "safe" or unsafe" to eat.  I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that maybe, just maybe, these bureaucrats couldn't give a crap less about your safety and would rather get rich off of bribes from giant faceless corporations who spend endless amounts of money bribing bureaucrats to pass laws which stomp out any potential competition.  Yes, these requirements are entirely unreasonable as there is not a single rational reason why anyone should be forced to get permission from a third party to engage in voluntary trade.

•  Lol.....handed down from angels on high, just like the blessing of government bureaucrats who say that such and such food is safe to eat?  Obviously these government angels care about you and anything less is a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory.  You know, your precious government is dealing drugs and funneling arms to preferred drug cartels?  Why haven't they been raided?  Oh wait, because they control the mindless badge toters...

• Why shouldn't people be able to voluntarily sell something not approved by the government without their almighty permission? This is blatantly to stomp out competition to Big Agra. It's sad to read what you are saying...all you know is what you've been conditioned to know....mindless obedience, obedience, obedience. "I pledge allegiance, to the flag..."

• Sorry, but I am not a slave, I do not require permission from anyone to engage in voluntary trade with others, regardless of what the government or the publicly schooled idiots think.  I know, you just looooooove the government, huh?  "I pledge allegiance, to the flag..."  There is no reasoning with you cultists.

• Are you for real Whole???  First of all, all foods are "potentially unsafe."  I'd hate to be the one to break it to you, but the government cannot magically protect you from "unsafe food" and provide 100% guarantee that what you are consuming is safe.  Unfortunately scribbling laws down on paper does not mysteriously translate into the desired effect automatically.  If you blindly ingest food simply b/c the FDA approves of it then you are more, not less, at risk of becoming ill, because you have not taken the responsibility to personally inspect and acquire information about what you are eating.  Hmm, personal responsibility and critical thinking....imagine that!  Moreover, do you really think the government works for you or gives a crap about your safety?  This is blatantly a result of corporate fascism.  These laws are enforced to protect Big Agra from competition, not to "protect" the lowly cash cows.  The FDA and other govt "regulatory" agencies are constantly being bribed to give their seal of approval so that Boobus Americanus will believe that it is safe simply b/c the govt says so.  Also, a country cannot possibly be called free where people are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money to get the blessing and permission of worthless bureaucrats to sell something, when the buyers, if they aren't complete helpless idiots, are fully aware that, regardless of who they buy food from, they are taking a risk, and thus should take the necessary precautions.  Horribly unhealthly and hazardous foods, approved by the government, are shoved down the mouths of kids on a daily basis.  Only the ability to voluntarily remove financial backing from institutions and the threat of competition can regulate the quality of products.  The government, on the other hand, gets your money no matter what, and thus has very little incentive to actually provide you with any kind of useful service.  This is bare totalitarianism, right in our faces, and all you can do is engage in some bizarre mental gymnastics to justify it?  You sir are a sad product of public "education."

• It's because the Government has interests in the major diary farms of America, I hate to give half-assed info but maybe someone can fill in the blanks for me here… I remember watching a food documentary about how when the Diary industry was falling they sought help from some branch of the government (i wanna say FDA?) and thats how the "Got Milk" ads started popping up and then they started connecting them with major food companies like Domino's where they gave them a marketing concept to benefit the diary farmers (like Cheese-filled crusts and Extra Cheese pizzas)… If the Government has ties or interests with the mass-produced dairy farms of the country of course they're gonna try to knock out any other "unlicensed" diary producers and sellers and come up with a bunch of BS reasons why it's lawful. This disgusts me.

• "All Not Well in the Home Town of Venice" They are doing everything they can to shut down small business. We have reached the point where the one with Large multiple stocks. Are Literally using politics and enforcement to put small business out of business. This is economic warfare, not Competition. It’s the small businesses that provide jobs! Perfect example of The Government's Extreme multiple personality disorder.

• Your post seems to prove that.

• They do have licenses. Don't believe the media. You think their impartial? What do you have to say about that? Now it is actually simply corruption. Can you see that now?

• More government control  1984 has come and gone and her to stay if we do not change things in 2012 both sides These actions are slowly controlling our food supply Remember Big Brother knows best .

• I thought the California d.a. didn't have the money to go after the financial institutions yet multiple agencies can go after a raw foods salesman? This looked like a drug raid, not like a guy was sharing milk in a co-op!

• The FDA is the agency in charge of seeing that we have a safe  drug supply.  I believe that  90 some percent (check the exact stats) of US deaths are due to pharmaceuticals and allopathic (medical) treatment.  How many law suits are on television because pharmaceuticals cause death and injury?  Licensing is not about safety. It is about raising money for government coffers.  I am 75.  I drink one to two gallons of raw milk a week.  I take no pharmaceuticals because I do not shop in grocery stores where chemically laced and genetically engineered foods are available to kill you. Wake up.  This is about taxes not safety.  This is about the government wanting to feed you dangerous foods so you can be controlled. Would fluoride, a known neurotoxin, be in our nation's water supply if it it wasn't a matter of dumbing us down?  The Naxi's and Russia used it to subdue prisoners.  Now the FDA (July 1) has announced that all supplements not sold prior to 1994 will have to be tested.  This will cost probably a minimum of a half million per supplement and will shut down many small businesses and remove many healthy supplements from the shelves. .  Check out Codex Alimentarius now in effect in Europe. Pharmaceutical companies are owned by top financier.  Prior to Obama appointing USDA pro-Monsanto ex-gov Vilsack, and all other USDA appointees as ex-Monsanto lackeys,  we had some chance of healthy foods.   Total control...that's what this raid is about.  I am a retired psychologist....a healthy mind needs a healthy body.

• It really should not matter. All of these laws and regulations are just ridiculous. Pretty soon we are not going to be able to do anything for ourselves and it will all have to go through the government first. It's the start of total government control and our freedoms are slowly being diminished before our eyes without most people even knowing.

• These people raised $1 million from investors and then received a $1 million bank loan to buy the farm. They couldn't incorporate the cost of licensing into their business plan? There is a failure of fiduciary responsibility here  by a number of actors, including the banks and attorneys involved in promoting and accepting this business plan. Fraud anyone?

• tarik... that is how we ended up being controled  in the first place... its called propaganda. you are alwas suplied with all the reasons why u needed to resqued from the big bad milk guy. thats whats wrong you peaple are the cows and whenever u stray from your master walmart etc. u are herded back with "INFO" do you get it, you now arent focused on the fact that army tactics were used on the milk guy. whats wrog with you?

• GO HOME !@#$%^

• NOBODY HEARS ABOUT THE 100,S OF OTHER FARM SHUT DOWNS...iTS PART OF A BIGGER PLAN ...DO YOUR RESEARCH AND YOU WILL KNOW WERE IN TROUBLE

• Why don't these so called protection agencies find another job! Gawd let's just raid people because we don't agree with what they are doing or who they are.  Get a life and go patrol the border.  hell how many illegals are coming in and using up anything extra we do have? Get a life.  As for the AMA and the FDA go get other things to do.

• Good f those crooks/hippies

• Duane.. Take your spam ads elsewhere

• They sold to an undercover agent in the back of a van in a grocery store parking lot, how is that a private buying club?  Get real, they broke the law and have been investigated for over a year, with many warnings to get the proper documentation.  They "chose" to continue to break the law therefore they are criminals.  You can all still have your raw milk products if you want, just go buy them from a producer that follows the laws and has the proper permits and has their products regularly tested for pathogens.  If you are so sure that your products are safe then why are you so afraid to get them tested like the other raw milk producers in the state do. 

• I don't get schmoey's point... so because the existing regulations and requirements are not as strong as you'd like (i.e. don't require disclosure of bromide), we should instead reject all regulations, refuse to comply with the health code, and let people operate... with no restrictions whatsoever and no requirement to disclose anything at all that is in the food.  yeah, that makes sense. 

• So, just out of curiosity, what were the authorities supposed to do.  I am in the natural health industry, and initially, I was backing them up.  Someone else in my company was diligent enough to do some research and found out more information.  I, actually, would have liked it if the authorities pointed out that the eggs they were portraying as pastured, were not.  The meat that they were re-wrapping and selling as grass-fed was not.  The statements made by ex-employees and Sharon Palmer's own Son (who is also a convicted felon) were all about her defrauding the public.  No one has pointed out that Sharon Palmer, a convicted felon, purchased that farm along with the owner of Rawsome.  Please don't tell me that he didn't know what she was doing.  Why, she didn't even have enough chickens on the property to keep up with all the eggs she was selling to the public and to Farmers Markets all over Southern California.  I would have preferred that the authorities brought that to the surface instead of making it about raw milk.  I drink raw milk and I believe that it is my right to do so, but I think that it should be sold by people who are reputable.

• Troll much?

• "So I'm sure the law enforcement had to treat this like a drug raid." You're funny.

• they aren't selling to the general public. it is a private buying club.

• Well, they are illegally selling a product that may be dangerous to the publics health. Had the proper permits/license been issued there would not be a problem. So I'm sure the law enforcement had to treat this like a drug raid. The selling of a questionable product to the public. Duh.

• So with violent crime such as shootings, armed robberies and assaults on the rise, the threat of terrorism and the trillions of dollars of debt, THIS is what the authorities believe is an effective use of taxpayer money and officers' time? Wasting perfectly good milk because someone didn't get the right permit? Whatever legislation causes this to happen is clearly a result of large agribusiness lobbying to artificially increase the costs of business for small producers, whilst simultaneously preventing law-abiding, free-thinking US citizens the right to consume nutrient-dense, whole foods if they so wish. It seems citizens have the freedom to choose to purchase cigarettes, for which the negative health consequences are well-established, yet we need a modern-day gestapo to forcibly punish those who sell a certain kind of milk for which no negative health effects have been shown. Why?

• I am just glad that the LAPD is saving the good people of California from possible bad milk and letting the illegal aliens run wild.  What a country we live in.

• Friggin banksters ruin the world economy through fraud, causing countless forclosures and whole countries to melt down and nobody goes to jail, but dare sell raw milk? Go jail!! What a raw deal!

• I understand raiding the place and seizing the raw milk products.  But unhooking the surveillance cameras before looting the place bare?  Since when is it illegal to sell raw vegetables?  The folks in the Dairy industry are responding to competition by using "pull" to bring the law down on their competitors.  That's not capitalism, that's base thuggery.  One day soon, these shaved-headed thugs are going to try an illegal raid, the people will fight back, and it will be like dropping a match in a pool of gasoline.  I pray that day never comes, but it looks more and more likely.  

• THAT'S how LA is spending it's money during a budget crisis?  That is entirely wrong. Why does the cynical segment of my perspective suspect that the corporate grocer world is behind this?

• wow, and this doesn't even address all of those eggs that she was selling as HFF eggs that were stamped Hohberg Farms right on the box, until she blacked them all out!

• I have had personal dealings with Sharon Palmer.  She is a person with absolutely NO integrity.  She is dishonest in the products she sells and has ripped off so many of her Ventura County suppliers (myself included) it is ridiculous.  Raw food is a great thing.  But you really need to get it from an honest person with INTEGRITY - something this woman does not posses.  Karma - it's a bitch!

• how do you buy a share of a cow

• As someone who has shopped at Rawesome for years and NEVER EVER GOTTEN ILL from them this is a travesty. I don't care for permits either you signed a waiver when you agree to purchase their products and they are very good at informing you of the potential dangers. However their cheeses and milk is a thousand times better tasting then the best organic milk at  Whole Foods. This is BS!!! period and I should have the right to choose what I AM GOING TO EAT!  

• This is the NEW WORLD ORDER~! Americans if your not worried about what is happening in this Country..Cuba will seem like FREEDOM in Comparison...

• akw, why don't they require the disclosure of bromide in our foods?   Whaddabout hfcs?  why is that still allowed? 

• why does that require a RAID to fix?  Wouldn't a fine work?   HEllo idiot. 

• so not having a permit requires a SWAT team to fix?  

• so not having a license subjects them to raids, hacking, GRAND LARSONY ($5000 is grand larsony) a total complete violation of the 4th Amendment?  The punishment doesn't fit the crime.   If he needed a license, all they do is fine him?  Not send in the SWAT team.  Illegals, drug dealing murderers and those with malicious intent are treated much better than the friggin' milk man was treated this morning!     Jerry should counter-sue on breach of the 4th Amendment because this is a complete violation of his rights.  He can also throw excessive use of force, libel, etc. What universe do you live in jerk?  Tell your carpetbagging nazi friends to ruin the sh*thole state they crawled out of, leave California alone.  If the delta swamp scandal wasn't bad enough...

• diary products? why not just get the permits and avoid all of this hullaballoo?

• Liberalism at work.  Big Government is there to "protect us" because we're too stupid to do it for ourselves.

• @google-d4398ce13b06b6d780ef693c525f9d45:disqus... now you are just sounding bitter and somewhat hypocritical. Who cares if Rawesome has the best quality milk. They didn't do step 1 - get a license. You may not care about that piece of paper but, as a reminder, you live in a country of 300 million people so, if anything, we shouldn't give a damn about your position. So, instead of blaming the cops for DOING THEIR JOBS, and running to the internet to whine like a little girl, go buy your raw milk from another vendor until Rawesome is up and running again.

• Only criminals disconnect surveillance cameras.  I bet those who ordered the raid on Rawesome aren't ingesting enough raw fat themselves.  Pour crappy, harmful, pasteurized milk down the drain, or how about going and fighting real crime.  Get out of our business.   

• I've read the article and it says that there was a year long sting. They sold raw foods to non-members. A year's worth of taxpayer money on this? They were not selling the stuff under the guise of pastuerized product. They did do wrong to sell to non-members, but to remove/destroy all of the stock (produce etc. per the article) in the process? How many McDonald's get decimated when they break health laws?

• Yay. Sell it raw if you like, but do it legally. This is why the raw milk industry is considered circumspect by the majority.

• there is another option left: buy lead, melamine or nitrite tainted milk from china, and add to the usa deficit by killing your children. god forbid americans produce the milk and god forbid americans get to chose whose milk they want to drink.  this is exactly the reason for the raid, opress any initiative on the part of the american people to better their lives.  and i bet monsanto paid the raider to spill hundreds of gallons of milk while children are going hungry in this country.  whose the con now? 

• Its a conspiracy! AFT ships guns diresctly to Mexican gangs because they don't want the US public to be armed (its an anti-2nd amendment ploy), and they go after yogurt conspiracies in their spare time. Hippies and rednecks unite -- the left-right paradigm is dead.

• "Now we dont know what to do." Stop whining and put a few minutes into Web research? Just a thought.

• This has nothing to do wth GOP or Dems....what party it is doesnt matter, the palms get greased in both parties. We do not have science based regulations, we have Special Interest Group based regulations. Q. Why is  young raw milk cheese illegal and fluid raw milk legal (in California)? After all, cheese is a million times safer than fluid milk.... it is legal to sell the milk but ILLEGAL to make cheese from it and sell it (aged less than 60 days) in Ca. A. Once all 50 states allow some form of  raw milk cheese aged less than 60 days to be sold for human consumption then, (according to import export laws) it has to be allowed to be IMPORTED! No one is worried about fluid milk  pouring into  our country from EU, but raw curd can be imported cheaper than it can be produced here in the USA  THAT is what this is all really about. There are now 27 states where some form of raw milk aged less than 60 days is legal to sell  for human consumption and corporate America is now VERY nervous and having a fit.  DEAN FOODs  owns  over 45% of  ALL FLUID MILK IN  AMERICA...doesnt that make you all feel just warm and cozy all over? Farmers can no longer sell pigs to the stockyards without first having a contract with Hormel or Smithfield, Chickens can no longer be sold without first having a contract with tyson/ Jennieo, That is why so many farmers sell their meat at the farmers markets, because they cant make a living selling to large corporate America.  Now they are after the dairy supply. Whether you like raw milk or not isnt the issue, it is simply a matter of our food supply being taken over by corporations, and whether or not we choose to allow it to continue.

• you're posting this link all over. you already posted it on infowars.  funny, when i look up the information for the website owner of unhealthyfamilyfarm in google, it shows that this person is insane! " Aajonus Vonderplanitz is from California and his real name is Dick something. He was an actor on General Hospital turn diet guru overnight. He has a self appointed Phd in nutrition. In an interview with Stanley Bass Aajonus said "I have always since age of 3, craved orgasim."He has a book called 'We want to live' and its written like a novel. Very entertaining reading but for the uninformed, very dangerous information. Aajonus talks about eating green bananas vs ripe ones and that you should eat lots of white bread baguettes with raw unsalted butter if you get low blood sugar. But sweet fruit is bad he says.A good friend of mine and ex housemate was an Aajonus fan. She ate his high fat, low fruit diet and I personally felt she suffered the whole time from melancholy, fatigue and binge prone eating as I later found out. She ended up getting some food poisoning from animal products and decided to do an unsupervised fast with phone guidance from 'dont eat more than a banana a day' John Fielder. She got real dehydrated and ended up in hospital on life support and passed away soon after from renal failure. I was in Thailand at the time and know for fact that had she not eaten this high fat, animal based diet, she would be here today and a different person.All of the people that I have met that eat raw animal products have experienced varing levels of dental decay. From missing teeth to increasing cavities. Its no suprise with the amount of high acid load animal products that are consumed. Lots of raw milk, cream, eggs, cow muscle and bird. Apparently its meant to raise b12 levels but all of my friends that have shared their blood tests with me have low to borderline b12 serum levels. Aajonus came to Australia last year and gave a talk in Robina QLD. I knew 3 people that attended and they shared how Aajonus was sick from food poisoning the whole time. He had to cut his talk off early and spent the day and night vomiting in a bath tub and over the balcony outside. When question what was wrong, Aajonus said 'I was poisoned by the Thai mafia..' Yep."

• Owner James Stewart is not an ex-con.  Sharon Palmer, a farmer who supplies them, is the person you are referring to.  The official word from the police today was that Stewart was arrested for selling raw milk, not for a lack of permits, either building or sellers or otherwise. Incidentally, Rawesome is still open today, selling non-dairy items to customers. And since Rawesome is a members-only establishment, once again the permits spoken of here are irrelevant. Please keep an open mind, do your research, and recognize the dissipation of rights going on around you.  Or you may have to eat your words, raw or not, and still have to pay permits to do so.

• This was incredibly sad for our family as well since our son cannot tolerate other types of milk, other than raw goat milk. He was thriving on milk that we buy from Rawesome. Now we dont know what to do.

• Answering my own question, youtube James Stewart Healthy Family Farms!  Turns out Rawesome is supplied by this scofflaw organization!  Connection made!

• Hey, Joe Vaish: Buying from Rawesome is the same as drinking milk from your own cow? The fact that food scientists don't believe it is part of the rational foundation for requiring licensing. Whether the inspectors do their jobs is a separate issue, about which, I'd guess, you and your compadres here know nothing. Talking about my own cow, however, I know exactly where she is, what she eats, her living conditions, how she's milked, how the milk is stored and transported to my table, etc. What similar information do you have about Rawesome's milk that isn't based in faith? Having an independent agency monitoring the process is essential for translating that faith into real protection. Churchill was certainly right when he said, "There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies," but he clearly meant consistently <u>safe</u> milk. The anecdotes told by a few of you anonymous posters about how wonderful Rawesome is can't match scientifically grounded, well-conducted inspections. Improving the inspection process should be our goal -- not defending unlicensed purveyors with criminal backgrounds.

• All that arguing said and done, there still isn't much info about James Stewart, other than that his Rawesome foods have been raided several times.  I am suspending doubt of his intentions until I see something that suggests his interests are questionable.  I think these people should be considered independent unless there is some reason to suggest otherwise.  This Sharon Palmer lady is trouble though.

• Wow. That's a game changer. Guess it pays to research. Good find, if it's true.

• Wow, it went from one alleged incidence of selling goat's milk in a parking lot to multiple parking lots.. How did that happen? Who knows how that went down, too. Probably some agent asking the guy (dressed as a hippie); "Hey bro, love your stuff. Could I grab a bottle." "no, sorry" "Come on, I won't tell."  Indeed.

• Good find Tarik!

• Again, please read the article.  This arrest is the product of a year long sting where they were selling cheese to non-members in grocery store parking lots.  Enjoy your curb cheese, though...

• That would be unhealthyfamilyfarm dot com

• After posting a defense of the store I now find a site with very interesting info on the supplier to the store...Click here: Unhealthy Family Farm ...not everything is as it seems, it would appear.

• The point is that many of the people here seem to assume that raw milk is handed down from angels on high.  It seems that is not the case, and that breaking the law doesn't matter as long as they can get their raw milk at any cost.  Kinda reminds me of another cross section of the public, hell bent on circumventing government control in order to buy their uncontrolled product of questionable provenance...  Heroin users.

• No, permits have to do with selling it to the public. Because Rawsome is a private club, and you have to sign a waiver, that doesn't apply.

• The permits have to do with selling it, you clods.

• You mean the Whole Foods that would rather have your "organic" food made in China and whose CEO doesn't think Health Care Reform is a necessary evil?  Yeah, go figure your corporate "health food" store is trying to save a buck at your health's extent...  I bet their stockholders aren't losing sleep over it.

• Exactly! Has nothing to do with "permits", that's merely the red herring here. I wish the owners could defend themselves. I will continue to fight to buy the quality I feel is best for me. 

• "Buy a share in a cow"? Gee, I hadn't thought of that. Guess I was blinded by the reported 750,000 hits from Google.

• Using that logic, if someone drinks milk from their own cow, which is essentially the case with Rawsome customers, it's a questionable act. Just because it's licensed doesn't mean it's safe. Please spare us the specious reasoning. It's about freedom of choice. 

• Unfortunately, you may have a good point...it's not clear though. Do you have a point at all? Can you state it clearly? 

• Seriously, shoot the messenger more, Tim.  "Product X is the only thing i can consume" does not equal "the People who make product X are innocent and deserve to be allowed to do anything they want".  Sadly, you are on the losing end of unprofessional business practices.  Try not feeding your child milk for a minute.  It won't kill him!

• Timothy, I too am a member of Rawesome and have such great respect for them for giving those of us who would like to have unadulterated products, milks cheeses, yogurt and kefirs close by. We were really fortunate. There's no reason to reason with the other poster...if they cannot even make their case clearly, I would prefer to ignore them (imagining Roseanne Barr). Let's hope they're able to come back, but I understand they aren't going to make it easy. It isn't as simple as not having a license to operate. It would be best to watch Farmaggeddon for better information on the story. It isn't that simple. 

• You've been buying from them for seven years? So you must have met these people not long after they got out of jail for real-estate fraud. Did they have that jailbird pallor? Getting back to the point, what's your documentation on the cause-effect relationship between WF dropping raw milk and the raid on the ex-cons who run Rawesome? How do all those farmers markets sell raw milk if Rawesome's problems have "nothing to do with permits"? Why would anyone buy a food product that requires licensing from an unlicensed dealer, even if he's a documented saint?

• This is really naive.  The City of LA could bust just about every restaurant for violation of their conditional use permits.  Selective enforcement is what it is.  Sure, every business should comply and if they assume the risk then don't cry for them.  But this city is beyond corrupt.  It uses its power capriciously.  

• AKW, thank you for your thoughts, but I really do not care about licenses and permits and have zero faith in the agencies that issue them.  I care only about the quality of the product, and Rawesome's quality is consistently excellent, as is my son's health.

• enormous tragedy? #firstworldproblems

• How is this relevant? If they are a private club, why would they need a permit? This is about freedom of choice, plain and simple.

• Get real - you can't be that dense.  The government has regulations to keep consumers safe; Rawsome and HFF refuse to comply with regulations that would make sure their products aren't going to make people SICK.  Permits and licenses are NOT unreasonable requirements, and I guarantee you that if people got sick from Rawsome products they would sue the government for not making sure the food was licensed and inspected.

• Whole Foods Market ceased selling raw milk last year after the first raid on Rawesome.  This has nothing to do with permits.  They don't want to be continually hassled by the government, as Rawesome has been  This is about much more than permits.  I have been buying raw milk from Rawesome for 7 years.  There is nothing unsafe about their milk. Stay out of my food supply!

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