Raw milk for sale at Pike Place Market April 2010

One of the reasons I love to buy local food is the perception that it is made and sold by real people who have a connection to the food. Walking home from a local farmer’s market with a bag of local meat, cheese and produce I find comfort thinking the food in my bag is untainted by national distribution processes that can make the food taste bad, unhealthy or even unsafe.  A big part of the motivation behind the local food movement is concern about food safety in large, national food processing and distribution operations run by unsavory characters. But local food doesn’t always mean food that is safe, or grown by folks you would want to invite to dinner.

Is local food really any safer? How do we know? Local food production and distribution often lacks the government oversight that food produced in larger operations receives. A growing number of consumers think this is a feature, the inspiration of the local food movement, while authorities see it as a public safety risk.

There is tension building between local foodies and local food safety authorities.  These two stories I found in the Seattle Times capture this tension well.

This first story describes oyster and clam poaching on Hood Canal and the arrest of two poachers last month. It’s a great read featuring Washington Fish and Wildlife officers on a night time stake out to catch poachers harvesting shellfish from private and public  beaches. These alleged poachers, who are connected to a legit, local growing operation, were harvesting clams and oysters from other growers. But they were also harvesting from public beaches. Authorities are concerned about the sale of oysters harvested from beaches contaminated with toxins. The story mentions how these alleged poachers sold shellfish to local restaurants and at Farmer’s Markets from Lake Forest Park to Issaquah. As the retail market for local food develops and becomes more predictable does it encourage poaching and accelerate unsustainable harvests? When is it a health risk?

The second story covers recent trouble with Sequim’s Dungeness Valley Creamery, which produces and sells raw, unpasteurized milk. The milk is sold with warning labels, sometimes for 13 bucks a gallon. Authorities have investigated the creamery after it was linked to three E Coli cases.  But the creamery wasn’t shut down because even though E Coli was found on the farm the milk tested clean.

The Dungeness story really highlights the political motivation of the local foodies clashing with authority. I was stuck by the libertarian streak in some of Dungeness’ customers who see the state’s investigation motivated by “lies” and “trickery”. I also laughed at some of the religious motivation of folks who say the raw milk is God’s creation so it must be OK – isn’t the E.Coli God’s creation too? That stuff will kill you. The dairy seems like a nice place trying to make some milk and be left alone. But spend a few minutes on their web site and you quickly get a taste of the politics behind local food and raw milk in particular.

It will be interesting to see how the local food movement responds to this push back from local authorities responsible for food safety.