http://www.news-leader.com/article/20091...buting-raw-milk
Conway -- A Pulaski County family's delivery of farm-fresh raw milk to customers in Springfield is clashing with a state law barring commercial distribution of the commodity.
Attorney General Chris Koster is suing Armand and Teddi Bechard of Conway, seeking to stop them from setting up drop-off points for the sale of their unprocessed milk.
In Missouri, it is legal to sell raw milk from the farms or deliver it directly to the customer. But it's illegal for a farmer to distribute unprocessed milk or offer it for sale at a market or in a parking lot, according to Koster and two opinions issued from then-Attorney General Jack Danforth in the mid-1970s.
On April 8 and April 15, the Bechards' daughters -- ages 17 and 21 -- set up in a parking lot in front of Mama Jean's Natural Market on South Campbell Avenue to distribute raw milk to customers who had pre-ordered it from the Bechard Family Farm.
Armand Bechard said his girls were using the parking lot as a drop-off point, not as a place to market their product. But the state of Missouri doesn't see it that way.
Two undercover inspectors from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department approached them separately on each occasion and asked whether they had an extra gallon of milk to sell, according to court documents.
"They said, 'yeah, we've got extra milk,' " Armand Bechard said.
The girls, who were labeled "representatives" of the farm in the lawsuit, agreed to the sale because a customer did not show up, which Armand Bechard said is "very rare."
The law, found in Chapter 196.935 of Missouri Revised Statues, says "an individual may purchase and have delivered to him for his own use raw milk or cream from a farm."
"The law says a person can purchase raw milk or cream from 'a farm,' " Armand Bechard said. "It doesn't say from 'the farm,' which I think is a distinction."
On Nov. 23, Koster filed suit against the Bechards in Greene County Circuit Court, seeking a permanent injunction against the Bechard family from distributing milk away from their farm south of Conway.
The Bechards refused to sign a consent judgment saying they wouldn't use distribution sites to get their milk to customers. Since the incident, though, they have required payment in advance of delivery so that no cash changes hands, and leftover milk cannot be sold to customers who did not preorder it, Armand Bechard said.
But the family is prepared to go to court against the attorney general because they think the case could stifle other small dairy farmers from selling raw milk to people who seek it.
"That's why we think the fight is so important," Teddi Bechard said.
Customers can legally purchase milk from a dairy producer if the farmer delivers it directly to them, said Joe Dandurand, deputy attorney general.
"That's not prohibited," Dandurand said. "You can meet them at some place, but you just can't have a retail spot" if it's not processed.
What is prohibited, Dandurand said, is selling raw milk in a parking lot, even if it was pre-ordered, because it allows for the product to be marketed.
"That's the health hazard that we seek to avoid," Dandurand said. "One thing that is not in dispute is they were doing it in the parking lot of a whole foods store."
Armand Bechard said one of the reasons he didn't sign the consent judgment is that it would have barred him and his "successors" -- or children -- from ever distributing milk off their farm.
"If the law ever changed, I was still stuck," he said.
City citation
The Bechards and their five boys and two girls moved to Conway in 2000 from Denver. With the three oldest sons grown up, Armand and Teddi Bechard and their four younger children live off the 115-acre farm by raising and selling fresh beef, pork, lamb, turkeys, chickens and eggs. They also sell jams, fresh-baked goods and handcrafted soaps.
Raw milk, sold at $7 a gallon at the farm or $8 delivered, makes up a small portion of their operation, but they do sell several gallons each week to about 20 families, said Teddi Armand.
Springfield-Greene County health investigators went to the parking lot to bust the raw milk sales because the Bechards were advertising the distribution site on their Web site, http://bechardfarm.com, said Karen Prescott, environmental health administrator.
"That's the problem with a distribution center. If they have extra milk because a customers hasn't shown up, they're very tempted to sell it instead of taking it back to the farm," Prescott said. "Then they cross the line of being a food establishment."
The city of Springfield has separately cited the Bechards for operating a food establishment without a permit -- an ordinance violation Armand Berchard wants to take to trial in municipal court, Prescott said.
Susie Farbin, one of the co-owners of Mama Jean's Natural Market, was upset to learn her store's name was mentioned in the lawsuit because the parking lot where the Bechards distributed the raw milk is not her store's.
It's owned by the Wedgewood Shopping Center and shared by all of the tenants at the strip mall near Campbell and Sunshine, Farbin said.
"We're not responsible for what's happening in our parking lot," Farbin said. "I'm very upset that we're even slightly associated with this, because we know it's illegal in the state of Missouri."
theres another page on the web site
Conway -- A Pulaski County family's delivery of farm-fresh raw milk to customers in Springfield is clashing with a state law barring commercial distribution of the commodity.
Attorney General Chris Koster is suing Armand and Teddi Bechard of Conway, seeking to stop them from setting up drop-off points for the sale of their unprocessed milk.
In Missouri, it is legal to sell raw milk from the farms or deliver it directly to the customer. But it's illegal for a farmer to distribute unprocessed milk or offer it for sale at a market or in a parking lot, according to Koster and two opinions issued from then-Attorney General Jack Danforth in the mid-1970s.
On April 8 and April 15, the Bechards' daughters -- ages 17 and 21 -- set up in a parking lot in front of Mama Jean's Natural Market on South Campbell Avenue to distribute raw milk to customers who had pre-ordered it from the Bechard Family Farm.
Armand Bechard said his girls were using the parking lot as a drop-off point, not as a place to market their product. But the state of Missouri doesn't see it that way.
Two undercover inspectors from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department approached them separately on each occasion and asked whether they had an extra gallon of milk to sell, according to court documents.
"They said, 'yeah, we've got extra milk,' " Armand Bechard said.
The girls, who were labeled "representatives" of the farm in the lawsuit, agreed to the sale because a customer did not show up, which Armand Bechard said is "very rare."
The law, found in Chapter 196.935 of Missouri Revised Statues, says "an individual may purchase and have delivered to him for his own use raw milk or cream from a farm."
"The law says a person can purchase raw milk or cream from 'a farm,' " Armand Bechard said. "It doesn't say from 'the farm,' which I think is a distinction."
On Nov. 23, Koster filed suit against the Bechards in Greene County Circuit Court, seeking a permanent injunction against the Bechard family from distributing milk away from their farm south of Conway.
The Bechards refused to sign a consent judgment saying they wouldn't use distribution sites to get their milk to customers. Since the incident, though, they have required payment in advance of delivery so that no cash changes hands, and leftover milk cannot be sold to customers who did not preorder it, Armand Bechard said.
But the family is prepared to go to court against the attorney general because they think the case could stifle other small dairy farmers from selling raw milk to people who seek it.
"That's why we think the fight is so important," Teddi Bechard said.
Customers can legally purchase milk from a dairy producer if the farmer delivers it directly to them, said Joe Dandurand, deputy attorney general.
"That's not prohibited," Dandurand said. "You can meet them at some place, but you just can't have a retail spot" if it's not processed.
What is prohibited, Dandurand said, is selling raw milk in a parking lot, even if it was pre-ordered, because it allows for the product to be marketed.
"That's the health hazard that we seek to avoid," Dandurand said. "One thing that is not in dispute is they were doing it in the parking lot of a whole foods store."
Armand Bechard said one of the reasons he didn't sign the consent judgment is that it would have barred him and his "successors" -- or children -- from ever distributing milk off their farm.
"If the law ever changed, I was still stuck," he said.
City citation
The Bechards and their five boys and two girls moved to Conway in 2000 from Denver. With the three oldest sons grown up, Armand and Teddi Bechard and their four younger children live off the 115-acre farm by raising and selling fresh beef, pork, lamb, turkeys, chickens and eggs. They also sell jams, fresh-baked goods and handcrafted soaps.
Raw milk, sold at $7 a gallon at the farm or $8 delivered, makes up a small portion of their operation, but they do sell several gallons each week to about 20 families, said Teddi Armand.
Springfield-Greene County health investigators went to the parking lot to bust the raw milk sales because the Bechards were advertising the distribution site on their Web site, http://bechardfarm.com, said Karen Prescott, environmental health administrator.
"That's the problem with a distribution center. If they have extra milk because a customers hasn't shown up, they're very tempted to sell it instead of taking it back to the farm," Prescott said. "Then they cross the line of being a food establishment."
The city of Springfield has separately cited the Bechards for operating a food establishment without a permit -- an ordinance violation Armand Berchard wants to take to trial in municipal court, Prescott said.
Susie Farbin, one of the co-owners of Mama Jean's Natural Market, was upset to learn her store's name was mentioned in the lawsuit because the parking lot where the Bechards distributed the raw milk is not her store's.
It's owned by the Wedgewood Shopping Center and shared by all of the tenants at the strip mall near Campbell and Sunshine, Farbin said.
"We're not responsible for what's happening in our parking lot," Farbin said. "I'm very upset that we're even slightly associated with this, because we know it's illegal in the state of Missouri."
theres another page on the web site
