GRAND RIDGE — A dairy in Calhoun County is suing the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) in federal court for the right to call its skim milk “skim milk.”
The state agency has insisted the Ocheesee Creamery south of Marianna label its skim milk “non Grade A milk product.”
The suit was filed Thursday.
“The people who are buying it really care about their food,” Ocheesee owner Mary Lou Wesselhoeft said. “We’re doing this to tell the truth.”
Vitamin A is at the core of Ocheesee Dairy’s complaint. Vitamin A naturally occurs in the fat of whole milk, but is taken out when the cream is skimmed away. The Federal Food and Drug Administration requires vitamin A to be injected into milk in order to reach a standard necessary for Ocheesee’s skim milk to be labeled milk. Instead the dairy would have to use the label, “non Grade A milk product,” which the dairy owners feel is misrepresentative of the product. The dairy refused to add vitamin A to its natural skim milk.
The dairy stopped selling skim milk two years ago because of the labeling issue, after selling it successfully for three years, Wesselhoeft said. In that time Ocheesee owners have met with FDACS to try to reach a compromise. Wesselhoeft said the dairy was willing to place a label informing customers that the milk did not contain vitamin A if they could still call it milk.
Ocheesee’s attorney Justin Pearson maintains the law is unconstitutional, violating free speech provided by the first amendment. He said it would be at least three to four months before Ocheesee could get a temporary injunction allowing it to sell its skim milk. To make it all the way through court in Tallahassee, Pearson said it would take about two years.
Pearson works for the Libertarian law firm Institute of Justice and is working pro bono. However, the firm can not sue for money lost by trashing the skim milk. Wesselhoeft said the losses are extensive.
FDACS declined to comment directly on the issues in the suit, but released this statement:
“We have not yet received a copy of the lawsuit, but we look forward to reviewing it,” press secretary Erin Gillespie wrote. “It is the responsibility of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to safeguard consumers, and that includes ensuring all milk meets quality standards required by federal law."
State Rep. Halsey Beshears, R-Monticello, and Rep.-elect Brad Drake, R-DeFuniak Springs, said they would be wary of pursuing any legislation to change the necessary label before it is biologically clarified that the skim milk would be safe to drink. But Beshears said he sympathizes with the dairy.
“This is what makes this country great,” Beshears said. “I wish them the best of luck.”
