A former state lawmaker, Tyler Lindholm, who was the author of the Wyoming Food Freedom Act says action may be needed to protect businesses that sell Wyoming meat products in-state.
One Option? Simply ignore federal law, much as Colorado does on marijuana laws.
In a recent Facebook post, Lindholm said a Cheyenne urban farm did not deserve to have a meat freezer locked by state inspectors.
Lindholm was the sponsor of the 2015 law pertaining to foods, “to allow for the sale and consumption of homemade foods and to encourage the expansion of agricultural sales by farmers markets, ranches, farms and home based producers and accessibility of the same.”
The law applies to homemade foods and agricultural products produced and sold within the state of Wyoming only. It doesn’t apply to food shipped in from out of state
WY FRESH Farms is an urban farm in Cheyenne which grows and sells agricultural products directly to consumers. Last month, the Wyoming Department of Agriculture ordered WY FRESH to stop selling some meat products. WY FRESH did not produce the meat, but it was grown by other Wyoming farmers and WYFRESH was storing the meat and allowing it to be sold for the farmers.
The meat had been inspected.
The WDA agents zip tied the meat freezers for not having a retail food license. WYFRESH farms owner David Kniseley told Townsquare Media of Cheyenne that the business is appealing the WDA decision to the State Board Of Administrative Hearings. In the meantime, the meat is still locked up.
Lindholm told Wake Up Wyoming Host Glenn Woods on Tuesday that part of the problem is that “the federal government is involved, heavily on meat. In like the worst ways ever. That’s who these guys are.” He says the state “has to kind of thread that needle” in regard to federal laws on meat inspection. In an apparent reference to WY FRESH Farms, Lindholm goes on to say “Even though we have some meat down in Cheyenne that was federally inspected, it was USDA inspected, an outfit did not buy a permit to be able to sell that meat. Even though it’s inspected, they didn’t buy the permit. And so they got locked up.”
Lindholm recently posted on his Facebook page that “WY fresh didn’t deserve this.”
The Food Freedom Act does not explicitly protect meat. ”We touch on it in several places” Lindholm says. But it isn’t explicitly covered. Lindholm says that may be his fault “for not taking into consideration every eventuality a bureaucrat could think of.”
“If Colorado Can Sell Marijuana Brownies, Surely Wyoming Can Sell A Beef Taco”
So what is the answer? Lindholm says one solution is too simply ignore federal law “and sell beef without federal permission.” That would entail ignoring the Federal Meat Inspection Act. ”It would absolutely draw the ire of the USDA and people would be super upset with us’ he says.
He adds “If Colorado can sell marijuana brownies, surely Wyoming can sell a beef taco.”
You can hear the Tyler Lindholm “‘Wake Up Wyoming” interview in the audio file below:
Jay Em, Wyoming, Frozen In Time
Jay Em, what an unusual name for a town.The few people who live there are proud of what their spot on earth once was, and they work to preserve it. They keep this little community frozen in time.
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods
