Fans of the Estrella Family Creamery got a shock at the U-District farmers market this morning, but likely not as big a shock as the kids of this Montesano family got when the FDA showed up to shut the creamery down.
The claim: Risk of exposure to Listeria. However, Estrella’s current inspection records (available today at the market) show that all cheeses have tested negative. There was apparently a positive test for Listeria at a point in the past, and so the FDA decided to shut down the dairy on the claim that the cheese might have Listeria, with no burden of proof to demonstrate they do, or to acknowledge records that show this is no longer a problem.
Anthony Estrella said this morning that even starting to fight this would cost $20,000-$30,000 or pro bono legal representation.
We all know there are a lot of politics around raw milk and raw milk products, and this farm makes (aged) cheeses from raw milk, following Washington State regulations.
This is a wonderful farm. Anthony and Kelli have won numerous awards for their cheeses. They’re an incredibly hardworking family. I went out there to volunteer one weekend a few winters ago when their farm faced damage from the huge windstorm that wrecked that part of the state, and was impressed then and now by both their work and their products.
They and their kids are, as you can imagine, extremely upset. The FDA agents showed up when the parents were out, which added to the emotions of the raid.
If you can help, please contact Anthony and Kelli. Legal/advocacy help, voicing your feelings as a customer on their behalf, wishes/prayers, or any other relevant resources sound welcome.
Also, contacting Rep. Norm Dicks, especially if you live in his legislative district (mostly Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas), would be helpful. 1-800-947-NORM (947-6676), or email via his contact form.
Kelli’s brief statement about the shut-down is here.
Here is their contact info:
photo of family: Estrella Family Creamery website
Update
Thanks everyone for the good discussion below. As with any such story, more information is coming out, and each side deserves a response. The FDA’s affidavit is below in the comments, suggesting their concerns and basis for the shut-down, including a statement that they requested the operation recall its cheeses in September and the request was refused. The concern is that this has been a persistent problem, but the current records showing all cheeses test negative seem to suggest the problem might have cleared up. Could the FDA have handled this better? How much did each sides’ negative views of the other (FDA views of raw milk dairy producers, Estrellas’ views of the FDA) play a role in this? If the most recent tests really did come back negative, was there another way the FDA could have worked with the farm, or the farm with the FDA? What is the best thing to be done now, and what lessons are there in this for both the FDA and small producers in the future?
Anyway, many questions, and still a sad situation all around.
Update 10/31/10
I’ll post this separately, but here’s a good context/background article on the FDA’s use of L. mono to shut down raw milk dairies. It’s from the Farm To Consumer Legal Defense Fund.
Kelli posted this on the Estrella website. I’ll post updates if I hear them, but that’s a good place, obviously, to be checking too.
Thanks for this post. Hoping for best possible outcome for Estrellas. Wonderful hard-working family. I will contact Norm Dicks.
hello all my positive thoughts to you, I hope that a kind lawyer will work for you for free or a life long cheese supply?
do you have no lawyer friends?
This is a case of guilty until proven innocent. I hope they contact the Farmer to consumer defense Fund ( I left them a message about it)
[...] the Saturday edition of Seattle Local Food, a plea went out to help the Estrella family. It explains why the FDA agents have a bee in their [...]
The Estrella’s are an incredible family, Kelli is an artist. I have been eating their cheese for years. The FDA agent seized hard cheeses which are NOT affected by Listeria.
Contact everyone you know, let’s help them beat this!
thank you for this information and all the links. We make a point to stop by the farm during open tasting on Saturdays. We were so suprised and saddened yesterday. Now I am informed and will call the office of Norm Dicks tomorrow.
I would totally like to understand what is going on here. I *love* Estrella cheese. I recently moved here from Vt/Ma, and Estrella is a welcome relief from the oil-soaked wheat paste from Tillimook.
Of course, I’d like to eat safely! If there is a problem at Estrella I’m sure we all expect it to be fixed. What I completely don’t understand how locking the creamery down has anything to do with fixing a problem, if there is one. It can’t be that hard to verify whether a problem exists and, if there proves to be one, to eradicate it. Is the FDA saying what the problem is, anywhere?
[...] the Saturday edition of Seattle Local Food, a plea went out to help the Estrella family. It explains why the FDA agents have a bee in their [...]
We need to get this story out to as many real food blogs, sites, and advocacies as we can. This is not just a local battle, it’s happening everywhere. I was afraid after the listeria troubles at the celery packing plant in TX that the FDA would get trigger happy, and use it as their excuse.
Kim
Blessed Farm, WA
Thanks for sharing it on, everyone. We’ve gotten hundreds of hits and a bunch of links/retweets/Facebook reposts so far. Hope this helps!!
-Debs
Will be spreading this – but I wonder why they don’t join the farm to consumer fund? This is exactly what it’s set up for. I set up a membership for our buying club should anything ever happen.
Thanks for posting this – saddened beyond belief. I love Estrella and once you get targeted seems there is no fighting.
There is a place where farmer’s can go for free representation for stuff like this. They may have had to be members…but maybe it is not too late to join. I forget the name of it, but they should ask around because it is common knowledge among farmers. Somebody will know.
Pati, it’s the Farm to Consumer fund, http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/. I emailed it to them. I signed up the Ballard Buying Club last year so we could get legal counsel should anything come up.
Terrible! We will contact Norm Dicks.
This is deliberate, according to the Department of Health and Human Services:
http://www.healthypeople.gov/hp2020/Objectives/ViewObjective.aspx?Id=490&TopicArea=Food+Safety&Objective=FS+HP2020%E2%80%939&TopicAreaId=22
Their goal is to “Increase the number of States that have prohibited sale or distribution of unpasteurized dairy products”
So when contacting Norm Dicks, Patty Murray, and Maria Cantwell, be sure to tell them that we want the FDA to quit picking on small family businesses, and let traditional farmers do their thing.
Matt,
Wow — Thank you for finding that. That’s a whole other topic for a blog post.
This answers someone’s question via Facebook too, which is whom to contact if you’re not in Norm Dicks’s district. As this is a concern about larger issues between the FDA and the ability of small, sustainable food producers to thrive, it’s relevant to all of us, in any state, and we should be talking to our federal legislators about it.
You can use this as a specific example and, to keep it local, talk about your concerns about its effects statewide or it happening in your district.
You can also talk to your state legislators, since this has implications for WA (or other) state agriculture. Although my impression is this is primarily a federal issue, but it couldn’t hurt to raise the concern.
Find and contact your US House Representative here:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Find your US Senator here (sorted by state):
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC
Find your WA State legislators here:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx
Also, for any *state* related legislative advocacy in WA, program this phone number into your phone right now:
1.800.562.6000
This number is a quick way to send a message to your local WA State Senator and Representatives, and the Governor too if you’d like. You don’t have to know who represents you; the operator who takes down your message will take care of that. Legislative advocacy really helps!
By the way, thanks to everyone who keeps sharing this on. Over 175 have shared it on Facebook, over 1300 people have viewed it, and these numbers keep growing.
Matt, one other comment: That food safety objective actually technically shouldn’t apply to this, by their own measures. They refer to the sales of raw milk and of raw milk cheeses aged <60 days. All the Estrella cheeses, like all other legally sold raw milk cheeses in WA, are aged over 60 days. By this measure, it makes more sense that they're striking down on the raw milk sellers (not Estrella) than a seller of aged cheese.
Incidentally, Listeria, in its rare manifestations, tends to be a problem in SOFT cheeses made of raw milk, not cheeses aged 60 or more days.
Thank you so much for this post, I’m currently working on my own and having a difficult time as I get so angry and emotional about this.
I am reposting and looking into what can possible be done to help them out. Thank you again.
[...] Seattle Food Local has a good post about the Estrella Family Creamery situation and what you can do to help. The Estrellas and I (and many of my readers) might have differences of opinion about many political issues, but the issue of justice for farmers is an important one for everyone to fight. [...]
[...] Seattle Food Local has a good post about the Estrella Family Creamery situation and what you can do to help. The Estrellas and I (and many of my readers) might have differences of opinion about many political issues, but the issue of justice for farmers is an important one for everyone to fight. [...]
[...] And thanks everyone for continuing to spread on yesterday’s post about Estrella Family Creamery. [...]
[...] you haven’t seen it yet, the Estrella Family Creamery story hit the Seattle Times today. I’m glad this issue continues to get momentum. The post on this blog has gotten [...]
The FDA found listeria on several occasions in the aging rooms and in cheeses from what I have read on other blogs.
The creamery was informed of this and failed to take action to eliminate the conditions. The FDA even when convinced that there is a threat to public health takes a long time to shut a place down. They could have closed and cleaned voluntarily.
AFFIDAVIT OF LISA ELRAND
IN SUPPORT OF VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR FORFEITURE IN REM
I, Lisa Elrand, hereby verify and declare under penalty of perjury that the following is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
1.I am a Compliance Officer with the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), United States Department of Health and Human Services.
2.I have read the foregoing verified Complaint for Forfeiture In Rem and know the contents thereof; the information contained in the Complaint has been furnished by official government sources; and, based on information and belief, the allegations contained in the Complaint are true.
3.The sources of my knowledge and information and the grounds of my belief are the official files and records of the United States, as well as my investigation of this case, together with others, as a Compliance Officer with FDA.
4.Estrella Family Creamery, LLC (“Estrella”) is a small family dairy that manufactures and sells specialty aged cheeses made from raw cow and goat milk.
5.On February 1, 9, and March 1, 2010, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (“WADA”) collected finished cheese products, salt brine solution, rennet and environmental samples at Estrella. FDA has since determined that Estrella purchases rennet, which is a component of all Estrella cheese products, from a company located in Madison, Wisconsin. The state’s laboratory analyses of the samples collected from Estrella revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes (“L. mono”) in the finished cheese, in the salt brine solution, and throughout the production and storage areas. L. mono is an opportunistic pathogen capable of causing the illness listeriosis, which can result in death, especially in aged, infirm, very young, or immunocompromised individuals. As a result of the WADA’s discovery of L. mono, Estrella initiated recalls of several cheese products on February 10, February 15, and March 5, 2010.
6.6. On August 2, 2010, FDA initiated an inspection of Estrella and collected several environmental samples and finished cheese products. FDA laboratory analyses of these samples revealed the presence of L. mono in the processing areas and aging rooms, particularly Cave 3. Investigators observed finished product being cut and wrapped in the cheese room where L. mono had been detected.7.During this inspection, the firm disclosed that it tested its products for Listeria between March 2010 and May 2010, and that a sample collected on March 2010 tested positive for L. mono.
8.During an August 16, 2010, visit, an FDA investigator collected a sample of “Caldwell Crik Chevrette” cheese that was made on April 27, 2010. One of the owners of Estrella told the FDA investigator that the product was part of Estrella’s commercial inventory of product, ready to be distributed. FDA laboratory analysis revealed that the sample tested positive for L. mono.
9.FDA analysis using Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (“PFGE”) revealed that L. mono isolates obtained from FDA environmental samples collected on August 2-3, 2010, an FDA finished product sample collected on August 16, 2010, and finished product samples collected by the WADA in February 20 I0 were indistinguishable both by a primary and secondary enzyme. When a PFGE pattern of an isolate is indistinguishable from the pattern of another isolate from a common source (i.e., from the facility and the products therein), it is highly likely that the two isolates are the same strain of L. mono, and that L. mono may have been transported throughout the facility and established niche areas. The presence of a persistent strain of L. mono in the facility over time is significant in that it demonstrates that sanitation efforts were inadequate to remove this pathogenic organism.
10.On September 1, 2010, the FDA and the WADA initiated the most recent inspection of Estrella. During this inspection, Estrella provided laboratory reports that revealed product it sampled on May 28, June 15, June 26, June 29, July 8, and August 30, 2010, had tested positive for L. mono. Investigators also found three paper-wrapped cheeses labeled “FDA sample, do not sell” stacked together on an aging shelf that appeared to be the three remaining cheeses from the lot that was sampled by FDA on August 16, 2010 and tested positive for L. mono. Estrella had previously informed FDA that cheese had been destroyed. The presence of the contaminated cheese presents an additional potential source of contamination.
11.Also during the September 1, 2010, inspection, FDA investigators observed that employees did not take necessary precautions to protect against contamination of food contact surfaces. Most significantly, the owner was observed tasting the cheese and placing the uneaten portion back into the cheese wheel. Conditions similar to those observed during the previous August 2010 inspections were also observed during this inspection.
12.On September 3, 2010, the agency requested that Estrella recall all cheese products. The firm declined.
13.On September 4, 2010, FDA issued an FDA News Release advising consumers that consumption of all Estrella Creamery cheeses put them at risk for L. mono related illnesses.
14.During FDA’s inspections of Estrella, FDA investigators also observed insanitary conditions in the production areas including tape and peeling paint on cheese press handles; flying insects and spiders on the walls and ceiling of the milk room vestibule and in the cheese processing room; and uncovered whey collection tank located against the exterior wall of the processing facility; milk residue build-up on the whey discharge sink, and rough bare wood shelving covered with cheese product residue in the cheese aging areas.
15.In short, the persistent presence of L. mono in both product and environmental samples from Estrella and the insanitary conditions repeatedly observed by FDA investigators causes all food articles held at Estrella to be adulterated.
Thanks everyone for sharing your perspectives on this. We’ll see how this plays out.
According to the Department of Justice, the test results have shown a persistent strain of Listeria for the better part of a year. Contamination was detected in their cheeses, production areas, and aging rooms.
From the Dept. of Justice, “Further, Estrella’s owners revealed that their own tests between March and May 2010, showed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in certain cheese products.”
There was a positive test of market-ready cheese. The FDA requested a recall and Estrella refused. That was on Sept. 14th. Since then, Estrella has been marketing cheese to University District Farmers Market that had a potential for contamination.
Listeria can takes weeks to induce symptoms. The symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, and nausea or diarrhea. Pregnant women are particularly susceptible to infection and may experience flu-like symptoms and serious harm to fetuses, including, but not limited to, miscarriage.
FDA did the right thing to protect us by shutting down an unsanitary farm that produces toxic food !
[...] LINK TO BLOG POST [...]
[...] product seized by the FDA, essentially in an attempt to put them out of business. See here and here for some perspective and further [...]
[...] Listeria at the family owned and operated Estrella Family Creamery. Background on the seizure is here. See this link for Gordon Edgar’s [...]
An interesting perspective for those hesitant about the Listeria reports: http://ftcldf.org/fda-ace-in-the-hole-kennedy.htm
Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts, and still thinking of Kelli and Anthony.
Given all of the amazing local creameries who do a good job of cleanliness and food safety, I’m curious why so many people are jumping to the defense of the Estrellas. Why support a business that has demonstrated an unwillingness to ensure the safety of their food? Why not reward creameries who do it right instead?
[...] on a hardworking family’s small farm. Shortly after the FDA confiscated the Estrella inventory, Seattle Local Food blogger Deb Gardner posted a defense of the steps taken by the owners after the initial finding of [...]
[...] 19, 2010 by seattlelocalfood Hey everyone — For those of you following the Estrella Family Creamery situation, I’m adding my voice to the links over at Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s website today. [...]
[...] Read about Morningland Dairy and Estrella Creamery. [...]
[...] product seized by the FDA, essentially in an attempt to put them out of business. See here and here for some perspective and further [...]