Passing the collection plate comes naturally to Amos Miller

As he has in the past, Amos Miller has turned to his supporters for financial assistance as he finds compliance with food safety regulations troublesome.

After the  Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture executed a duly issued search warrant on Amos Miller and Miller’s Organic Farm on Jan. 4, a GiveSendGo campaign was launched to benefit Miller.

According to the fundraising website, the Amos Miller campaign has a goal of $150,000. Since it began on Jan. 5, contributions totaled $104,524.  Under the headline “Amos Miller Under Attack Again,” the fundraising appeal claims Miller’s Amish Farm was “raided” on Jan. 4 by Pennsylvania State Troopers.

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture employees searched Miller’s farm on Jan. 4 under a warrant signed on Jan. 3 by state Judge B. Dennis Commins. The basis of the order was an affidavit from Sheri Morris, the Department of Agriculture’s acting food safety director.

The Food Safety Bureau is involved in an outbreak investigation of foodborne illnesses that also involves the states of New York and Michigan. The threat to human health from eggnog and other raw milk products with contamination from Shiga-toxin pathogens sparked the multistate investigation.

Miller gained experience with such fundraising while contesting federal food safety enforcement brought against Miller’s Organic Farm from 2016 through 2023. In 2021, Amos Miller responded to a $250,000 federal court fine with a gofundme campaign that raised at least $52,000. At the time, he had been found in contempt of court.

Miller is a multiple-state farm owner with his own buyer’s club. At the time, he called the approaching deadline for paying the $250,000 and associated inspection costs “the biggest hurdle” the farm has to overcome.

“It is certainly not our wish to ask for more donations to cover these expenses, but standing up for the truth, such as requesting citric acid-free meats, etc., is what has brought us into this legal battle, and it is not coming for free,” Miller’s fund-raising pitch claimed.

His 2021 gofundme goal was $75,000.

According to his fundraising campaigns, Amos Miller is the victim of special attention from the government and not just routine food safety actions. However, Pennsylvania’s recent action is a routine food safety investigation, which states do year in and year out. It is looking to find out where raw eggnog and other raw dairy products are being produced and get them off the market before more illnesses and deaths occur. The products are favorable in tests for Shiga toxin-producing E. Coli that have already turned up in Michigan and New York.

The lengthy federal litigation was concluded last year when Miller’s attorney, Robert Barnes, signed off on a Third Consent Decree that provided Miller’s cooperation in the future — the Consent Decree remains in force.

With Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York investigating the Shtiga-toxin illnesses involving eggnog and raw milk, more is going to be heard about what happened. Lab work on products collected from Miller’s farm is likely underway. 

Miller has never sought licenses for his retail food operations in Pennsylvania.

To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)