South Mountain Creamery

Randy Sowers and his wife Karen are dairy farmers in northern Maryland. They bought their farm in 1981, when they rented 152 acres of land and obtained a loan to buy 100 cows. The farm now covers over 2,000 acres, employs over 75 people, and delivers to over 10,000 families in a handful of states. It is also the home of their creamery—South Mountain Creamery—where they produce delicious milk, yogurt and cheese, among other tasty products.www.southmountaincreamery.com/.">1

Randy and Karen believe in responsible farming. Their cows are pasture-raised, their chickens are cage-free, and their dairy products are as pure and additive-free as the law allows. That’s why Randy has repeatedly asked state and federal agencies over the years to allow South Mountain to sell pure skim milk without any additives and call it what it is: skim milk. But the government always says no.

Randy is proud of his products and wants to use clear, accurate labels explaining precisely what is and is not in each bottle. But the FDA demands that he instead mislead his customers with confusing, inaccurate labels designed to discourage consumers from buying his natural products. So now he’s fighting back.

FDA’s Rules Prevent Randy from Selling Additive-Free Skim Milk and Speaking Honestly about It

Skim milk is just milk with the cream skimmed off. It is higher in water-soluble nutrients, like calcium, than whole milk, but it is lower in the fat-soluble nutrients—like vitamins A and D—found in the cream.

Rather than allowing customers to choose the type of milk they prefer, the FDA has decided to manipulate consumers by creating confusion where none existed. The FDA has decreed that skim milk can only be labeled as skim milk if artificial vitamin A and D additives are injected into it. In reality, this regulatory gimmick fails because the vitamin additives quickly dissolve without fat to protect them, meaning that very little make it to the consumer. But none of that matters to the FDA, which requires manufacturers of all-natural skim milk to label their product “imitation.” Failing to do that can result in fines of $1,000 per offense and the complete closure of the creamery.

Randy is committed to one day being able to sell all-natural, additive-free skim milk and truthfully label it as such. In October, 2017, he contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to find out whether he could sell additive-free skim milk as skim milk in Pennsylvania. He suggested that he would be open to many alternative labels, provided that he is not forced to confuse customers by describing pure skim milk as an imitation. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture wrote back, explaining that labeling his skim milk as something other than “imitation” would violate FDA regulations. Because South Mountain would be selling products across state lines, Pennsylvania officials are forced to follow federal regulations. However, if the FDA were to no longer object to Randy’s business, then Pennsylvania would not either. Sadly, the FDA is determined not to let common sense, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, or Randy and his customers get in the way of their efforts to manipulate American consumers.

Now Randy is taking steps to stop the FDA’s ban of honest labels. He is suing the FDA in federal court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania for violating his constitutional right to free speech.