Health inspectors have shut down an unlicensed south Minneapolis food dealer after they said it has been illegally selling raw milk and uninspected meat products.
According to its website, Uptown Locavore, at 3137 Hennepin Av., has been operating since 2008 and sells "high-quality" food from local farmers. The business subscribes to the belief that humans can achieve perfect health through consuming nutrient-dense whole foods and fat-soluble activators found in animal fats, according to its website.
But Daniel Huff, director of environmental health for Minneapolis, says the business model violates the law and the products are unsafe. Unpasteurized milk and cheese can contain bacteria from manure, and the store was selling products from a farmer whose dairy got eight people sick with E. coli in 2010, Huff said. One of those people developed kidney failure.
"The youngest victim in that case was 4 months old," he said. "So it is a dangerous product. And he's selling the exact same farmer's product that got the people sick."
The owner of Uptown Locavore, Will Winter, did not respond to a request for an interview. On his Facebook page, Winter said he runs a legal private buying club in which customers subscribe and know what they're buying.
"Nothing is for sale to the public," he wrote. "We are not a 'store.' This is fully legal in America. However, many of the ground-pounders and officials don't even know our own American, state, county and city laws. They can come down on us hard."
This is not the first time the government has come down on him.
In 2010, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture halted sales at Winter's business, Traditional Foods Minnesota, to investigate food licensing issues. In 2011, the state veterinary board issued a cease-and-desist order for Winter to stop calling himself a holistic veterinarian. At the time, his vet license had been suspended for 11 years, though he claimed to be a practicing vet.
