Living Springs Ranch owner Dan West had been selling raw milk at the GreenMarket in St Louis, which in the winter is open the first and third Saturday of the month.
However, West has been told by the St. Louis Department of Health that selling raw milk is not only a violation of a city ordinance but against state law, according to the River Front Times.
Missouri state law allows raw milk to be sold on a farm, but not at a market away from a farm. The law further stipulates that a farm selling raw milk first has to be inspected, and that farmers must obtain a state permit to merchandise the milk.
West has worked out a compromise with the city health department that now gives him entry to GreenMarket as a pick-up point for customers who have prepaid for their milk, although most of his customers now simply buy milk from him outside the city health department’s jurisdiction at Maplewood Farmer’s Market.