February 21st, 2008

Daily Progress

Two Nelson County farmers can continue selling their pork products at local farmers’ markets as long as they follow state and federal rules.

On Wednesday, Richard Bean and Jean Rinaldi pleaded guilty in Charlottesville Circuit Court to one misdemeanor count of transporting and selling uninspected meat.

Other charges against the pair, including a felony, were dropped as part of an agreement with prosecutors. The deal requires them to stay out of legal trouble and have all their swine slaughtered at a federally approved facility.

Bean and Rinaldi are the owners of the Double H farm. In September, they were charged in both Nelson and Charlottesville with selling uninspected meat.

As part of the deal, meat can be processed at their farm as long as they follow state and federal rules and pass inspection, a requirement they said has already been met.

The plea agreement is similar to a deal Bean and Rinaldi previously struck in Nelson County General District Court.

Authorities had maintained that the pair was falsely certifying products as “organic,” and said the pork they were selling at the Charlottesville Farmer’s Market had not been properly slaughtered or processed.

In court, F.C. Lamneck of the state agriculture department said he offered Bean and Rinaldi numerous opportunities to comply with the law before he pursued charges against them.

“I never strong-armed them,” Lamneck said in court.

Supporters, however, said Bean and Rinaldi violated a set of stringent state and federal rules that are designed for much larger farms and actually harm small operators who produce and sell their food locally.

While Bean and Rinaldi were in court Wednesday, a bill that would loosen state restrictions on the sale of some food items moved closer to becoming law.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, would allow small farmers to sell items such as jam, jelly and bread at farmers’ markets and at their own homes, as long as the food bears a label saying it has not been inspected. Deeds said Wednesday that Bean and Rinaldi’s situation helped inspire the legislation.

Though the bill does not cover meat products, Rinaldi said after court that it would allow Double H to sell other products and help small farmers make ends meet.

“The whole idea is that the little guy has got to have a chance to make a living,” Deeds said in a telephone interview.

A House of Delegates committee approved the bill Wednesday. It will likely go to the house floor for a vote within a week.