ALBANY - Government rules and regulations imposed on small dairy food producers can be confusing, costly, time consuming and downright frustrating when they don't work, say some local dairy food producers.
Wisconsin Senators Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, and Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, heard the complaints in Green and Lafayette counties Tuesday as they renewed their Common Ground Tour and made stops at dairy-related businesses in both counties.
"Especially with small startups, compliance officers need someone to turn to and help you along," Schultz said.
The entangled federal and state regulations sometimes do not mesh well, and Cullen said, "There needs to be a common-sense piece."
On the tour also, Mike Powers, head of the Division of Agricultural Development at Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, said some of the "challenges are the overlapping responsibilities between the federal and state" governments.
With mixed messages about how to create more jobs in a stalled economy, the senators' tour idea is to "talk to the people who are creating the jobs," Schultz said. The tours give business owners "the opportunity to tell us what needs to be done," he added.
The senators toured Roelli Cheese Company near Shullsburg, Louie's Specialty Foods in Argyle and Sugar River Dairy near Albany.
Ron and Chris Paris own and operate Sugar River Dairy, a Grade-A dairy facility, in rural Green County.
"Regulation takes too much time. I have to document every step I take. This is my life; I'm not going to mess it up," Chris Paris told Schultz.
For the past 10 years, Ron and Chris Paris have been making fresh yogurt in 6-ounce and 24-ounce containers. Their products are sold in local supermarkets and also distributed in Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.
The health-conscious consumer movements to buy fresh and buy local have been a boon for their products.
"As soon as the talk was, 'let's buy locally,' that helped us immensely," Ron said.
Sugar River Dairy gets its 1-percent milk from Sassy Cow Creamery in Columbus, but its whole milk comes from "over the hill" 300 gallons at a time, which Ron picks up in what he calls the smallest milk truck in the state. At just a 20-minute drive away from the factory, the milk doesn't even have time to cool down from the cow.
"If people want to know where their food comes from, I can tell them," Chris Paris said.
Big yogurt producers incubate their yogurt to set up in large batches, and it is then funneled into containers, but at Sugar River, "the magic happens in the cup," Ron said.
The factory is 10 steps from the Paris home, where Ron and Chris work "24/7/365." Sugar River relies on several part-time employees who helped produce about 300,000 pounds of yogurt last year. Each batch is 1,700 to 1,800 pounds. Gross sales came to $400,000 last year.
The process of creating a quality, value-added dairy product is simple, said Ron: "Milk and culture."
But compliance with food safety inspections is not as easy.
"Rules should be the same - not four different inspectors with different interpretations," Chris Paris said.
Ron Paris said there's a feeling of being "presumed guilty" of not complying with food safety regulations, even when an inspection grade is based on aspects not related to the food quality, or being identified as not complying with a regulation that doesn't apply to his facility.
Powers agreed that more communication is needed between agencies before issuing unsatisfactory notices of facilities, which should be clarified with reasons. Federal inspectors are simply following their regulations, relying upon state data, Powers said.
"They are following the letter of the law, rather than the intent of the law," he said.
Wisconsin Senators Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, and Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, heard the complaints in Green and Lafayette counties Tuesday as they renewed their Common Ground Tour and made stops at dairy-related businesses in both counties.
"Especially with small startups, compliance officers need someone to turn to and help you along," Schultz said.
The entangled federal and state regulations sometimes do not mesh well, and Cullen said, "There needs to be a common-sense piece."
On the tour also, Mike Powers, head of the Division of Agricultural Development at Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, said some of the "challenges are the overlapping responsibilities between the federal and state" governments.
With mixed messages about how to create more jobs in a stalled economy, the senators' tour idea is to "talk to the people who are creating the jobs," Schultz said. The tours give business owners "the opportunity to tell us what needs to be done," he added.
The senators toured Roelli Cheese Company near Shullsburg, Louie's Specialty Foods in Argyle and Sugar River Dairy near Albany.
Ron and Chris Paris own and operate Sugar River Dairy, a Grade-A dairy facility, in rural Green County.
"Regulation takes too much time. I have to document every step I take. This is my life; I'm not going to mess it up," Chris Paris told Schultz.
For the past 10 years, Ron and Chris Paris have been making fresh yogurt in 6-ounce and 24-ounce containers. Their products are sold in local supermarkets and also distributed in Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.
The health-conscious consumer movements to buy fresh and buy local have been a boon for their products.
"As soon as the talk was, 'let's buy locally,' that helped us immensely," Ron said.
Sugar River Dairy gets its 1-percent milk from Sassy Cow Creamery in Columbus, but its whole milk comes from "over the hill" 300 gallons at a time, which Ron picks up in what he calls the smallest milk truck in the state. At just a 20-minute drive away from the factory, the milk doesn't even have time to cool down from the cow.
"If people want to know where their food comes from, I can tell them," Chris Paris said.
Big yogurt producers incubate their yogurt to set up in large batches, and it is then funneled into containers, but at Sugar River, "the magic happens in the cup," Ron said.
The factory is 10 steps from the Paris home, where Ron and Chris work "24/7/365." Sugar River relies on several part-time employees who helped produce about 300,000 pounds of yogurt last year. Each batch is 1,700 to 1,800 pounds. Gross sales came to $400,000 last year.
The process of creating a quality, value-added dairy product is simple, said Ron: "Milk and culture."
But compliance with food safety inspections is not as easy.
"Rules should be the same - not four different inspectors with different interpretations," Chris Paris said.
Ron Paris said there's a feeling of being "presumed guilty" of not complying with food safety regulations, even when an inspection grade is based on aspects not related to the food quality, or being identified as not complying with a regulation that doesn't apply to his facility.
Powers agreed that more communication is needed between agencies before issuing unsatisfactory notices of facilities, which should be clarified with reasons. Federal inspectors are simply following their regulations, relying upon state data, Powers said.
"They are following the letter of the law, rather than the intent of the law," he said.