Montana's 1st District Court is the site of an ongoing dispute pitting a former state commercial food safety inspector against several assistant attorneys general. It may soon be close to some closure, either through a settlement conference or a panel decision.
Jeffrey P. Havens, who once held significant responsibility for food safety in Montana, continues to litigate the case (without a lawyer) against the state. Assistant Attorney General Michael Russell represents Montana.
Havens said he believes “after the August deposition, in which I participated in good faith with the State and agreed to three terms of settlement, the State has now decided to reverse course and try again to dismiss the case for a third time.”
Havens suspects the agreement he made with one assistant attorney general does not apply to other members of the state's defense team. However, the court schedule has a settlement conference scheduled for November 3rd.
The last motion from the Prosecutor General's Office for a ruling, essentially aimed at dismissing the case, was received on October 3. Havens expressed his disagreement with this decision in court documents:
''I respectfully ask this Court to allow the opportunity to argue my case in the future if an agreement cannot be reached and implemented based on the facts of public health, public health law and the Montana Constitution, rather than agreeing with Defendant's implied and willfully negligent arguments that unwitting consumers of high-risk commercial household products are at risk to future botulinum neurotoxin and/or similar outbreaks that are likely to result in adverse health effects. and/or death, directly because the consolidated and unified 2021, 2023 and now 2025 versions of the misleading “Montana Local Food Choices Act” (MLFCA) allow the sale of high-risk food products in the absence of any reasonable regulations, which is practically and reasonably inexplicable and completely contrary to the 2015 Homegrown Foods Act regarding homegrown low risk products. In general, the mission of public health is prevention rather than response whenever practical.”
Since the initial complaint was filed in December 2023, Havens has argued that a series of “food freedom” actions over many years beginning in 2011 have left Montana with a locally grown food law without consumer protections, while allowing false and misleading statements to be made and allowing unsafe and dangerous food to enter the United States. market.
“A person visiting a local farmers market and purchasing home-canned goods such as chopped carrots will likely have no idea of the true origin of the ingredients or that they were prepared or produced in the absence of any regulations,” Havens said. “As I have previously stated in publications, I could literally defecate and urinate in a metal can, seal its contents, label it as “Nature's Finest Processed Foods” and sell it at a higher price without worrying about any liability for knowingly misleading consumers. More realistic, under-processed, low-acid home canned foods are often cited as the source of outbreaks botulism”.
Montana Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed the Montana Choose Local Food Act into law on April 30, 2021. It was sponsored by Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Paulson, a grocery store owner.
Ironically, Havens wrote the manual and trained 25 state food safety officials on the new law before leading an investigation into the state's raw milk outbreak, only to leave Montana for a job in another state. His last day in Montana was November 28, 2022.
Before leaving the state, Havens received an email from Senator Hertz on October 20, 2022, which stated: “If you want to change the law, you should run for the legislature or do the work on your own time rather than using government resources.”
That same day, Havens' supervisor sent him a warning about using his government email to “oppose state law.” She added: “You are a fantastic employee and a valuable asset to our department.”
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