MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Food safety officials have ordered a company run by a Madison chef to stop selling pork in violation of state law to Wisconsin restaurants.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported Friday that the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection sent a letter dated Nov. 11 to chef Dan Fox ordering his Fox Heritage Farms to stop selling "misbranded multiple ingredient meat products, specifically pork."
The letter also said Fox, who runs Heritage Tavern in Madison, didn't have the appropriate license to sell meat.
Fox declined to comment on the matter, saying he would only talk about his restaurant.
"I'm not going to answer questions about this specific thing," he told the newspaper.
Steve Ingham, administrator of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's Division of Food Safety, said the investigation focused mainly on unlicensed meat production. But Ingham also wouldn't discuss details.
Fox Heritage Farms in Fitchburg sold meat to restaurants in the Madison area and Milwaukee, according to letters sent from DATCP to those businesses and obtained by the newspaper. Restaurant owners said an investigator visited them in late October or early November looking for — and sometimes confiscating — Fox's pork products.
Beth Cleary, an environmental health services supervisor for Public Health Madison and Dane County, said she previously investigated complaints that Fox fed pigs table scraps containing animal products — a violation of state law.
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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, https://madison.com/wsj/
