Fox Heritage Farms, which raises and breeds pigs to use and sell pork to local Madison restaurants, is currently under investigation for the alleged unlicensed practices of pork production for local restaurants.
The state-administered investigation began after the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture received an anonymous complaint about owner Dan Fox’s operations. Fox did not have the appropriate licensing to provide other restaurants with his heritage pork, according to Raechelle Cline in the Division of Animal Health and Food Safety for the USDA.
“We told him that he needed to cease selling his products to other restaurants until he could get the proper licensing in place,” Cline said.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Fox was in violation of a state law that requires labels for meat products that signify who the provider is, safe handling instructions and the ingredients the meat contains.
Jim Dick, Communications Director for Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection declined to comment on the state of the investigation.
Fox Heritage Farms is still up and running despite the state department’s orders to end their unlicensed distribution of pork meat. Fox’s restaurant, Heritage Tavern, located at 131 E. Mifflin St., is also still running.
Beth Cleary, the program manager at the Madison & Dane County Board of Health, works on the local level to regulate restaurants in the area.
“Dan owns one restaurant and one catering facility in Dane County so we license and inspect those two businesses ... In regards to his restaurant, it’s still running and the catering service is still running,” Cleary said.
