When I saw the title of Rep. Blanton’s HB 1309 as being concerned with “home based processors and micro-processors,” I thought it was going to have something to do with home computers. Not so much. It actually has to do with the ability of farmers to prepare and sell certain food products without having to comply with various labeling and inspection regulations.
In the legislation, “food products” means whole fruit and vegetables, mixed greens, jams, jellies, sweet sorghum syrup, preserves, fruit butter, bread, fruit pies, cakes, or cookies. “Home based microprocessor” means a farmer who produces or processes in the farmer’s home: acid foods; formulated acid food products; acidified food products; or low acid canned foods; and has a net income of not more than thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) annually from the sale of the produced and processed food products. “Home based processor” means a farmer who produces or processes food products in the farmer’s home.
Kind of like when I used to hear “CD” I thought of a certificate of deposit not a music item.
Funny, how references change over time, and we modify our thought processes to accept new meanings which sometimes shove out the older meanings.
I think of this not as a new meaning, but rather, an alternate meaning. Having been in food safety for several years, I immediately knew what this bill was about upon reading Doug’s headline. “Micro processors” in this context is a term of art in the food safety world.
By the way, this bill is nibbling around the edges of the current food code, which does not allow any home-based food businesses. This bill would make an exception for farmers who want to sell canned goods and baked goods at markets, on the side of the road, etc. The Amish would benefit, but so would other farmers. By the way, people can already sell home-grown whole, uncut, unprocessed fruits and vegetables.
I’m opposed for many reasons, one of them being the obvious food safety issues. The other being why carve out an exception solely for farmers? There are many people who would love to have home-based food businesses, and most of them would not be dealing with the potential botulism threats that this bill would allow. Home processors would have a hard time knowing if food has been properly acidified so as to make it shelf stable. I would also be very wary about buying any low-acid canned goods from a home processor. Many people seem to think that all food safety threats come from major manufacturers and produce growers. While there are serious problems with our federal food safety program and with the food safety procedures of large agribusiness concerns, food from small local producers can also be improperly processed in unsanitary conditions.
Labeling laws exist for good reasons also, not just to make it difficult for farmers to have home-based food businesses. Ingredients lists can be helpful for someone who has food allergies, for determining what may be the culprit in an outbreak, etc. The name and address of the “micro processor” needs to be available if there is an incidence or outbreak of foodborne illness, if the food needs to be tracked, etc. The weight of the product may also be helpful if certain batches would need to be tracked, since both small and large processors tend to prepare foods of a certain weight or type at the same time.
I agree with Pila.
I am confused by these sections, though:
Sec. 11. A home based processor may not produce or process for sale acid foods, acidified food products, formulated acid food products, or canned low acid foods.
Sec. 14. Food products that are properly labeled under section 12(a) of this chapter are not required to be tested to determine whether the food product is an acid food, acidified food product, formulated acid food product, or low acid food.
Am I understanding that it says you may not sell xx foods, but then the next section says that there is no requirement to test the foods to see if they even are xx types of foods?
Aside from my confusion, this bill will throw us all for a loop. Will inspectors be required to license and inspect personal homes & property for sanitation of their kitchens or wherever they are processing the food? Everybody and their brother is going to want to be able to do this.. and where do you draw the line? In my opinion, keeping food processing limited to commercially licensed and inspected kitchens that are separate from private homes is the way to go. I don’t in any way want to keep people from making money, but home processing is a scary notion.
I have looked at contents of the bill as of today, March 6th. I believe that they are refining this, and yes, homes would be inspected. Yes, thorougth labelling would be (and should be) required.
I would be in FAVOR of this because, although I do not farm, I do grow herbs. Currently, I can not sell dried herbs at the farmers markets. There is no processing of them, in way, shape or form – just dry them in a food dehydrator or oven. I can sell fresh herbs, uncut. But not dried. I have had many people say they are more interested in the dried herbs, specifically for tea.
To say that a home producer would not follow labelling procedures is to say that the producer wants to diminish their client base. If I were to mislabel and use unsanitary methods, I would be poisoning my clients, which would put me quickly out of business. Many home producers believe that they can offer something that is healthier and more wholesome than the big suppliers. Home producers CARE about their clients and meet / greet their clients. There is a lot at stake for a home producer to sell something directly to a customer. This would allow for small business to grow and to strengthen local economies.
I hope this bill goes through!
Drying herbs is processing them. Processing does not have to involve cooking or canning. Once you cut, dry, apply heat, add ingredients, etc., you have “processed” the food. Dried herbs have been and can be vehicles for foodborne illness.
Look, I grow my own herbs, and not to brag, but I am a pretty good cook, too. I would love to be able to sell my herbs, candy, cookies, etc. that I make at home to the public. So, I do have a certain amount of sympathy for others who want to do it. Unlike most people, however, I know enough about food safety and sanitation to understand why what this bill would allow is not currently allowed in Indiana. There is no way that I could or would put a commercial kitchen into my home. There are reasons for all of the current food safety regulations. They are not there just to harm small processers. Those regulations exist to protect the public. All the good intentions in the world are not going to prevent foodborne illness if a person doesn’t understand regulations or doesn’t think that he or she has to follow them.
I’m gonna come off sounding kind of high and mighty–and not for the first time, certainly. I mean no offense Marnie, because I do think you mean well. Nevertheless, the fact that you don’t understand that drying herbs in a dehydrator is processing them, and that there are potential food safety issues when food is dried tells me a lot, none of it good, unfortunately. It is one thing to make food gifts for your family and friends in small quantities. It is quite another to get into food processing on a large scale. By large scale, I don’t mean Tetley or Lipton, but larger than would be the norm for most home cooks. Most people, including small restaurant owners, do not understand this.
Another problem that this bill could unintentionally cause is something I saw all the time with small, locally owned retail food establishments. People would start small, selling coffee, tea, muffins, etc. Then, they would realize, unless they sold out to Starbucks, they were not going to make much money selling coffee, tea, and muffins. So they expanded from relatively low-risk foods to soups, then deli sandwiches, then making chicken dinners, etc., All of this was done without one thought toward the increased risks that they had taken on, the need for cooling units of appropriate capacity, potential fire hazards, etc. Rarely, if ever, did these restaurant owners consult with the health dept. or the building permits office before adding items to their menus. I could see the same thing happening if this microprocessing bill becomes law, although it already allows for a lot of troubling stuff. Marnie may simply want to sell dried herbs, which has its hazards to be sure. Some other micro processor may decide to sell things that are not on the list, things that are mighty dangerous if not properly processed.
It looks as if the bill is trying to address botulism concerns in section 11, but then, section 14 undermines section 11.
I’m curious as to how they will determine who is or isn’t a farmer. Does a person have to have a certain amount of acreage, live outside the city limits,or have a few farm animals on the property where the food is being processed? People who are not farmers sell whole, uncut produce at farmers’ markets. Will they be allowed to become micro processors?
As I understand the bill it is not limited to farmers and that the home based kitchens will be subject to health inspection. It seems rather irrational for state law to prohibt individuals from selling an occasional wedding or special occasion cake legally because they haven’t the money or interest in building a commercial kitchen. We are talking about people who have the skills to create wholesome and desirable foods on a small scale-several cakes a month not hundreds.
As far as the risk to public safety, I believe that the risk is slight. The most recent national example of food contamination has been from a large commercial producer who deliberately violated food safety rules rather than the ignorance of food safety procedures at some home based kitchen. Also, I suspect that home cooks are rather more aware of safety considerations than you, Pilar, are willing to give credit them. I have worked in commercial kitchens in the past where the sanitation practices would not have been tolerated in my home.
Exactly how many examples of food posioning from home based processing existed before the current laws were put in place. Was there actually a real danger to public health, or were the laws proactive and created to prevent a possible danger to public health.
This is wonderful news! I can’t wait to share it with my produce customers so we can all contact our representatives and support this bill.
I do have to say in response to some of the comments that the free enterprise system works if allowed to do so. If my small farm business did not take food safety seriously then I would be out of business in a heartbeat. If I had even one unhappy customer, not to mention a sick customer word would spread quickly and I would no longer have any customers. It would ruin me, it would ruin my family, it would ruin my business. I do not have the deep pockets and legal resources to try to cheat the system and play Russian roulette with peoples lives like big corporations do.
I someone thinks the current laws are working they are blind. Laws, codes and inspections do not make our food safe. Our food hasn’t been this unsafe in generations. Big companies do not care about what their chemical laden, artificially sweetened, irradiated, salmonella and E.coli tainted “food” stuff does to the consumer. How many people get sick or die each year after eating food from inspected manufacturers, stores and restaurants compared to those who eat home produced items? And consider the millions of people who eat food prepared in an uninspected non profit or church kitchen each week. Where is the headline “hundreds die after eating Easter breakfast at local church”? Somehow these places manage to safely feed others with out the help of government supervision.
There is no better formula for safe food than caring individuals producing a small quantity of quality items for their friends, family and local community.
Many people have become to reliant on the government to make sure everything is safe for us. There are countless synthetic chemicals in the non-consumable products we buy from large companies and most of these chemicals have never been tested much less tested in their countless combinations. We touch them, we breath them in and sometimes unknowingly consume them (BPA’s sound familar) People don’t realize that government intervention is limited to certain catagories and there will be no intervention unless someone proves a chemical unsafe. No one is going to prove those chemicals unsafe with few exceptions.
If a product meant for consumption is produced in someone’s home the ONLY requirement should be that potentions buyers are made aware that the product is homemade. The consumer can make the decision to buy or not. It is an infridgment on my rights that I can not even decide to buy milk from a neighbor, or pie from the women at work, or jelly from the widow trying to make ends meet. Locale products created in a manor I can find out about all by myself not only sounds intelligent, healthy, good for the envirnment, but can help buy pocket book as well as the person I buy it from.
If you don’t want to buy homemade products–don’t. Problem solved and without the need for others to decide if I may buy or sell such products.
I have been eating home processed foods my entire life and have NEVER gotten sick from it. I have however, gotten food poisoning from fast food restaurants. Home processed food is a great thing for those who just want to make a few dimes at home. Most people who want to sell home processed food are very experienced and usually have an excess of their goods. My mom only sells what we can’t eat. AND, we only sell to those who trust us. If you can’t trust your neighbor (the farmer), then don’t buy their products. As for the rest of us, we are going to eat local, healthy foods.