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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] New produce laws Prohibiting sale of certain items

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  • From: Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] New produce laws Prohibiting sale of certain items
  • Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 11:32:37 -0400

Wyatt

We have heard a similar thing (Cincinnati, Ohio).  We have a very small market that we sell at but I do not personally attend.  It is regulated by County Health Department and is traditionally more relaxed than the city of Cincinnati's HD.   The people representing us there were told that next year greens could ONLY be sold from ice packed coolers (not too sure if there were people there selling it warm or what) and then in year two they would need electrical refrigeration similar to meats and eggs.

I have not had any proof to confirm this.  Your comments give me pause to what I was hoping was just pure silliness.

The rest of my commentary is rant...  :)

There has been a listeria recall in California associated with True Leaf Farms (which is pretty much ONLY a processing and storage group...NOT a farm) which is part of the  Church Brothers Operation (which does most the growing).  This is a huge operation as was the cantaloupe.  Listeria is controlled by cleanliness of your operation and washing of all surfaces that might come in contact with the food.  Alcohol will control it.   It is not caused by warmth or increase in temperatures, though growth of listeria can be controlled by keeping produce stored long term in low temperatures.  In the end I think the listeria outbreak simply proves that your food system is less safe the more complex it becomes.  The more stops there are, the more people that handle the product, the more breaks in storage temps post harvest then the more chances you have of seeing problems develop.  In the case of the melons, traceability is the big issue here.  The melons were sold and resold as much as a half dozen times probably to folks claiming they even grew them or were "local".

As to the leafy greens issue, this has been our first year were we have relied heavily on leafy greens (lettuce, micros, and bitter) and the model seems to be working fairly well.  We have been trying to get our small scale food handling up to what I would consider bare minimum with hand washing stations, a cool storage area and dunk tanks that are washed daily.   It'll all be completed by the beginning of spring in 2012 and I cannot wait.  

In Ohio if you "clean" and bag (sealing the bag) your greens are considered processed.  We shock down our greens in a two stage bath and then bag in an unsealed bag.  We tell EVERY customer that all greens are considered "unwashed".

In the end I would hazard to suggest not having heard any of this personally that what we have are a bunch of health department types that are getting jittery.  There has to be a revision/addition in Ohio Code and I have heard zip on that end.  I think that as we head into winter and get to some conferences (like OEFFA 2012) we'll start confirming wether the rumors or true or not.

My fear is that we will see a resurgence in the OPGMA (Ohio's version of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement).  If we see something like this TRULY develop then I loose a large bulk customer and possibly a couple future ones as well.  If I can sell 100# of a single planting of radishes to a company this is a good thing.  It can be done safely, but the OPGMA is going to campaign against me claiming that only THEY can prove that I can and it will cost me thousands to do so. 

As to dealing with inspectors I have not seen a single one this year at our large market (we've missed three market days so maybe they stopped by then).  There has been two visits at the smaller one and has focused their attention on the vendor selling processed foods...who was doing so illegally).  My experience with ALL inspectors is that the more friendly you are to them then better things are.  With cuts in budgets many inspectors tend to be new and young rather than the older crowd that was used to an earlier world of less restrictions.  These new guys tend to be by the book and ride whatever popular opinion is out there (in the food world people want safety over local even as they claim to support local food and small farms).  They come knowing its going to us vs them and we should at least be civil about it.  Honey goes a whole further than vinegar.

Richard Stewart (who has taken himself out of the food chain today because he is sick)
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106



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