GRANBY — After learning that some food vendors at local events had not been inspected, the Board of Health plans to collaborate with local organizations to ensure food served at charitable events is safe and up to code.
At a meeting on Oct. 7, Health Inspector Lynn Diniz informed the board that she received a few complaints from people about organizations and businesses selling food made in kitchens that the town had not inspected, including one instance involving a food truck and another when residents were selling stewed tomatoes and other canned items at a church fundraiser.
““That’s where it gets tricky because there’s botulism involved,” Diniz said. “So I don’t know what’s being baked. When I walked in last year, I was like, ‘Woah, there was a lot of stuff.’”
Initially, the meeting received backlash on social media because the board had not identified the types of food that must come from permitted kitchens, and several members questioned if cookies, brownies and pies would be forbidden to be sold at bake sales.
“Cookies and brownies probably are exempt from the the bacteria, [but] maybe not,” Board of Health member Lee Lalonde said.
Many residents on social media raised concerns that charitable bake sales were in parody, like the Church of Christ cookie walk and Jingle Bell Bazaar.
“As it stood (initially) it would have been a serious blow to our fundraising efforts and ability to continue valued traditions,” Church of Christ Christian Education Director Tasondra Jardine wrote in an email. “Our church is small but mighty, each sale or fundraiser we do has a purpose and helps either a specific ministry or our general fund.”
However, Board of Health member Richard Bombardier clarified that the board will follow state regulations and not put stricter regulations on bake sales. Massachusetts food code does not require “cottage foods” to come from a permitted home kitchen for bake sales. Cottage foods include baked items like cookies, snacks like caramel corn and preserves like jams.
“It’s not the intent of the board to disrupt the normal operations of the food selling processes and the various events that the charitable organizations have,” Bombardier said. “It’s our intent to be working with these groups. We want to help them understand what can and cannot make people sick so that they know what to watch out for.”
The law exempts kitchens from permits if they are selling items at charitable events for school or religious institutions. However, organizers must inform customers with signage that the items come from non-permitted kitchens and could have been cross-contaminated with common allergens.
“We’re thankful the Board of Health reconsidered the prior bans as it’s difficult to try and mass produce everything in the kitchen for both the cookie walk and bake sale with our limited time,” Jardine wrote. “Some of the specialty cookies which are more time consuming are allowed to be made in home again, which is a weight off our shoulders and the electric bill. This allows much needed wiggle room to produce cookies on the level everyone has come to enjoy from our Cookie Walk and Bake Sales.”