Chili Cookoff question

Sea Bass · **Posted:** Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:46 am

The city of York has some tough "food laws" to follow when doing cook-offs as well as Swatara Township. :idea:

GOSHOW · **Posted:** Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:56 am

Donation is the loop hole. You can't sell, but you can give them away and put a jar out for donation. Of course with this approach you might open yourself up for some easy food poisoning litigation. If you can sell them for $3.00 ea. like Trailway, it might be worth the investment. :dontknow:

Larry · **Posted:** Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:47 am

I did some reading and this is what I found. Giving food away is not the loop hole. The law speaks of "food distributer" and makes no difference if the food is given away or sold. Example, on free Italian Ice day at Rita's they still need to be Department of Ag compliant. The "loophole" and it really isn't a loophole it is a legitimate exemption, is that the chili cook off is a run by a not for profit volunteer organization.

from the PA Dept Of Ag site;

Q: Are any food establishments exempt from the food employee certification?
A: The exemption categories are : (1) A food establishment that does not handle any potentially hazardous foods; (2) A food establishment that handles only commercially prepackaged foods and (3) A food manufacturer of non-potentially hazardous food. (4) An organization classified as tax-exempt under Section 501 (c)(3) of the IRS Code of 1986. (5) Food establishments managed on a not-for-profit basis by a volunteer fire company, ambulance, religious, charitable, fraternal, veterans, civic, agricultural fair, agricultural association or auxiliaries of such. (6) Food establishments managed on a not-for-profit basis by organizations supporting extra-curricular recreational activities for youth of all public, private, and parochial school systems.

Heather · **Joined:** Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:02 am **Posts:** 1811

Larry wrote:

I did some reading and this is what I found. Giving food away is not the loop hole. The law speaks of "food distributer" and makes no difference if the food is given away or sold. Example, on free Italian Ice day at Rita's they still need to be Department of Ag compliant. The "loophole" and it really isn't a loophole it is a legitimate exemption, is that the chili cook off is a run by a not for profit volunteer organization.

from the PA Dept Of Ag site;

Q: Are any food establishments exempt from the food employee certification?
A: The exemption categories are : (1) A food establishment that does not handle any potentially hazardous foods; (2) A food establishment that handles only commercially prepackaged foods and (3) A food manufacturer of non-potentially hazardous food. (4) An organization classified as tax-exempt under Section 501 (c)(3) of the IRS Code of 1986. (5) Food establishments managed on a not-for-profit basis by a volunteer fire company, ambulance, religious, charitable, fraternal, veterans, civic, agricultural fair, agricultural association or auxiliaries of such. (6) Food establishments managed on a not-for-profit basis by organizations supporting extra-curricular recreational activities for youth of all public, private, and parochial school systems.

Thanks Larry! :blowkiss:

DrakPak · **Posted:** Fri Apr 04, 2008 11:20 am

Perfect Larry!! Thanx for the clarification.

filmguy · **Joined:** Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:49 am **Posts:** 1532

American Racer wrote:

no actually i wanted to sell hot dogs at the Williams Grove flea market but i'm too cheap to buy a license so i was wondering is there a loophole so you don't need a license :thinking:

So give away the hot dogs, collect donations, and give ALL the $ to the chili cook-off. Problem solved, thanks for asking.

GOSHOW · **Posted:** Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:26 pm

[quote][/quote] A food establishment that does not handle any potentially hazardous foods

We might be skirting the boarder on this one :laughing7:

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