Chili Cookoff question

[Sea Bass]

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

[GOSHOW]

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.

[Larry]

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]

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!

[DrakPak]

Perfect Larry!! Thanx for the clarification.

[filmguy]

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

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

[GOSHOW]

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


We might be skirting the boarder on this one