Archive for ‘Food Activism’

California Homemade Food Act – Epic Progress

By Susie, 18 April, 2012,

Pasting the press release verbatim with great kudos to Christina Oatfield , The Sustainable Economies Law Center, and the California Health Committee. The day I can start a food business at home is the day the Nutless Professor rises again! Please spread the word and if you’re new to this development, check out a video of aspiring food producers.

April 17, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“California Homemade Food Act” Passes Assembly Health Committee
Contacts: Christina Oatfield, SELC Food Policy Director, (415) 828-5627; Mark Stambler, Los Angeles Bread Bakers, (323) 913-1667; Irene Pena, Executive Director, Proyecto Jardin, (323) 774-7824; Taylor
Giroux, Assemblyman Mike Gatto, (916) 319-2043

The California Homemade Food Act, AB 1616, passed the Assembly Committee on Health this afternoon.Supporters of the bill are rejoicing about the strong support the bill received in this first committee vote.vAll 14 votes cast were in support of the bill.* Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D—Los Angeles) introduced the bill in February and has been joined by the following co-authors: Assemblymembers Jared Huffman, Bob Wieckowski, V. Manuel Pérez, Brian Nestande and Senator Mark DeSaulnier.

The following 60 organizations and businesses have written to the California Legislature to express their support for the bill, with many more expected to follow suit as momentum for the bill continues to
build.

Ecology Center of San
Francisco
Episcopal Diocese of California
Feel the Earth
ForageSF
Friends of Alemany Farm
From the Ground Up
Future Action Reclamation Mob
Garden for the Environment
Global Exchange
Green Earth Gardens
GrowCity
Grubly
Hayes Valley Farm
Heartbeets
How to Homestead
Ideation Incubator
Itty Bitty Farm in the City
La Cocina
Little City Gardens
Los Angeles Bread Bakers
Master Gardeners
Mission Community Market
Mission Vertical Farming
Oakland Food Policy Council
People Organized to Win
Employment Rights
Pesticide Watch
Produce to the People
Proyecto Jardin
Rainbow Grocery
Recology
Saint Vincent de Paul Society
San Francisco Bee-Cause
San Francisco Green
Schoolyard Alliance
San Francisco Landscapes
San Francisco Urban
Agriculture Alliance
San Francisco Permaculture Guild
Slide Ranch
Slow Food Santa Cruz
Sustainable Economies Law Center
Tenderloin People’s Garden
The Free Farm
The Garden Community
Whole Foods Northern
California

An online petition that Sustainable Economies Law Center set up at change.org called “California State Legislature: Enact a Cottage Food Law in California” has gathered over 4,300 signatures.

Mark Stambler, who identifies himself as a serious home bread baker and co-founder of the Los Angeles Bread Bakers, one of the leading organizations supporting the bill, testified at the Assembly Health Committee meeting this afternoon. “In Southern California, we’re surprised at just how widespread support for the bill is. We look forward to working with all the groups, including the health departments and the legislature, to make sure that California has the best possible cottage food law, one that will serve as a model for such laws across the country” he said.

Buzz Chernoff, a member of the California State Grange, another supporting organization of the bill, which has over 10,000 members and 206 chapters around the state—mostly in rural areas—also spoke at the Health Committee meeting. Chernoff explained his support this way

At our last Annual Meeting, the Grange adopted a Resolution that called for local food sovereignty, in which local farmers could directly sell their products off the farm for home consumption, a concept embraced by AB 1616.

Like thousands of small farmers throughout the state, my wife and I have gardens, orchards and berry patches. At the height of the season we give some of the excess away, sell some at the local farmers markets and food exchanges, and we preserve some for longer-term storage. Since these preserved products are prepared in our home kitchens rather than a certified kitchen, we cannot sell them to our friends, neighbors, and community members. AB1616 would allow us to do that, thereby providing our communities with healthy home-grown
food products, and the small farmer with a supplemental source of income to boost our local economies. It’s a win-win situation.

The bill is set to be voted on by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 2 before making its way to the full Assembly for a vote, and then onto a similar process in the Senate.

Please also see:
www.cottagefood.org (main campaign website with more information, updates, etc.)
www.theSELC.org
www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Bread-Bakers/
www.asm.ca.gov/gatto
Join the Facebook group

Cottage Food Laws Keep the Home Stoves Burning

By Susie, 8 November, 2011,

In a Maine airport shop, I beeline for the local food souvenirs, my eye roving from a set of Stonewall Products over to several local blueberry jams. More than I expected, in fact. One comes from Out on a Limb, a small home jam making operation that got started thanks to Maine’s cottage food law.

Today about 30 states have so called “cottage food laws,” allowing legal home-based food production on a small scale. The alternative is renting a commercial kitchen, which can cost $10 per hour, more often $25 or higher. Many of the laws passed recently thanks to grassroots efforts by bakers and jam makers eager to generate extra income, build a food community, control their cooking environments, and / or work at home. State guidelines differ, usually prohibiting riskier foods such as refrigerated items.

Of course, where food is concerned, law changes are about as easy as a croque-en-bouche (whose cream filling would make it a no-no). As a petition gathers momentum in California, along with a Facebook group, I took a look at a few food entrepreneurs operating under cottage food laws in a time where local food reigns and career “Plan Bs” have become more like Plan A. (The San Jose Mercury News also wrote about the California petition.)

In fact, about 40 people a day contact Denay Davis, who supports home bakers. She says. “They have lost their job and want to make ends meet by making extra money,” she says. “They don’t want a huge business. If you’re a mom you may want to be able to stay home, make cakes, and sell them when you want to. You’re bringing in money. But you’re also there for your children.”

However in most states, proponents have faced uphill battles. Two key objections tend to pop up:

1) It’s not fair to businesses who invest in commercial facilities.

As with the food truck versus restaurant battles, yes it’s more competition. I was thinking about a baker in Los Angeles who makes beautiful decorated cookies out of her bakery. If suddenly hundreds of home bakers could do the same without the overhead she might possibly need to drum up more commercial business to keep the bakery going.

But it’s also worth looking at the positive economic impact. Davis believes “little food crafters are simply not a threat. It’s about sharing with other people, having control, and building relationships–not making a killing. Etsy sellers exemplify typical cottage food law businesses, although many states only allow selling home-made goods locally, not online. Says Davis, “It’s about scratch, or quality, or specialized products, not making the $29.99 sheet cake that competes with a commercial bakery.”

Retirees can supplement limited incomes. Says Beth-Ann Betz who bakes Middle Eastern pastries, “If this was my only income I’d be earning about 40 percent of what I need. I didn’t have to make any capital investments. It’s a nice retirement job for me.”

The laws also help those needing gluten-free or nut-free environments. Michigan baker Julie Rabinowitz explains: “We’re gluten-free at home. So it’s easier to bake with confidence at home, without having to pay hourly to scrub someone else’s kitchen free of gluten.” The Michigan law caps her Tasty Sans Gluten sales at $15,000. It’s a delicate balance Commercial kitchens can run $1,000 or more per month, or $12,000 a year. “My farmers market customers worry about price increases when I move to a commercial kitchen,” she adds.

Anni Minuzzo, California food consultant and former biscotti company owner likes the idea of a cap. “It’s more fair to businesses who start out paying for a kitchen.” A cap also forces those who have outgrown their home kitchen to expand. While Lori Jordan enjoys balancing family life with her at-home Out on a Limb jam business, she knows that “in the future if we want to grow beyond New England, we will have to move to a bigger place and hire more people.”

I wonder how much new food will crop up that isn’t already being given away, swapped, or sold underground.

2) It’s not safe and clean.

The laws generally require the same FDA Good Manfacturing Practices required by larger food businesses. Many call for ServSafe food safety certification, no pets, and defined cleaning procedures (see Arizona‘s). “New Hampshire has a good model,” says Betz. “I have a dishwasher, clean water that is tested, and ServSafe certification.”

Kelly Masters, owner of Cake Boss software, started her Texas cake business at a kitchen the Health Department had scored highly. But, she says, it “was so unclean that I would sometimes come home crying. I didn’t even want to sell cakes I made there.” Kelly went on to advocate a Texas’ cottage food law (passed Sept. 2011).

Several years ago, Davis contacted all the departments of agriculture. “None had received sickness reports,” she says, adding that with very small batch production in all likelihood only a few people might be affected. Most or all states require a label to the effect of “made in an uninspected home kitchen,” letting the buyer beware.

Says Lori Jordan of her jams, “Maine requires us to have the same inspections, insurance, and file all the same paperwork as if we were a commercial kitchen.”

One retailer who has seen a few questionable home food processors feels the rules should allow for spot inspections, unannounced–resulting in self-regulation. Farmers’ markets could charge to inspect home kitchens. And a new industry for a third-party inspection services could arise, contributing further business license and tax revenue.

Craft the Best Laws, the Crafters May Follow

While cottage laws are a blessing, they tend to have shortfalls, often odd limitations on allowed foods. For example, Wendy Read, who I thought might switch from a commercial kitchen to home, for make her Sunchowder’s Emporia jams says: “If you are selling on the internet and / or can products outside of jam such as vegetables, you can’t take advantage of the new law.”

Worse yet, some counties’ rules may not sync with the state law. While Cyndi Jacobs makes The Best Damn Granola in a commercial kitchen, she observes that despite Massachusetts’ state cottag food law “there are a lot of local boards of health that will not allow home-based baking. More and more they are telling people the products need to be make in licensed facilities.”

Some believe a nationwide law is the answer. Says Davis, “the cottage food initiative is something for the first time that doesn’t benefit just an individual but a family, and a community, and a state.”

Having costed out starting my own occasional food business, I learned first hand how getting started on a small scale at home makes sense while proving the market. Seeing an array of local jams at the airport rather than only brands you can find everywhere makes a place special. More flexible but smart laws to keep the home fires burning are a good thing, these days.

FYI: How to advocte a cottage food law in your state

Cottage food laws: What do you think? Nationwide or local? Fewer or more guidelines? Have you heard of any problems?

Thoughts on Food Day From a Privileged Bay Area Dweller

By Susie, 25 October, 2011,

All across America the call to observe “Food Day” inspired communities to throw food-related events, related to good eating education and policy. In Omaha, 2,000 children enjoyed meals. As I perused the Food day call to “Ask Congress to Support Food Day’s Goals,” I realized each one touched me somehow this week.

Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods – Realistically do most people know about safe, healthy foods and what they’re eating isn’t healthy? I think so. In seventh grade I bragged to my teacher about my healthy eating: “I have a banana shake every day after school, with about a half a bag of walnuts in it!” She all but shrieked…my first lesson in caloric intake. Still, better than a Twinkie.
Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness – This would also help small food artisans locally access more affordable ingredients, to make it easier to produce their products more cost effectively. (Read the astounding facts on the Food Day website.) The question of whether having GMO crops will reduce U.S. food exports also weighs heavy on my mind.
Expand access to food and alleviate hunger- Beyond the food deserts blanketing our cities, I have seen food access problems, knowing seniors who can’t get to the farmers’ market (LOVE the Food Bus idea), for whom the delivered produce boxes are good as long as they can cook, and who end up getting expensive deliveries from the large supermarkets. While a Whole Foods is relatively nearby, the price of organic milk is prohibitive. This is an extremely tough conundrum.
And as I prepare to travel to a place where the eating options are largely non-organic, non-local foods, I wonder what life was like in the old days–which really points to a return to canning. Why even when we were little eating canned and frozen vegetables was where it was at. Perhaps we’ll go back to the future.
Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms – Not to mention protecting our health. It seems like everyone is getting cancer or some sort of disease these days. They need to start showing snippets from Food Inc on airplanes. (At least on flights where meals aren’t served. Or maybe where they are.)
Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids – A very foodie friend mentioned his well-educated kids still demand name brand, mainstream sugary cereal over natural brands. Is it that faux fruity flavor ? Or what?
Support fair conditions for food and farm workers – I heard on NPR today that an Alabama farmer is between a rock and hard place since he’s depended on immigrants, who a new law has driven away. The American workers he’s tried hiring simply did not want to do the manual labor. The answer is clear: Market it as “the farm worker diet” and have people pay you to lose weight hauling melons. Obviously I’m not in policy, but someone’s got to try it!

With thousands of events across the country, Food Day has made a great impact on moving the country toward making every day is food day.

California Cottage Food Law – What If? Interviews

By Susie, 3 October, 2011,

Today more than 30 of the United States allow people to run a small food business from home. The Eat Real Festival in Oakland, California seemed like the perfect spot to gauge interest of such a law among the throngs of food crafters and DIY devotees. Yes, asking people who are making jams, pickles, etc at home is not an unbiased survey. Still, it was exciting to see the live reactions and thoughts. Interestingly, the majority did not know they aren’t allowed to sell food made at home, unless you’re a farm.

The people you’ll see in this video represent a small sub-set of the types of folk who could benefit from a law allowing people to run a small food business making “non-potentially hazardous foods” at home. These people are engaged in the sustainable, “good food” crafting movement. Imagine the stories from others in pockets of the state who don’t have the luxury to attend wonderful festivals and may be on unemployment, welfare, and otherwise struggling to make ends meet. (If you don’t want to imagine, check out the petition and read some of the comments.)

Many are very likely are making and selling food law or no law. This isn’t guesswork: Pretty much everyone I know who sells food does or has at some time made a little something at home.

I’ll be writing more about this in the future, having worked with many food producers across the country who benefit from their states’ cottage food laws in proving their businesses before expanding. Experiencing “the math” of getting started while working on my Nutless Professor foods, before being able to prove a product’s potential, I’m more convinced than ever why these laws work and how California could safely and sanely implement such a law.

Please subscribe to my blog for updates! Join the Facebook group to discuss or comment here.

Since it may be hard to hear I’ve transcribed the video interviews, with some paraphrasing:

Two Companies in Business: Dandelion Chocolates and Baia Pasta

From their garage lab–which is for testing–Todd Masonis describes the process Dandelion Chocolate went through to get started: “With the cottage food laws in other states, bean to bar chocolate makers are able to start up in their kitchen or garage, with just time and effort and labor. In our case [in California] to get the ability to sell a single bar we had to get our machines NSF certified. There is no such thing as NSF certified chocolate making equipment. We had to hire machinists and consultants that took months to even call us back to check out the machines. We paid thousands of dollars to have our machines inspected.

To legally sell your bean to bar chocolate in California is literally months of effort and at least $10,000. Whereas in other states to sell it’s after the moment you make a good bar.

In our case we would have loved to have a very low limit like $100,000. If you’re below that limit you can sell out of your home or garage. Then when you start getting something to customers you have to build out a kitchen and get certified. That would make more sense to me rather than requiring everyone to be professional on the first day.”

Dario from Baia Pasta speaks from his booth at Eat Real about how a cottage food law would have helped them get started:

“We were a garage pasta operation for six months. We wouldn’t have been able to get where we are if it weren’t for the Underground Market. We’re now able to open our storefront and it’s absolutely required for me in this new economy to allow people to produce and sell under certain circumstances, when the customers are knowledgeable about what they’re buying and they’re OK with it–as we’ve done for six months. Now people love our pasta.

We filter our water and use organic flours. The flours are stored very carefully. We don’t use any eggs. That would probably be the biggest source of problems with pasta. We dry under controlled situations of temperature and humidity.”

Aspiring Home Business Food Entrepreneurs

1: Jam maker – “If California were to allow food preservation at home, a friend and I would take the surplus seconds from her farm and make jams, pickles, and all sorts of things and sell them at her CS and farmers’ markets.”

2: Jam and pickle maker – “I can probably sell james that I make and pickles. Right now I give this away. But I think everyone should be allowed to run some kind of home-based ubsiness that could help them out economically.”

3: Vegan baker – “I enjoy baking vegan goods, which is something that there isn’t a big market for. Not having funds, this law would help me bring in extra income without it being a big production.”

4: Cake decorator – “I decorate cakes. Being able to start a food business at home would seriously make all my dreams come true. I could quite my corporate job, I could have my own business, and do all the things I love to do without having to worry so much.” (Note from Susie: Ah to be in that state of dreaming before getting into the nitty gritty realities of business…)

5: Mochi (Japanese baked sweets) maker - “I make mochi caneles at home for friends, and a lot of people have asked me to sell them. If I were able to do that, it would be a great side business to supplement some of the other things I do, while also making something I love.”

How would the ability to run a small food* business at home help you?
*foods that do not require refrigeration, such as baked goods, jams, granola, roasted coffee, and dry nut, herb and tea blends

A Tale of Two Marin Organic Farms

By Susie, 19 May, 2011,

Two small California family farms I visited recently couldn’t be more different, yet the same in many ways. Both are north of San Francisco, are certified organic, and produce foods that end up in products. How did they get there and how do they thrive?

Powered by association membership

One, the Mattos Farm, is an organic 400 cow dairy farm and member of Organic Valley farmers co-op.

The other, Allstar Organics belongs to Marin Organic and has several acres of herbs and flowers which they turn into artisan food products sold at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market and provide to other food producers as ingredients. Both get input and support from these memberships which helps them also reach new markets and take advantage of sales and product development opportunities.

Making the rural life work.

Janet Brown of Allstar Organics explained how she and her husband Marty the farm so they could “live where we work and work where we live,” with a homesteading ethic.

allstar organics Allstar is able to take advantage of California’s law allowing farms of certain sizes to process their own food products. “A DPH FDB-approved kitchen used for processing cannot be in a residence or in an attached garage. It can be in a separate detached building on a farm or ranch that has adequate drainage and sewage/waste disposal, water supply, restroom, and otherwise meets “good manufacturing practices” (GMPs) per the Federal Code of Regulations as administered by DPH.” (more info – PDF from UC Davis)

While farming and growing is a lifestyle, an often difficult one with extremely small profit margins, it was clear these dairy farmers are made to milk. The Mattos’ have worked on the same land for generations. With a sky high mortgage, John converted to organic for economic reasons, realizing how much more he could get for his milk. Now he is a convert, seeing cows live to 15+ years with very few health problems. I was tempted to join the herd and spend my days grazing, if it weren’t for all the vultures.

Connecting to neighboring producers

Racks of strawberries dried in Allstar’s makeshift dehydration room. “My neighbor at the farmer’s market couldn’t find a place to dry his strawberries,” Janet explained. “I’ll do it! And keep some for myself.” Now the husband and wife team is planning a line of products involving dried strawberries. The market and association with Marin Organic also connect the farm to other local producers. An herb mix in one room sat ready for testing as a cheese coating. (Yes I’m being mysterious on purpose.)

In addition to distributing under Organic Valley, the Mattos farm supplies milk to Bay Area favorite St Benoit yogurt.
cow

Learning as they go

Mattos experiments on the farm to continually improve: “Every day I try to think of something new for the cows. I might take them on a different trail or make some small change to make the day interesting.” How would you like milk from cows that are treated like children?

The cows also enjoy 19th century style treatments of natural essential oils and tinctures (how Marin) from vet “Dr. Paul.” kelp is a big part of the herd’s diet, which results in high levels of anti-cancer CLAs – which get passed on into the milk. The kelp idea came from Tony Azevedo, the first organic dairy man in the Central Valley, who had seen iodine-deficient cows munching kelp while visiting Portugal as a boy.

Allstar Organics‘ farm started with the basics: tomatoes. Then basil. Then roses. The plan: Sell big antique-style rose bouquets. Well that didn’t last. Feedback from her first sales call “That’s too green, that’s too closed. That’s too thorny…” took the bloom off her rose.

Ye old synchronicity: A friend suggested they try making rose water instead. It just so happened at the time their greenhouse stood empty, a wizened elder taught them how to plant tuber roses. They hired an expert to build a still to make their floral hydrosols and essences, and planted a backyard farm thriving with rosemary, mint, roses, and other edibles.

And so the two farms thrive, driven by community, passion, innovation, and a commitment to good food.