On Mon, 03 Nov 2003 15:57:16 GMT, "Dimitri" >
wrote:
>
>"DJS0302" > wrote

>> Do schools still have homemade bake sales anymore?
>
>Regulations in individual states and jurisdictions will vary however the
>thought process goes something like this:
>
>1. Only products made in a certified kitchen and stored at proper
>temperatures can be SOLD.
>2. Usually no home kitchens are certified.
>3. In the event that someone becomes ill for whatever reason if the
>product is sold - the organization COULD - have a liability claim.
>
>Blame the Legal system and the Insurance companies. (After all a bad
>cupcake should be worth a few hundred thousand dollars, right?)

This is, indeed, a tricky area. I see bake sales for libraries,
churches, and other groups advertised from time to time, as well as
pot-luck dinners/picnics and fish frys. The regs on food-for-sale are
Byzantine. Ex: for a farmers' mkt in Virginia, you *can* sell baked
goods if you have a certificate (simply applied for -- no kitchen
inspection) from the health dept., but nothing with dairy or egg
*fillings* (not ingredients). You can also sell jam, but not canned
veg, with a simple $1 permit. You can sell properly refrigerated or
iced fish, but only ungutted -- if the fish experiences the "touch of
a knife," that operation must be done in a certified facility. My
neighborhood association is now purchasing liability insurance to
cover activities like an Easter egg hunt in a public park (no real
eggs involved) and picnics with commercail food items supplied. One
*hopes* that someone suing over a school bake-sale cookie would be
laughed out of court, but it's not impossible.