Craving Food Freedom...

A difficult aspect of this job is the many conversations with vendors, both current and potential, who have ideas for creative, unique products they’d like to sell… and wading through the regulations, licensure, and requirements necessary for the legal production of those items in the State of Ohio. Miami Co Public Health, and Food Safety with the Ohio Dept of Ag, are so encouraging when I call to verify how to make a lawful product – one guy always tells me “You can do anything you want! Here’s how” – then explains the steps we need to take… sometimes it’s simple and inexpensive… sometimes it’s cost prohibitive and impractical for a small-scale producer… and other times it’s literally impossible, a great idea but not allowed.

I’ve always been a stickler for rules – there are so many we may not like, or agree with, but we follow every day. And of course we want to offer clean, safe products and don’t want anyone to get sick! So we in the food business comply, with the best interest of our customers at heart.

Warehouse license… Cannery license… Mobile Food license… Retail Food Establishment license… Egg producers license and inspection… Home Bakery license and inspection… Commercial Kitchen inspection… Rinse but don’t wash your produce… Butcher chicken for a neighbor but not beef or swine… Find a commercial kitchen if you want to sell dehydrated or frozen fruits and foods, prepared foods, cooked foods, etc…

Small dairy herds are a reality, complete with raw milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream… No certified kitchens and licenses necessary to offer pre-shredded chicken, dehydrated and frozen fruits, and the list continues. Eggs at a farmer’s market? No licensing required!

And in the two years since all this became legal in Wyoming NO ONE has gotten sick!

NOT ONE case of foodborne illness outbreak due to the passage of their Food Freedom Act?!?! Incredible! Now, I realize Wyoming has always been progressive, from way back when they were first to grant women the right to vote… but my hat is sure off to those folks now, as they show the rest of us just how truly backwards and over-regulated we are.

Not only was the initial act passed, but it was so well received, their State Ag Commission is actively looking for ways to strengthen it! What a model to follow!

But it doesn’t have to be unique to Wyoming! North Dakota, Colorado, and California are all in various stages of taking similar steps. And Ohio can be just as forward-thinking, and healthy! I get chills thinking of ways to encourage a wider diversity of local food options. So many farmers operate at a loss… producers receive an average of 20% of consumer’s food dollars – with Food Freedom, think of the impact when the return of direct sales would give local access to the other 80% of those food dollars!

Wyoming is working to build their local economies, sustain struggling farmers, prevent the further disappearance of their rural communities… and do you know what? It’s working. The number of actual food producers at some of their farmer’s markets has tripled, and as Rep Lindholm put it, “Wyoming’s local food options have exploded!”

Is all of the regulation we see in Ohio then truly necessary, or could we follow Wyoming’s progressive example to truly bring Food Freedom to our own State? Wow, I have goosebumps just thinking about the possibility! YOUR representatives are only a phone call or email away…