The sun is streaming through the window at Avalon Bakery and I’m decompressing after the last hour of meeting with two MDA inspectors, re: getting my food business licensed.
I have long had the intention of sharing the process of getting licensed with my readers, and after this morning’s meeting, the value of that became ever more apparent.
I applied for a license about 2 months ago, after a surprisingly encouraging conversation with the inspector that covers the area where the kitchen I’m hoping to work out of resides. She told me that applying was a first step, and that we could sit down and talk about what I would need once the process was underway. This was surprise number 1: the inspectors were willing (and even happy to) consult with me. A government agency seems to want me to succeed? and they’re willing to talk to me face to face? whaaa?
So, two months later I’m seated across the table from the area inspector and a senior inspector (who is able to advise re: fermented foods). As I expected, one of the first things to come up was that I was going to need to have procedures and lab tests for each item I wanted to sell. Expected or not, I still found myself balking at the prospect of having to guarantee the process and ingredients for each individual product.
My thinking: I’m planning to work closely with local growers, I need to have flexibility built into my process, and needing to guarantee that the same veggies and spices are always used dramatically curtails my capacity to be flexible. Also, I am a pickler because I like to experiment with flavors. No surprise that the MDA doesn’t have a structure for encouraging experimentation.
Their thinking: Every vegetable is different-each starting with a different pH, taking in salt and fermenting at different rates, and fermentation length varies based on technique and personal preference. The only way to guarantee that I know how to make safe products is to test each different product I make one time, to guarantee healthy microbial populations, to guarantee pH below 4.6, and some other guarantees that happen in a lab.
After a bit of back and forth, it became apparent that there isn’t very much wiggle room in this, but that the inspectors can understand my concerns about the ways this system fails to address my needs. The most positive outcome was the fect that by being in conversation about these laws and how they affect a small/local/seasonal processor, I get to express my needs, which (the more I -and we- ask) can eventually move towards change. slowly. So, conclusion #1, i’ll be getting some products lab tested, and then we’ll go from there.
The second interested thing to arise was my conversation about sales. I explained that I want to sell direct to consumer. I’m not looking to wholesale and I don’t have a retail location, so my primary goal is to sell at farmer’s markets. This raised another interesting issue. As a limited processor, I would be licensed to produce a product that could then be sold to a business and sold (by them) under their license. my desire to sell direct to consumer (making myself a retailer as well as a processor) would require me to get another license to sell at the market of my choosing.
If you’re reading this I hope you’re thinking, “wow, our food system is a serious mess.” There isn’t much that says bureaucracy quite like needing to get 2 licenses simply because you want to sell to people yourself, instead of through a separate institution. Networks of accountability this day in age is a funny, funny thing.
Nonetheless, we plodded through the conversation (commiserating over the fact that things definitely need to change, but that change will take quite some time) and at the end of it, I had a list of tasks to embark on in preparing myself to get licensed.
1) write my process for each product I make
2) lab test each product I make
3) write my ‘safe operating procedures’ and ‘safe sanitary operating procedures’
4) develop and articulate a retail process.
And so, the fun begins. I’ll keep you posted!
Please, feel free to ask specific questions.
Wow, thanks for posting this! I am looking forward to follow-ups!
Aragorn.
word. lots of support from FALLS VILLAGE. correspondence en route.
It is a convoluted system. Many would love to opt out but that causes a whole new set of issues. If you ever need legal assistance with this, let me know. I’ve dealt with small business food law issues before.
Lisa
Step 5: Move to Montana where the state doesn’t strangle you with regulations.
I admire your perseverance and hope you succeed (without losing your mind).
[rant alert]
But I’d like to take a second to mention that this is always one of the consequences of regulation of “big” industry. Whenever we try to control the big guys with (dumb-ass) rules like these, they are always happy to comply. The big-agra companies have huge teams of lawyers and “compliance” people to deal with this sort of thing. But the small guys don’t. This hurts the small guys, and many of them can’t overcome the challenge. The result: more business for the (already) big guys after the small guys give up.
The same thing is happening with the banks, fwiw. The big guys are doing better than ever. Many small banks, who now have to follow the same onerous (and expensive) regulations, can’t cut it and are going out of business. The perverse consequence is that the real “problem banks” get bigger, while the “good guys” get tanned.
It’s one of the dangers of trying to control too much in a market economy. Little guys – and entrepreneurs – take the hit. This is why so many Republicans are anti-regulation. It has negative consequences like the ones you’re experiencing.
[end of rant]
I applaud your optimism that things may change over time. And I certainly hope you’re right. I’ll be first on line to buy some of your pickles. I think you guys are awesome. If I have to get them under the table, that’s cool too. This is why God invented the Black Market (and why government all but requires it).
i’m wondering how the guy that does the brinery does his stuff. he sells at the market.