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On Thursday Sept. 8, 2004 the Washington State Board of Health unanimously adopted the
state's new Food Code that, when it goes into effect in May 2, 2005, will allow you or me or anyone in
Washington to host a Community Potluck and to advertise the potluck to the general public if desired.
All potlucks that fit the definition below will be exempt from any and all regulation under the new
statewide Food Code.
A Potluck as defined in the Food Code is an event where:
(a) People are gathered to share food;
(b) People attending are expected to bring food to share;
(c) There is no compensation provided to people for bringing food to the event;
(d) There is no charge for any food or beverage provided at the event; and
(e) The event is not conducted for commercial purposes.
Folks, I think this is an exemption we can all live with
and be proud that common sense prevailed. Let's all have a day of
potlucks on May 2 each year all around the state. That would be
the best way to celebrate this.
So, thanks for the help of the many people and organizations that contacted the Dept.
of Health during the rule-making process and surprised the heck out of them that so many people would
rise up and defend our right to commune over good ol' home-cooked food whenever and wherever we want.
The following is a little history of the effort to save the community potluck
Supper
Background:
For over a hundred years, residents of Washington State have enjoyed cooking meals at home and bringing those meals to churches, grange halls, community centers, schools, businesses, charity organizations and other venues to dine with other members of their communities who also brought food to share. In fact, this tradition has its roots deep in human prehistory. Gathering around a table heaped with food that was brought from multiple home kitchens to share and enjoy has been a form of human fellowship we have taken for granted for a long, long time.
Until May 2, 2005,
Washington State had no statewide rule governing whether potluck suppers should or should not be regulated the same way that restaurants, grocery stores and other "Food Service Establishments"
were. This situation left it up to the counties to interpret the WA Food Code. Some counties required potlucks to be operated like restaurants making it illegal for most foods served at potlucks to be cooked at home.
Thanks to the active involvement of citizens like you, the current wording in the newly
adopted Food Code is very favorable to our position. It will ensure your right to host potlucks without having to conform to costly licensing requirements or spoiling the fun by outlawing home-cooked foods. The current wording does not single out publicly advertised potlucks for any greater scrutiny than any other type of potluck.
In the current rule, "Potluck" is defined as:
"...an event where:
(a) People are gathered to share food;
(b) People attending are expected to bring food to share;
(c) There is no compensation provided to people for bringing food to the event;
(d) There is no charge for any food or beverage provided at the event; and
(e) The event is not conducted for commercial purposes."
[Please note: Provisions from a previous draft excluded potlucks that are advertised and open to the public. That has been removed from the final
rule. So, it would be okay to advertise a potluck, as defined above, that is open to the public.]
The current rule excludes potlucks from the definition of a "Food Establishment". The Food Code regulations ONLY pertain to Food Establishments". Therefore, potlucks will be exempt from Food Code regulations and licensing fees.
For a history of the struggle to decriminalize potluck suppers in Washington State, read on...
Have you ever wanted to have a potluck supper? Say you are involved with a non-profit organization, a charity, a political group, a book club, a church and you want to invite the public to attend a potluck. You might put a notice in the paper, air a public service announcement on your local public radio station or put flyers around town.
Well, I'm here to tell you that it used to be if you went ahead and did this without notifying your local public health authority in advance, complying with State and local Food Service Establishment rules (the ones restaurants follow) and purchasing a license,
you'd be breaking the law!
Was this outrageous or what? How many millennia have just plain folks gotten together to share good home-cooked food and community without the interference of government?
In 2002, a group of concerned people and organizations went to the Washington State Dept. of Health (DOH) and tried to bring some sanity to their attitude towards publicly advertised potluck suppers. DOH
was revising the state's Food Code and we thought we could "de-criminalize" potlucks by clarifying in the new Food Code that potlucks, whether held privately by membership-only groups or open to the general public, should not fall under the regulatory jurisdiction of state or local health authorities. After all, we've always just had potlucks. It's part of being in a human society.
After numerous heated and tedious meetings at which we reiterated over and over that our freedom to invite our communities to potluck suppers was something that should not be regulated, we thought we had emerged victorious.
On Feb. 5, 2003, the stakeholder group (including representatives from DOH, local health authorities, food industry representatives, farmers and just plain folks) reached CONSENSUS on the following language that might have gone into effect on Jan. 1, 2005:
"The group recommended exempting potlucks from food service rules if:
1. People attending are expected to bring food to share;
2. There is no compensation provided to people for bringing food to the event;
3. There is no charge for any food or beverage provided at the event;
4. The event is not conducted for commercial purposes; and
5. Organizers of publicly advertised potlucks include in advertising and by a placard at the event that the health department does not regulate it.
The group recommended that DOH develop voluntary food safety guidelines for potlucks that could be distributed by local health jurisdictions and posted on the DOH web site."
This consensus was re-confirmed at a subsequent DOH meeting on March 4, 2003.
OUR VICTORY WAS SHORT-LIVED. The above recommendation then went to a DOH "Core Group" of insiders who removed the language pertaining to "publicly advertised" potlucks.
We feel that regulating publicly advertised potlucks is an excessive intrusion by government regulators into a non-commercial activity that is really a private affair between neighbors.
So, for the remainder of 2003, we mounted a campaign, mostly email and web-based, but we also
organized phone calls and attended various DOH hearings around the state with a clear message: "Potlucks,
whether advertised to the general public or not, should be exempt from Food Code regulation!" And
they heard us. I was told that DOH received more comments on the potluck issue than any other aspect
of the entire food code. As a result, DOH reinstated the wording that includes publicly advertised
potlucks in the exemption. This is the wording that is now in the final draft that is before the
public.
With your help, we brought sanity back to Washington State. We can sit down with our friends and
neighbors and enjoy home-cooked meals wherever and whenever we want, just like we always have.
Thanks and "Power to the People",
Chrys Ostrander
Thanks go to Spokane Tilth members, People for
Environmental Action and Children's Health PEACH (http://www.peachearth.org),
the Washington State Grange and its members (http://www.wa-grange.org),
Potlucks for Peace http://www.potlucksforpeace.org,
the Ballard Alki Lodge #170 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
numerous churches and everyone else who sent comments supporting the decriminalization of
Community Potlucks.
Below is more background information on the Potluck
issue:
Prior to Mat 2, 2005, the Washington State Board of Health and the Washington
State Department of Health currently had administrative rules that
required Community Potluck Suppers to be regulated and licensed as if
these gatherings were restaurants. Under these rules, bringing
home-cooked meals to your church, community center or park picnic area
to share with your neighbors and friends without paying for a license
and preparing the food in an approved kitchen was a criminal act!
A small but significant aspect of our cultural tradition related to food was threatened with extinction due to this excessive regulatory
interference.
For over a hundred years, residents of our northwest corner of the
country have enjoyed cooking meals at home and bringing those meals to
churches, grange halls, community centers, schools, businesses, charity
organizations and other venues to dine with other members of their
communities who also brought food to share. In fact, this tradition has
its roots deep in human prehistory. Gathering around a table heaped with
food that was brought from multiple home kitchens to share and enjoy has
been a form of human fellowship we have taken for granted for a long,
long time.
Unfortunately, we found we couldn't take the Community Potluck Supper for granted
anymore.
Back in October 2002, Spokane Tilth, a Chapter of Washington Tilth
Association, was threatened with prosecution for announcing that we
wanted to honor our local farmers by hosting a harvest celebration and
Community Potluck Supper that featured locally-grown foods that
participants would prepare at home and bring to share at a community
facility (see press release at the bottom of this message).
We feel that this was an excessive intrusion by government regulators
into a non-commercial activity that is really a private affair between
neighbors. We publicized the fact that our planned Community
Potluck had needed to be scrubbed under threat of prosecution and
received messages of outrage and encouragement to fight against this
injustice from many individuals and groups around the state.
The situation with Spokane Tilth was not an isolated incidence. In fact,
the issue has affected so many Washington residents that several years ago state
legislation was drafted to de-criminalize Community Potluck Suppers, but
failed to pass.
The Washington State Dept. of Health Food Code revision process offered an opportunity to set right the errant rules that
had
created this situation. We asked folks to join us in an effort to
exempt Community Potluck Suppers from licensing under the NEW Washington
State Food Code that has just been adopted to replace the existing one in May of 2005.
Here is a proposal that was created by Spokane Tilth with help from
People for Environmental Action and Children's Health (PEACH, also of
Spokane www.peachearth.org) that
was submitted to a special Washington State Dept. of Health task
force that was charged with drafting the wording of Washington State's new Food Code.
This proposal formed the basis for the historic achievement described
above, namely, the consensus agreement that recommended to the WA State
Board of Health that Community Potluck Suppers should be exempt from
food code regulation. We were confident that if the Dept. of Health task force
that managed the rule-making process heard from enough concerned
Washington residents who feel that they should be free to enjoy
Community Potluck Suppers without government interference, we would win.
Thank you for taking the time to act on this small but significant piece
of our continuing efforts to take back our food system.
Community Potluck Supper Proposal (formed
the basis of the agreement to recommend de-regulation of Potlucks
reached on Feb. 5, 2003):
Submitted by Spokane Tilth, a Chapter of Washington Tilth Association
and People for Environmental Action and Children's Health (PEACH) as an
"Issue for Consideration by Washington State Department of Health:
Modification of, or Addition to, Provisions of FDA 2001 Food Code for
Proposal to Adopt as a Revision to Chapter 246-215 WAC"
1) Community Potluck Supper defined:
A Community Potluck Supper occurs when two or more citizens prepare food
at their respective homes or any other kitchen, bring the food to a
common location, usually another location than their own homes, and
share in consuming the food so provided with their families, their
friends and others. No money shall be exchanged for food shared at
Community Potluck Suppers. Community Potluck Suppers can be private
events or open to the public.
2) Community Potluck Suppers shall be exempted from Washington State
Food Service Code (246-215 WAC) and proposed revision of 246-215 WAC
incorporating FDA 2001 Food Code.
3) Washington State Dept. of Health shall develop and publish a concise
set of voluntary guidelines intended to instruct residents of Washington
State in the safe preparation, storage, transport and serving of foods
prepared for Community Potluck Suppers.
4) Justification:
Community Potluck Suppers are presently enjoyed by a broad spectrum of
Washington State residents. Under current Food Service Establishment
rules, Community Potluck Suppers are not exempt from regulation and
permitting by the Washington State Dept. of Health and/or local health
districts. Some local health districts have developed ad hoc rules and
procedures addressing Community Potluck Suppers that are unevenly
applied and unsupported by statute or administrative rule.
For example, the Spokane Regional Health District makes an unsupported
distinction between private and public potlucks: "Under our
regulations, potluck dinners are not allowed for events that are
advertised and open to the general public." [Janet L. Wheeler, R.S.,
Environmental Health Specialist, Environmental Health Division, Spokane
Regional Health District]. Churches routinely host Community Potluck
Suppers, often advertised in church newsletters and elsewhere. The
Spokane Regional Health District does not regulate or issue permits for
church potlucks or other Community Potluck Suppers it considers to be
hosted by private, membership-only organizations. There is no statutory
or administrative justification for this arbitrary distinction. Also, no
public health interest is served by such a distinction. Civil liberties
are being infringed upon by the excessive scope of current Food Service
Establishment rules. Currently, and without specific statutory
justification, "private homes where food is prepared or served for
consumption by household members and/or their guests" [WAC
246-215-010 (22) (a) (i)] are exempt from regulation as Food Service
Establishments. The reasoning for this is obvious - There are some areas
of private social intercourse, the sharing of food being one of them,
that must be and always remain, beyond the reach of government
intrusion. Community Potluck Suppers should be recognized as one such
area.
=========
Spokane Tilth Press Release
October 25, 2002
Harvest Celebration Quashed by Spokane Co. Health Dept; Sharing of Food
Deemed
Illegal.
Group Plans Organized Response
(Spokane, WA)
Everything was set. Folks in Spokane were gathering locally grown foods
to prepare and bring to a fall harvest celebration, community potluck
supper and fundraising event
for a local agriculture organization. Planners had received the go-ahead
for the event
from the Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) over a month prior to
the scheduled date. Then it happened: News of the event was published as
a small feature in the food section of Spokane's daily newspaper. The
next day, officials from the Health Department were on the phone to
event organizers telling them that the planned potluck would be
prohibited and threatened the sponsoring organization with prosecution
if the dinner went ahead. In response, the agriculture organization vows
to launch a statewide campaign to "decriminalize community
potlucks". Potluck meals, a tradition thousands of years old and
still widely practiced, are those where attendees bring food, often
prepared in home kitchens, to share with others in a community setting.
The planned event is a "local harvest celebration" and
fundraiser for Spokane Tilth, a
Chapter of Washington Tilth Association, a small nonprofit organization
that promotes
"sustainable agriculture". In literature distributed
throughout the city, organizers
urged participants to purchase, harvest or otherwise obtain locally
grown foods to
prepare, bring and share. Now that the Health Department has not allowed
the potluck
portion of the festivities to occur and time is too short to issue an
announcement to
stop folks from bringing food to the event, organizers plan to respond
by sequestering
the errant foods in a "quarantine zone". This zone will be
intended to symbolize what
the group perceives as the "loss of control over our food
system". An open discussion
about whether the Health Department's stance is justifiable and what
might be
organized to rectify the situation will be included in the evening's
program. In addition, plans will go ahead to show an award-winning PBS
video "Beyond Organic" that
chronicles the struggles of a small farm that is saved from extinction
by a supportive
local consumer community.
The event is scheduled for Saturday, October 26th at 5:30pm at 1011 W
First Avenue in Spokane.
#MORE#
"I just can't believe folks can't come together voluntarily and
share food with one
another anymore," said an exasperated Chrys Ostrander, Spokane
Tilth's Programs
Coordinator. Ostrander says he called the health department well over a
month prior to
the October 26 event, explaining that his organization was planning a
fundraising
event that would include a potluck dinner, would be open to the public
and would be
advertised. He wanted to know what the department would require for the
event to
occur. To his surprise, according to Ostrander, the young man on the
phone from the
Health Department, identified only as Jeff, explained that as long as
everyone who
attends brings food, the Department looks look upon such events as
"social gatherings" and does not involve itself. "I said
'that sounds too good to be true'," says Ostrander, but he was
assured that was the department's policy. Ostrander says he then thanked
the official for the reasonable position. "I was heartened that, in
this day of over-regulation, folks could still freely enjoy community
potlucks," he said. So planning proceeded.
The last minute reversal on the part of the Spokane Regional Health
District irked
event organizers. When asked about churches routinely having potlucks,
Janet Wheeler and Ray Byrne at the Health Department told Ostrander they
consider churches to be private, membership-only organizations.
"Well, I took issue with that," says Ostrander, who sees no
difference between a church advertising a potluck in its newsletter and
Spokane Tilth advertising a potluck in a local newspaper. "If I
went into a church and picked up their newsletter on the table there
that announced a church potluck, cooked up a meal and attended, I'm
pretty sure they'd be happy to have me there." Ostrander disagrees
with SRHD's assertion that churches aren't open to the public. Being
"open to the public" is a crucial factor used by SRHD in
deciding whether to require organizers to apply for a "food service
establishment" permit and adhere to strict regulations when
planning food-related events. "What's the difference between a
private organization hosting a membership-only potluck where conceivably
thousands could attend and our little event where we'd be lucky to
attract 20 people?" asks Ostrander.
Earlier this year, legislation was debated in Olympia that was intended
to remove
regulatory barriers to the distribution of food to the needy. In early
drafts of the legislation, co-sponsored by Spokane Representatives Alex
Wood and Jeff Gombosky, language was inserted that would have included
"community potlucks" in the more relaxed regulatory
environment being contemplated. The final version of the legislation,
signed by Governor Locke on March 28, 2002, did not include reference to
potlucks. "We need to establish some consistent regulatory
boundaries that make sense and don't infringe on our basic human rights
to freely assemble and feed one another," says Ostrander.
"Community potlucks need to be kept out of reach of regulatory
agencies. Where no fee is charged for the food and it's just folks
voluntarily bringing food from home to share, it's just human
interaction, not mercantile activity" says Ostrander.
Commentator and Progressive Populist Jim
Hightower Praised Spokane Tilth's efforts to de-criminalize potlucks in
the following column:
THE SPOKANE TILTH GANG
3/21/2003
In the world of serious crimes, there are muggings, murders, rapes – and then you've got: Potluck Suppers.
Chrys Ostrander didn't set out to be a criminal, but like so many others, he fell in with the wrong crowd – in this case, a gang called "Spokane Tilth." It's a wiley group of farmers around Spokane, Washington, that openly encourages sustainable, organic, and locally-grown food systems. Chrys himself raises organic produce and flowers – so you can see the danger they pose.
Last October 26, this gang was going to pull off a caper in Spokane called : Fall Harvest Celebration and Community Potluck Supper. Luckily for all of us law-abiding Americans, the keen-eyed cops at the Washington State Health Department were on the alert. Just one day before the Gang struck, they quashed the potluck, declaring it to be an illegal supper, since the food would not be prepared in licensed and regulated kitchens. They threatened the potluck perpetrators with prosecution..
Henceforth, potlucks would be kaput. Except that the people refused to swallow it! The Spokane Tilth Gang immediately organized a statewide campaign around the rallying cry, "Decriminalize The Potluck!" Calls were made, a big coalition was drafted, hell was raised – and their thunder rolled all the way to the state capitol.
Suddenly, the health department was listening, holding grassroots negotiations, and slowly bending. Still, the authorities balked agreeing to exempt potlucks--but only if they didn't last longer than two hours. Chrys fired back that potlucks aren't timed meals like at a restaurant, but occasions where "people get together to talk, argue, sing, quilt, and any number of other things" that can't be squeezed into a time limit.
Finally, the sheer weight of common sense and the people's will prevailed...and potlucks in Washington State have now been freed from the clutches of the regulators – thanks to all those "outlaws" who wouldn't be cowed.
http://www.jimhightower.com/air/read.asp?id=11056
#END#
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