Local Food Columbus » Local Food Processing
Good News for the Local Food Movement
Good News for the Local and Regional Food Movement President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act today, after a long bout of legislative wrangling by local food advocates, small farmers and their allies for food safety rules that protect consumers without curbing the growing movement toward fresh, local and regional food. The food safety bill passed by the House in July of 2009 would have imposed a one size fits all regulatory system biased toward industrial agriculture with a regressive registration fee, expensive food safety plans, and regular on-farm FDA inspections regardless of the degree of the potential risk for food borne illness. The new regulatory burdens threatened to erect formidable barriers to the developing local and regional markets for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Farmer's Markets, Local Food Processing, National, News, Policy and Regulation
Food Safety Bill Passes, Now Goes to President Obama
Earlier today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2751 The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act with 215 voting for and 144 against. Ten Republicans voted for the bill (see Final Vote). This is the bill that the Senate passed by voice vote on Sunday, December 19th, with the Tester-Hagan amendment protecting small farms intact. The food safety bill hit a roadblock after passing the Senate in late November because a provision requiring the collection of user fees violated the Constitutional mandate that all revenue-generating measures must originate in the House. House leaders then attached the bill as an amendment to two separate spending bills, neither of which were able to gain Republican support in the Senate. Senate … Read entire article »
Filed under: Farmer's Markets, Local Food Processing, National, News, Policy and Regulation
Update on S. 510 Federal Food Safety Legislation
The Farmers Market Management Network of Ohio has been following the Senate’s food safety bill closely and just issued an alert to keep in the amendments that protect small farms and processors that sell locally. The two articles below give a good overview of where the legislation is now. Your action is needed to keep local food growing. Action Alert – Local and Regional Food at Risk Action Alert December 8, 2010 Local and Regional Food at Risk Call Your Representative Food Safety Legislation passed by the Senate and to be… » Update on Federal Food Safety Bill S.510 On Tuesday, November 30, a year after it was reported out of Committee, the Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) passed the Senate, 73-25. The bill,… » … Read entire article »
Filed under: Farmer's Markets, Local Food Processing, National, News, Policy and Regulation
Senate Food Safety Bill Moves Ahead
The Senate made substantial progress on the pending Food Safety Bill Wednesday. To move the sweeping food bill forward, the upper chamber voted 74-25 to limit debate, circumventing Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) objection. And key stakeholders resolved the two controversial issues that have plagued the bill: bisphenol A and small farm exemptions. Read: Senate Food Safety Bill Moves Ahead. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Local Food Processing, News, Policy and Regulation
Local small scale co-packer in central Ohio
If you always wanted to sell your salsa at the farmer’s market or to the grocery store? There is now a facility in Franklin County that will commercially bottle small batches of high-acid foods for local farmers and entrepreneurs. They are committed to local…ly grown food and the local economy. For details contact Anthony Fraizer 614-257-1699 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured Articles, Local Food Processing
ECDI Launches Kitchen Incubator Program
The Economic and Community Development Institute has been helping entrepreneurs in Columbus to start up and grow their businesses for the past five years. ECDI is now currently rolling out a new program to provide a wider range of development assistance. Their new Growing Entrepreneurs Initiative is launching with a focus on food-related industries and provides assistance to folks looking to take their kitchen ideas and turn them into a full time business. Columbusunderground.com interviews Bob Leighty and Amy Szabo recently to talk about ECDI’s new “Kitchen Incubator” program and what it can mean both for entrepreneurs as well as the community as a whole. http://www.columbusunderground.com/ecdi-launches-kitchen-incubator-program … Read entire article »
Filed under: Local Food Processing, News
ODA New Cottage Rules
It’s official. The new Ohio Dept. of Ag Cottage food rules were released. The rules now allows for a variety of new foods to be home produced, without the need for an inspected commerical kitchen. This opens up opportunities for small food producers to expand into new areas with little overhead cost. It also expands new products available to consumers at farmers’ markets and similar venues. The new rules are available in (pdf document) at the ODA web site: New Cottage Food Rules. The current food saftey rules ORC 3715 can be found here. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Farmer's Markets, Local Food Processing, Policy and Regulation
Food Chain Meeting in July
A Food Chain Meeting that will take place early the morning of July 16th in Bellville. It will be at the Dutch Heritage Restaurant just off of Interstate 71 (four exits north of Polaris). This bi-monthly meeting has proved to be a great networking opportunity for growers, processors, buyers, and others to meet. The topic next month is OSU’s Eat Global, Buy Local initiative, and the speaker is OSU Dining Service’s Sous Chef Patrick Murphy. Details are on the Flyer(pdf). … Read entire article »
Filed under: Local Food Processing, Meetings & Events, New Farmers, Restaurants
Waxman Food Safety Bill Introduced
On Wednesday, May 27, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (CA-30) released a discussion draft of his food safety bill, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill is largely based on provisions in H.R. 259, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009, introduced by Representative Dingell earlier this year. House Energy and Commerce Committee staff has said they plan to mark up the Waxman food safety bill and report it out of Committee during the month of June and prior to the July 4 congressional recess. Read the draft bill. We will comment on this bill after analysis. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Local Food Processing, Policy and Regulation
Co-op canneries…where’s the meat?
I was really excited about this message (below) until I read further into it. “…for the production of a premium brand of creatively designed fruit based preserves.” Farmers can already make their own jelly at home. It’s covered under the cottage food exemption. You’ll find fruit preserves at every farmers’ market in Ohio. What our farm needs is a cannery that will do meat, broth, soups, and other meat-based products. We’ve made inquiries to ACENet and the ODA–even looked into starting our own facility–and all we heard was “You have to have a big industrial cannery to do meats.” After more than a year of searching, we finally found Keystone Meats in Lima, Ohio. They charge $1.35 per 28 oz. can, and the minimum amount they’ll process is 2000 lbs. of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured Articles, Local Food Processing, Urban Chickens
