Kimble: A regulatory beef
by Mark Kimble on Jan. 10, 2008, under Edge, Opinion, TasteFarmers markets, health inspectors in licensing dispute
Armando Gonzalez, owner of Burnt Orange Gourmet Foods, hands out samples to shoppers at the St. Philip's Plaza farmers market.
This was supposed to be a different column. This was supposed to be one of those columns in which I mock some feckless bureaucrat for enforcing a picayune government regulation at the expense of common sense.
But the real story is more complicated. There isn’t a bad guy on either side.
The real story is this: Times change and government is a step behind. It runs to catch up but, government being government, it takes longer than it should.
Take, for example, farmers markets. It used to be that a farmer who grew stuff would set up a stand on the side of the road to sell his produce. You met the grower, you knew where the food was coming from, all was fresh, all was good.
But because we live in cities, farmers markets have come to town and morphed. Now it’s not just farmers selling what they grow. It’s also people selling things like salsa or bread or beef.
So is this a farmers market or an outdoor grocery store? What, if any, regulations apply? And since this is prepared food and meat and other stuff, shouldn’t someone make sure it’s not going to make us sick?
That’s the nexus of a dispute between inspectors from the Pima County Health Department and some of the entrepreneurs who conduct business at the half-dozen or so farmers markets in the Tucson area.
The most vociferous of the sellers are Paul and Sarah Schwennesen, a husband and wife who sell grass-fed beef from their family owned and operated Double Check Ranch.
The Schwennesens, whose operation is near Winkelman, handle the entire process from raising cattle to slaughtering them and cutting and packaging the beef in white butcher’s paper. They take orders on a Web site (www.doublecheckranch.com) and deliver it at several area farmers markets.
In November a health inspector stopped by the Schwennesens’ booth at one market and checked out the meat. He issued a citation to the couple for not having a physical address for their ranch on the packages – a requirement of state law.
“We chose to ignore it,” Paul Schwennesen said, and nothing has come of the citation.
“They are barking up the wrong tree here,” Paul said. “Very seldom in the food chain do people know where their food comes from. We raise and process our own beef and already are inspected by the Arizona Department of Agriculture.”
Armando Gonzalez, said he had problems with a health inspector while selling salsa from his Burnt Orange Gourmet Foods. The inspector told him he needed a special permit if he was going to hand out free samples.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Gonzalez said.
But to hear Karen Martin of the county health department tell it, this is a combination of misunderstandings and changing times that have leapt ahead of health regulations.
No permit is required to dispense samples, she said. No permit is required if someone sells produce they grow or a product, such as salsa, they make entirely from produce they grow. But when people sell prepared food made with produce they buy from someone else, a license is needed, she said.
However, that’s expensive. The county health code requires a license for every different market every time. That’s $48 per market per week – expensive for someone selling at three or four markets a week.
The county is working with representatives of the markets to come up with an equitable permit fee covering several markets for several weeks, Martin said.
Meat is a different matter. State law requires a physical address so the seller can be found if there is a health problem.
It all may sound picayune. But buyers would be upset at Martin if something sold at a market made them sick.
Manish Shah, who runs several farmers markets, is optimistic a solution will be reached. “This is just part of farmers markets growing up,” he said. “In the end, all anybody wants is safe, clean food.”
Mark Kimble appears at 6:30 p.m. and midnight Fridays on the Roundtable segment of “Arizona Illustrated” on KUAT-TV (Channel 6). He may be reached at mkimble@tucsoncitizen.com or 573-4662.
Paul Schwennesen, who with his wife sells grass-fed beef raised at their ranch near Winkelman, says his ranch's beef already has been inspected by the Arizona Department of Agriculture.
