The County Fair

[Kevin]

Parrot Head just revived a great thread from this forum (food handling and awareness, that I thank BBQJoe for very much) and this came to mind.

Our local county fair is next week. I read the brochure and took notice of the various food contests that are actually fund raisers. The format consists of the entrants paying an entry fee, providing a specified amount of the fare du jour (chili, pork chops, burgers, chicken, etc.) and the promoter (usually 4H, cancer society, MS society, etc.) sells tickets to the public for the opportunity to sample the entries and vote for the winner. We've done it here, and elsewhere I'm sure, for many years. Never a problem that I recollect.

This is pretty much the same as your church's bake sale to me. Not a commercial endeavor in the least. All done with good intent.

My state (Minnesota) recently passed a law releasing the participants from liability for such events. I think it was labeled as the casserole rule or something like that.

Just food for thought I guess.

[parrothead]

That sounds cool. I think Phil had posted somewhere that there was something similar in his state that allowed such things.

I've become quite the stickler on this stuff since getting certified and working on getting our place going. Bake sales are definately cool. It's dealing with high protien content where this stuff gets really important and shouldn't be laxed. Even in charity events.

There is a restaurant in Chicago right now that will probably close it's doors because as of last count there are over 600 people that got sick. There will be some law suits for sure.

[tonto1117]

Originally Posted by parrothead

That sounds cool. I think Phil had posted somewhere that there was something similar in his state that allowed such things.

I've become quite the stickler on this stuff since getting certified and working on getting our place going. Bake sales are definately cool. It's dealing with high protien content where this stuff gets really important and shouldn't be laxed. Even in charity events.

There is a restaurant in Chicago right now that will probably close it's doors because as of last count there are over 600 people that got sick. There will be some law suits for sure.

Is this the incident and the resturant that you speak of? Man....what a mess!!!

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/4...aste14.article

[parrothead]

Yep, that's the one.