selling Turkeys

[scayne62]

ok so I have this brain storm of an idea to start smoking and selling turkeys for thanksgiving and christmas, I realize there are some liabilities with this and I will work all of those out, my questions for the brilliant brethen are:
1: how would you seal them up to give them to the customer
2: do they sell some sort of pop up thermometer that I could put in the bird to help the customer be sure it is warmed up to the proper temp?
Any other ideas or suggestions that could go along with this? This will likely not be done until next year after my large cooker is built but want to get a head start on logistics and legality now.

[columbia1]

You might get more responses if you post this in the Catering and Vending section?

[scayne62]

Mods can you move this for me? I did not think of that, Thanks columbia1

[IamMadMan]

1) your best bet is to vac-seal the turkeys using a chamber sealer....

2) Admetior is a manufacturer of POP-UP thermometers for different cooking temperatures.


I am sure you heard it before, but use cation as indicated below.
No one should engage in the food business without being incorporated as a legitimate business. Without being incorporated you and all of your assets owned by you and your family are up for grabs in a lawsuit. Incorporating separates you and your personal assets from those of the recognized corporate entity. In a lawsuit they can sue the corporation but cannot come after you unless you blatantly caused harm as an individual.

If you are planning on selling food, even for a friend you should be aware of the laws and the risks involved. By ignoring these and not investigating the legal requirements for any event, you are putting yourself at a great risk. Ignorance of the laws and regulations are not a defense, in fact it will just help to build a stronger case against you if something should go wrong.

First: Will you be operating within State, Local, and Health Department regulations? Do you have a business license, a food handlers permit, and will you prepare the food in a health department approved and inspected commercial kitchen?

Second: Do you have the proper liability insurance to cover you and the patrons?

Be aware that without these two primary items being fully covered, you are taking a huge huge risk both personally and financially.

Without proper procedures and requirements, there are too many risks and not enough rewards. What legal ramifications are you willing to endure should this become an issue of someone getting ill? Trying to sneak past the "government" can lead to too many bad things. This is a risk anyone with any common sense should never consider taking.

How much of your personal assets are you willing to risk due to food-borne illness issues should they occur? Or if someone claims they became ill sometime after eating your food. If a civil suit is brought against you because of this claim, you could lose your home, your savings, and your investments.

My intent is not to discourage you, but to point out the possible ramifications of this type of event without the proper "coverage", "licenses", and "permits".

It may be a one in a million case that someone becomes ill, but we live in a litigious society today. People make false claims all the time in an effort to sue for personal gain. If you are prepared to risk it ALL then go ahead. Otherwise walk away until you do do the necessary diligence to cover yourself.

This is a totally different thing than just cooking great BBQ for your family in your back yard.

If you want to go into business then take the appropriate steps. If not then be prepared to accept all possible consequences.

It only takes one incident to lose everything......

As far as food preparation;
The kitchen in which food is prepared is subject to the Uniform Building Code code. To my knowledge, all states use this code and even expand further upon it with even more local regulations. In general, the Uniform Building Code states: any kitchen that is used to prepare food that is not served immediately and on premises must be to current local health codes. Also be aware that all of the building that has access to the kitchen must also meet those codes, not just the kitchen area.

A few other states allow for certain uses if your "APPROVED" kitchen is separate from the home, where you cannot pass from the kitchen into the home. In other words, you must completely leave the kitchen structure (pass outside) to access the the house, then you could possibly have that kitchen approved. This is not always the case, it is dependent upon your local authorities.

[poorolddan]

All that sure puts the brakes on my grand kid's lemon-aide stand...

[scayne62]

Originally Posted by IamMadMan

1) your best bet is to vac-seal the turkeys using a chamber sealer....

2) Admetior is a manufacturer of POP-UP thermometers for different cooking temperatures.


I am sure you heard it before, but use cation as indicated below.
No one should engage in the food business without being incorporated as a legitimate business. Without being incorporated you and all of your assets owned by you and your family are up for grabs in a lawsuit. Incorporating separates you and your personal assets from those of the recognized corporate entity. In a lawsuit they can sue the corporation but cannot come after you unless you blatantly caused harm as an individual.

If you are planning on selling food, even for a friend you should be aware of the laws and the risks involved. By ignoring these and not investigating the legal requirements for any event, you are putting yourself at a great risk. Ignorance of the laws and regulations are not a defense, in fact it will just help to build a stronger case against you if something should go wrong.

First: Will you be operating within State, Local, and Health Department regulations? Do you have a business license, a food handlers permit, and will you prepare the food in a health department approved and inspected commercial kitchen?

Second: Do you have the proper liability insurance to cover you and the patrons?

Be aware that without these two primary items being fully covered, you are taking a huge huge risk both personally and financially.

Without proper procedures and requirements, there are too many risks and not enough rewards. What legal ramifications are you willing to endure should this become an issue of someone getting ill? Trying to sneak past the "government" can lead to too many bad things. This is a risk anyone with any common sense should never consider taking.

How much of your personal assets are you willing to risk due to food-borne illness issues should they occur? Or if someone claims they became ill sometime after eating your food. If a civil suit is brought against you because of this claim, you could lose your home, your savings, and your investments.

My intent is not to discourage you, but to point out the possible ramifications of this type of event without the proper "coverage", "licenses", and "permits".

It may be a one in a million case that someone becomes ill, but we live in a litigious society today. People make false claims all the time in an effort to sue for personal gain. If you are prepared to risk it ALL then go ahead. Otherwise walk away until you do do the necessary diligence to cover yourself.

This is a totally different thing than just cooking great BBQ for your family in your back yard.

If you want to go into business then take the appropriate steps. If not then be prepared to accept all possible consequences.

It only takes one incident to lose everything......

As far as food preparation;
The kitchen in which food is prepared is subject to the Uniform Building Code code. To my knowledge, all states use this code and even expand further upon it with even more local regulations. In general, the Uniform Building Code states: any kitchen that is used to prepare food that is not served immediately and on premises must be to current local health codes. Also be aware that all of the building that has access to the kitchen must also meet those codes, not just the kitchen area.

A few other states allow for certain uses if your "APPROVED" kitchen is separate from the home, where you cannot pass from the kitchen into the home. In other words, you must completely leave the kitchen structure (pass outside) to access the the house, then you could possibly have that kitchen approved. This is not always the case, it is dependent upon your local authorities.

WOW thanks for this great reply! all of these reasons are why I am not doing it this year, I am taking the class to get my food service license this winter, I am in the process of incorporating a business name so I can start doing some catering on a small scale. I had to post and ask the question mostly because if I did not ask now I would ave been distracted by a bright shiny object somewhere and forgot. I plan to put all my ducks in their respective rows prior to embarking on any sort of adventure like this I agree with everything you said, ignorance is not excuse and I am not risking my families and I's livelihood for a dollar. I agree on the vacu-sealing of the Turkeys prior to delivery. Once again Thank you for the insight and helping me keep my priorities (the legalities prior to the reward) in line.

[scayne62]

Originally Posted by poorolddan

All that sure puts the brakes on my grand kid's lemon-aide stand...

[brother steve]

Wow! That was informative. I never would have guessed it took all of that.

[MisterChrister]

I'd also suggest doing some taste tests on your birds after they've been smoked and vacuum sealed for however long you expect them to be sitting between preparation and use. I'm assuming that the smokiness might either intensify or mellow out and equalize after some time in the packaging. I've never smoked then sealed whole birds for later use, just guessing that could have some impact on finished taste. Good luckand keep us posted!