If a bill under consideration this week by the SC Senate Agriculture Subcommittee is successful, Southern Carolinians will be allowed to sell homemade foods such as pickled peaches and sweet potato pie.
Under the Household Food Production Act, which has been going on for almost a decade, South Carolina food entrepreneurs can make and sell “non-potentially dangerous baked and sweet foods” as long as the item is clearly labeled as House made. Senator Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, sponsor of the bill, believes that existing restrictions should be relaxed to create more economic opportunities.
“You have a lot of problems with people who can’t get back to normal with COVID,” he said. “I feel that expanding direct retail is a matter of common sense.”
By expanding the range of permitted foods beyond cakes, cookies and popcorn balls, Kimbrell argues that workers who now have to stay home with their children or take on additional work to make up for losses related to COVID-19 will have more options for generate extra income.
Kimbrell’s bill, co-sponsored by four Republican colleagues, would legalize the sale of all stable homemade foods to consumers and retail stores.
According to Kimbrell, producers’ facilities would not be inspected by the state, but would have to maintain certain cooking standards.
“You can’t go to an electric pan in the forest,” he clarified.
Producers would also have to tag each item with a traceable identification number and could face penalties if they spread foodborne illness or otherwise endanger public health.
Still, Kimbrell says he has encountered resistance from Democratic lawmakers concerned about the security implications of lowering food regulations.
“They think the government knows,” he said of what he considers to be lost confidence.
Typically, homemade food laws get bipartisan support, said Peter Ruddock of the COOK Alliance, a advocacy group for California home food producers. But it is common for politicians on both sides of the corridor to be concerned about supervision.
“We had to play with some nervousness,” said Ruddock.
There are documented cases of eaters sickened by homemade food, such as an outbreak of botulism in Ohio in 2015 related to home canned potatoes. However, Ruddock says home cooking in general is as safe as regulated food, in part because there are literally not many cooks in the kitchen or complicated supply chains.
It also dismisses widespread concerns about home cooks clogging drains with fat or creating traffic jams when barbecue sauce or banana bread becomes popular.
More than 5,000 home food producers have started small businesses since California allowed them more freedom of action, said Ruddock.
They generally fall into two categories: ambitious entrepreneurs who want to test the market before investing tens of thousands of dollars in an autonomous operation and formerly amateur cooks who want to work from home and control their schedules, often because of family obligations.
In any case, Ruddock says the economic benefits are significant, which probably explains why South Carolina is not the only state that is examining related policies.
When The Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm that supports Kimbrell’s bill, surveyed hundreds of registered food producers across the country, found that the structure “provides an attractive path for entrepreneurship to women. women, especially in rural areas ”.
Although he may require some concessions, Kimbrell is confident that a version of his project will be approved.
“It’s just a matter of how far we want to go” with maneuvers to move forward with the original text, he said.
Catch up Hanna Raskin at 843-937-5560 and follow her on Twitter @hannaraskin.