WHAT IS A FOOD ESTABLISHMENT?
Fox Digital broke a story this week about the food police threatening Kathy Kite in Harrisburg, Missouri over her home breakfast benevolence. After losing her job at a filling station as part of covid lockdown fallout--a place that served breakfast--she decided to offer breakfast free to folks.
Yes, from her century-old house on the outskirts of the 300-person town. She started the project in May and in July received a letter from the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department demanding she get a license for a commercial kitchen in order to continue being charitable.
The department asserted it had received a complaint from someone who got sick from her food. When they went to check out her place, they found an "OPEN" sign, a tip jar, publicity on social media and a sign in her yard. These indicated a "food establishment" in their eyes and started the ball rolling for legal action if noncompliance and non-licensure continued.
The department's official position is that even though she says this is for "friends and family," it is "providing food to the public" which puts it in a licensable category.
What interests me most about this entire story is that apparently nobody followed up with the complainant to see if the sickness really came from Ms. Kite's kitchen. Wouldn't you think that would be the first and foremost component of health department due diligence to an alleged food sickness outbreak?
But no. The whole emphasis is on licensing, which requires infrastructure, which requires thousands of dollars and bowing to bureaucrats who have no emotional heart of appreciation for a grandma trying to do something nice in her little community. The bureaucracy beast is like that; it cares about licenses and checked boxes, and is heartless.
Wouldn't you think the primary focus of the health department would be to track down the veracity of the allegation and, if true, coach Ms. Kite up on any weaknesses in her kitchen? She doesn't sell anything; she just gives it away. For all anyone knows, this complaint could be fabricated from someone who does sell food and doesn't like her pinching business. People make up stories to suit their interests all the time. Any devious 4-year-old caught with her hand in the cookie jar knows how to do this. That is precisely why the health department dereliction is both negligent and heinous.
As corrupt as our culture has become, and the bureaucracy overseeing it, I do not assume any allegation is truthful. When someone gets investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, I assume they're probably doing something noble and good. That's how dubious I've become about any government agency. For all we know, someone in the health department could be using their position to get a commercial kitchen license (crony capitalism) and is using their regulatory elitism to extort a possible competitor.
Long time ago, when someone was under investigation by a government agency, folks assumed the alleged bad guy was probably a bad guy. No more.
The next issue is what constitutes a food establishment? And how many friends and family do you need to have in a room before a bureaucrat calls it a "public" gathering? The lady isn't selling anything. She takes donations, yes, but apparently no pricing is in her home. I doubt you can even order anything. You sit down and she brings breakfast. She says often she serves as many as 30 people. Lots of family shindigs are bigger than that.
For the health department to impugn voluntary gatherings of 30 people as some sort of commercial public entity is harassment in the third degree. By what authority can a government agency arbitrarily and capriciously label a group of 30 a public gathering?
Here's a benevolent grandma, trying to do something nice for her community, and the health department hounds her unmercifully. Why doesn't the health department go after Twinkies and Cocoa Puffs? Talk about sickening people. Sheesh.
What's your first reaction when you read someone is "under investigation?"
