Bad News : No Public Corndog Sales Tomorrow

Posted on 29 June 2007 under Food Safety

There’s a reason this post is under the category “Food Safety”. State and county health regulations will be prohibiting me from selling handmade corndogs at tomorrow’s City-Wide Yard Sale in Luna Pier.

In talking to a local restauranteur yesterday, I mentioned selling the corndogs at tomorrow’s sales. What I got back was, “I hope you have a permit!” What it boils down to is this: Just like at Taste of the Nation: Toledo on April 29th at The Docks, any Temporary Food Service Establishment (TFE) requires a local permit from the county health department as per state law. A TFE is defined as, “(A) food establishment which operates at a fixed location for a temporary period not to exceed 14 consecutive days”. The checklist for TFEs in the state of Michigan is located here, and there’s a whole lot a TFE has to comply with.

Also, about halfway down the page titled “How To Apply For A Food Service License“, you’ll see the following:

Return completed application form along with the fee to your local health department at least 30 days prior to the event. The local health department will conduct an on-site inspection when your establishment is ready to operate and issue the actual operating license.

Anybody got one of Doc Brown’s Deloreans? I could sure use one about now. I’ll set the time circuits for about May 20, 2007 before engaging the flux capacitor …

As our friendly restauranteur explained to us last night, the county health department has been known to stop kids from selling even canned pop without a permit. Places such as the VFW Post on Harold Drive, and Sweet Temptations near Luna Pier’s public beachfront, can offer food and meals cooked on grills outside these establishments as it falls under their permanent food service licenses. Unfortunately, any other kinds of food sales from residents require a TFE permit and subsequent inspection.

Worse than that, I feel guilty already. I’ve previously blogged about such kids selling hot dogs and hamburgers off their family grills. I may have inadvertantly set off a “violation fine blitz” from the health department tomorrow in Luna Pier by mentioning this more than once in such a public blog.

As Marty would say, “That’s heavy, Doc”. Ouch …

I’ll have to have this all planned out for next year. That is, if the county’s fee for a TFE permit isn’t all that high.

So tomorrow, family and friends will have corndogs for lunch at our house, and no one else. That’s just how it has to be.

And, when I do my yard sale-ing in the morning, if I see any of these kids I’ve talked about, I’m going to have to explain all of this blog entry, just-in-case.

[big sigh]

Read Comments

  1. 29 June 2007 @ 1:13 pm Posted by Leslie

    Can you give them away and have a donation box? Just an idea to get around the system! And perhaps get rid of all those hot dogs and Jiffy Mix. :)

    Sorry to hear of the snag in best laid plans. Hope you have fun any how!

  2. 29 June 2007 @ 1:24 pm Posted by LunaPierCook

    The way I understand this, it’s not the sale of an item that causes the problem. It’s the serving of food to the public, particularly from a location not having been inspected by the health department. I wish there were a simple solution, but unfortunately, there isn’t. Maybe next year, right? :-)

  3. 29 June 2007 @ 1:42 pm Posted by Rhonda

    Hey, since you have probably bought your supplies already why not talk to sweet temptations or vfw and give them a portion of the profit to work under their license at their location. It couldn’t hurt to ask.

  4. 29 June 2007 @ 1:54 pm Posted by LunaPierCook

    I did ask Sweet Temptations last night, but frankly I’d rather be home helping with our own sales somehow (especially since my sister’s coming down from the Flint area for the weekend) rather than somewhere else only cooking corndogs. This is actually a major family/friends event for us.

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