The Southern Nevada Health District closes a farm-to-table-dinner for trumped up reasons
I’ve excerpted quite a bit of this post, but go to the site and read the whole thing. It is rather outrageous.
What an evening we had this last Friday night! It had all the makings of a really great novel: drama, suspense, anticipation, crisis, heroic efforts, villains and victors, resolution and a happy ending.
The evening was everything I had dreamed and hoped it would be. The weather was perfect, the farm was filled with friends and guests roaming around talking about organic, sustainable farming practices. Our young interns were teaching and sharing their passion for farming and their role in it. (A high hope for our future!) The pig didn’t get loose.
Our guests were excited to spend an evening together. The food was prepared exquisitely. The long dinner table, under the direction of dear friends, was absolutely stunningly beautiful. The music was superb. The stars were bright and life was really good.
And then, …
for a few moments, it felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath us and my wonderful world came crashing down. As guests were mingling, finishing tours of the farm, and while the first course of the meal was being prepared and ready to be sent out, a Southern Nevada Health District employee came for an inspection.
Because this was a gathering of people invited to our farm for dinner, I had no idea that the Health Department would become involved. I received a phone call from them two days before the event informing me that because this was a “public event” (I would like to know what is the definition of “public” and “private”) we would be required to apply for a “special use permit”.
If we did not do so immediately, we would be charged a ridiculous fine.
Stunned, we immediately complied.
We were in the middle of our harvest day for our CSA shares, a very busy time for us, but Monte immediately left to comply with the demand and filled out the required paper work and paid for the fee. (Did I mention that we live in Overton, nowhere near a Health Department office?) Paper work now in order, he was informed that we would not actually be given the permit until an inspector came to check it all out.
She came literally while our guests were arriving!
In order to overcome any trouble with the Health Department of cooking on the premises, most of the food was prepared in a certified kitchen in Las Vegas; and to further remove any doubt, we rented a certified kitchen trailer to be here on the farm for the preparation of the meals. The inspector, Mary Oaks, clearly not the one in charge of the inspection as she was constantly on the phone with her superior Susan somebody who was calling all the shots from who knows where.
Susan deemed our food unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event because:
1. Some of the prepared food packages did not have labels on them. (The code actually allows for this if it is to be consumed within 72 hours.)
2. Some of the meat was not USDA certified. (Did I mention that this was a farm to fork meal?)
3. Some of the food that was prepared in advance was not up to temperature at the time of inspection. (It was being prepared to be brought to proper temperature for serving when the inspection occurred.)
4. Even the vegetables prepared in advance had to be thrown out because they were cut and were then considered a “bio-hazard”.
5. We did not have receipts for our food. (Reminder! This food came from farms not from the supermarket! I have talked with several chefs who have said that in all their years cooking they have never been asked for receipts.)
At this time Monte, trying to reason with Susan to find a possible solution for the problem, suggested turning this event from a “public” event to a “private” event by allowing the guests to become part of our farm club, thus eliminating any jurisdiction or responsibility on their part. This idea infuriated Susan and threatened that if we did not comply the police would be called and personally escort our guests off the property. This is not the vision of the evening we had in mind! So regretfully, again we complied.
The only way to keep our guests on the property was to destroy the food.
I can’t tell you how sick to my stomach I was watching that first dish of Mint Lamb Meatballs hit the bottom of the unsanitized trash can.
Here we were with guests who had paid in advance and had come from long distances away anticipating a wonderful dining experience, waiting for dinner while we were behind the kitchen curtain throwing it away! I know of the hours and labor that went into the preparation of that food.
We asked the inspector if we could save the food for a private family event that we were having the next day. (A personal family choice to use our own food.) We were denied and she was insulted that we would even consider endangering our families health. I assured her that I had complete faith and trust in Giovanni our chef and the food that was prepared, (obviously, or I wouldn’t be wanting to serve it to our guests).
I then asked if we couldn’t feed the food to our “public guests” or even to our private family, then at least let us feed it to our pigs. (I think it should be a criminal action to waste any resource of the land. Being dedicated to our organic farm, we are forever looking for good inputs into our compost and soil and good food that can be fed to our animals. The animals and compost pile always get our left over garden surplus and food. We truly are trying to be as sustainable as possible.)
Again, a call to Susan and another negative response.
Okay, so let me get this right.
So the food that was raised here on our farm and selected and gathered from familiar local sources, cooked and prepared with skill and love was even unfit to feed to my pigs!?!
Jason says
This is a terrible story. However, I don’t know what “age of Bureaucracy gone amuck” means and what purpose it serves as an introduction to the story.
Amanda says
Oh. My. God. The government is out of control. This is what happens when government gets too big…there is nothing they can’t ruin. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who want more government intervention in their lives, and think that there will be so many positive outcomes. Sickening.
Steve Wino says
Don’t be dramatic with the “government is out of control” shtick. No, some people who work in government apparently don’t understand that rules should not be applied arbitrarily and that their authority, assuming they really had it, comes with discretion. As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” You can find people who screw things up in all walks of life. Without government regulation, I could build a garbage dump next to your home. You wouldn’t be happy with that would you?
Cochino says
Look at all those miserable Scandinavians. Lives ruined…happily.
Mike says
If you read through to to the end, you discover that the crisis turned out pretty much the way it should have – the police were called, they shut down the inspector, not the party and the local council member is initiating an investigation of the Health Department and their actions in this case – sounds to me like you had an overenthusiastic bureaucrat who’s going to get a lesson on the scope of his/her powers. While I’m sure the entire event was pretty stressful, the reporting is a bit breathless and tea-party-ish . . .
briney says
Yes, you do have the option to not let an un-invited person onto your property. Most of our inspectors give me a card and ask permission to enter the kitchen. If they don’t, I ask them for id etc. I’m sure things are a little more “frontier justice”-like in NV, but it is still the US. the end of this story is what I’ve have heard happen many times when an inspector crosses the line..
Aaron says
This is indeed a tale of an over-zealous individual, not “government out of control!” Sometimes, the over-zealous nature of the individual overshadows the rational and positive intent of the rules.
2 weeks ago I received a call from someone at the ODA offices in Salem. We did not reapply (and re-pay) for one of the ODA licenses we previously had to sell our pork at the farmers market because our inspector said that the newly-gained Processors license (required for curing & processing meat in an ODA-licensed kitchen) superseded the original. The clerk leaving the message was extremely aggressive, citing penalties & fees we would be facing, along with the prospect of having the ODA shut down our entire business. After waiting a couple hours to calm down from what I perceived as a very threatening call, I contacted our inspector who promised to look into it. I then called the clerk back & left a message explaining the situation and very politely letting them know that I did not appreciate the threatening tone of the message.
Conclusion: the inspector apologized for feeding us incorrect information (we do need both licenses) and assured me that there would be no late fee or penalty assessed due to the misunderstanding on her part. I later received an apology from the clerk who said that there was no intention of being threatening, and that the message had been modified for future calls to avoid the same misunderstanding.
Sometimes, we ALL need to take a deep breathe before reacting, and try to have some perspective/understanding that others are just trying to do their best in their own situations. While I’m not happy to be shelling out another couple hundred dollars for another license, I’d sure as heck rather have the licensing/inspection system in place than allow anyone to sell anything, regardless of how it’s made or how safe it might be!
PDX2CDG says
Bravo