Posted: 05.19.2010
Home canners looking to sell their wares at farmers’ markets and church bazaars can now find information online that will tell them how they can do that for the first time under a new Wisconsin law.
They can also comment on temporary regulations and what they would like to see in permanent ones – via letter, email, or at a public hearing Tuesday, May 25, in Madison.
Online information is available at http://www.datcp.state.wi.us. Search “canned food”. A paper copy of the information is available by calling 608-224-4682 or emailing food@wi.gov. Canners can learn what and how much they can sell, where they can sell it, and what labels, signs, testing and record-keeping they need to do. They can also link to extensive information about the actual canning process.
Until now, canned food for sale had to be prepared in a licensed, commercial-grade kitchen. In its recently concluded session, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law allowing home canners to sell up to $5,000 worth of foods that are naturally acidic or made acidic by processing –such as pickles, salsa, and jams and jellies. This law has commonly been called “the pickle bill.”
The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s Food Safety Division will oversee this new program, enacting an “administrative rule” that provides details to put it into practice. Because putting administrative rules in place usually takes up to 18 months, the Department enacted a temporary “emergency rule” that allows home canners to begin selling their products this growing season.
Meanwhile, department staff will begin the longer administrative rule process. In addition to comments on the requirements already enacted in the emergency rule, the Department is also looking for input on what else the permanent rule should address:
- Are there other types of small-scale food production besides acidic foods that should be exempt from licensing?
- If so, what foods and under what conditions?
- If not, why not?
- Should food processors who claim exemption from licensing be required to register so that farmers’ market operators and others can verify their status?
The public can comment in four ways:
- Attend the May 25 hearing, open from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the State Agriculture Building, 2811 Agriculture Drive, Madison, and give either oral or written comments.
- Email written comments to debbie.mazanec@wi.gov.
- Mail written comments to DATCP-DFS, ATTN Debbie Mazanec, P.O. Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911.
- Online – request the link by emailing food@wi.gov.
The deadline for written or online comments is Monday, June. 7.
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