Food Safety Rules for Ohio

A Lack of Food Safety Hits the Public Hard

In 2007, food safety regulators in Ohio have come out more than once saying they are seeing more small-time food stands, Amish community members and tiny farms selling homemade goods to the public. The positives are that it is one way to make money for a family and people really seems to appreciate the foods such as pies, cakes, cheeses and canned organic veggies.

The negative are that these are unlicensed and unregulated food businesses. Since the beginning of 2007, there’s been an immense wave of food recalls, food poisoning outbreaks and food-bourn illnesses across the United States. People are nervous about the safety of food products, and government entities are rushing in to clear up the issues.

The problem is that there’s always a risk of food being contaminated or prepared in such a way that makes it unfit for human consumption. No matter how good the regulations or how complete the inspections, just one individual who doesn’t wash his or her hands and then prepares food can spread numerous bacteria to massive amounts of people. That much is clear when you hear about rampant fast food dangers. When you consider unlicensed and unmonitored small-food businesses, the statistics for food illnesses increase.

Food Safety Rules for Ohio: Who Follows Them?

An article in USA Today states that a decent amount of Amish individuals and farmers in Ohio are not following the food safety rules in their state. There are small stands going up all over that sell perishable foods and do not follow food safety regulations.

One story covered in the article reports on one woman selling items such as cheese and meat that were not kept cold. After coming under investigation by food safety regulators, this woman put the foods in an unplugged icebox and adds ice cubes. According to normal Ohio food safety standards, these are not proper food safety techniques. According to most people’s common sense, this is not proper food handling safety in action; yet her customers are angry that she’s even been targeted by safety regulators.

Because the Amish community does not use electricity – such as what might be used to keep foods at safe temperatures - the whole situation has turned into a belief vs. safety issue. But should the public's food safety be neglected because someone does not believe in refrigeration or should all food sellers be treated equally. The answer is probably yes. Food safety is highly important; at the very least all food operations should follow OSHA standard precautions.

The Actual Rules for Ohio

Ohio does not regulate or require licenses for home cooks who sell low-risk of contamination foods such as baked goods. It gets stricter when it comes to canned goods and dairy products though.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture offers links to Ohio food safety laws and they are comparable to most states; covering issues such as food temperature, storage, hygiene and more.

In addition in Ohio, food operators are subject to inspections by food place inspectors from the Ohio Department of Health. Technically many small-time food services such as an Amish women or farm stands should still be regulated by normal standards. If you look at the inspection frequency list for Ohio food service operators, there are various food places noted as needing inspections at least once during each licensing period. Some of these include:

• Your basic commercial restaurant.
• Temporary foods services – such as what you might see at a carnival.
• New food service operations.
• Mobile food operations.
• Vending machines (at least 50 percent of a vendors machines per inspection period).

With the above noted it seems clear that most small time food operations likely do fall under the same food safety rules for Ohio as everyone else.

Various articles have noted that food safety officials want to work with not against smaller food operations in Ohio. However, as the risks for food illness and food contamination become more frequently publicized, it may become necessary for food regulators to shut down small operations that refuse to conform to the safety guidelines – no matter if that’s their belief or not.