California woman faces possible jail time for selling signature dish online

This is a classic case of not reading up on the state laws on selling food to consumers.

You can sell recipes to anyone and its legal, when it comes to food you can guarantee it comes with some sort of permit.

The law does not consider ignorance as an excuse for being negligent.

Hey, everyone here who thinks regulating food stops people from getting ill...Here in Britain restaurants and takeaways actually have a rating. From 1 to 5 and even if they are a 1, they are still selling, it is just displayed on their shop window.

How often do people get ill from 'illicit' [haha] home cooking, compare to getting ill from shop-bought food? I'd like to see a comparison, but I suspect that restaurant food is still far more 'dangerous' than anything cooked at home.

I personally would never buy anything from a stranger on the internet but from those that do, how many have died recently?

I don't care if she sold fish or cakes, I don't care if one is more deadly than the other. In the end I thought grown up people can make up their own mind. I didn't know that we are thought of as so incredibly stupid that we need a government to tell us what we should or shouldn't do.

It's called personal responsibility.

But the worst thing is that just because you are 'licensed' [oooh - proper] doesn't mean your kitchen is up to scratch and everyone is washing their hands, whilst caring about your health. If you believe that, then you are a total moron.

Do you go to friend's houses for an evening dinner?
Do you go to your parent's house for lunch?
Do you accept your new girlfriend's cooking on your first date at her home?
Do you eat your own food, cooked by yourself in your kitchen?
Do you not think, they should all be licensed and checked by the government?

No?

Neither do I. Now just pretend that awful, guilty, criminally inclined, illegal cooking monster woman is someone you know and leave it at that. Plus if you think it's dangerous eating her stuff...don't buy it. As for litigation, you can blame her if you get ill, but expect someone to remind you that you are an adult with your own brain.

End off.

There is a point of no return.

Restaurants charge for preparing food on a full-time basis. They profit sufficiently to provide a livelihood for those who operate the business. As such, they accept the fact that they must be held to a higher standard for the well-being of the public. An individual who occasionally provides someone with a home-cooked meal is not providing her livelihood from food preparation, is not a major risk to the public at large, and should not be expected to pay the same for permission to do so as a restaurant.

That's called "common sense" around here.

We have reached the point in our society where the most innocent of intentions can be twisted into a crime, with no intent, no malice, no victims... only disapproval from a government gone awry. America was built on a spirit of independence and self-sufficiency. It thrived and prospered. We now base our society on a spirit of fear and control... and we are withering and dying.

We have, I believe, reached our point of no return. I do not know the specifics of this case, nor do I need to know them. What I know, what is apparent from the responses herein, is that we have become a society that must be cared for, that must be protected from even the most innocuous actions by the most harmless among us, and that must be controlled to the point of enforcing an automatron-like life.

That is now who and what we are. I hope we can all find a way to enjoy it. I'll be in my mountain being independent, because I know I won't enjoy anything about such a society.

TheRedneck

What moron doesn't know food is regulated and you need a license to sell food?

But, hey! Let's make excuses for breaking laws and ignorance of law.

originally posted by: Annee
What moron doesn't know food is regulated and you need a license to sell food?

But, hey! Let's make excuses for breaking laws and ignorance of law.

I agree... no one should ever be let off or have excuses made for them if they break the law, and I also agree that ignorance is no excuse... and of course that does mean no one should be let off...

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: Annee
What moron doesn't know food is regulated and you need a license to sell food?

But, hey! Let's make excuses for breaking laws and ignorance of law.

I agree... no one should ever be let off or have excuses made for them if they break the law, and I also agree that ignorance is no excuse... and of course that does mean no one should be let off...

I doubt she'll be executed.

Contaminated food is a huge issue.

One person is never just one person.

a reply to: Hecate666

You can make up your own mind and eat raw fish that you purchased from the internet. No one is saying you can't. You can make up your own mind whether you purchase food in a store or restaurant. No one is forcing you to purchase anything.

I really don't understand why people have a problem with someone being licensed (and everything that this implies) to sell food to the public. How is that hurting you? Trust me, you can buy ceviche from many places if you want it - all licensed. You aren't missing out on anything.

The issue here is the government is not getting a cut of her money. You can do anything you want in America as long as you grease the right gears. Legally or illegally. Its like that kid a while back who was baking muffins to pay for a school trip or something. The government shut him down for operating without a permit.

originally posted by: 3danimator2014
Would you prefer people are able to sell food without any checks? What happens when someone gets sick? I, for one, am happy that anyone selling food has to pass through hoops.

Oh and REALLY quite pathetic to throw in the Clinton comment. What does she have to do with this?

Well fortunately we have freedom of choice here in America. To an extent. If your buying food off Facebook there is a reasonable expectation that it might not have been handled properly. If you want to make sure the food you buy from someone paid for their permits then don't buy from this woman off Facebook.

a reply to: PraetorianAZ

Yep. Basically state-sanctioned racketeering.

Sure, food safety is important but common sense should prevail and the scale of what is occurring should have bearing on the matter and whether or not the State gets involved.

originally posted by: Ksihkehe
a reply to: mobiusmale

This lady was selling raw fish and they were warned to stop. She should not go to jail, but she needs to stop. How would you feel if your loved one died because this irresponsible person didn't want to follow the rules?

If one of my family members were dumb enough to buy food off Facebook then ill just chalk it up as natural selection.

a reply to: kaylaluv

The problem is not someone being licensed. The problem is someone being forced to buy hundreds or thousands of dollars in licensing fees because they want to make $5- $10 selling something to someone who asked to buy it. Do you have any idea how much restaurants pay and deal with to maintain their license? Such a restriction is essentially akin to making swapping food between individuals illegal because they're not wealthy.

What's next? Permits to have friends or family over for dinner? Permits for parents to cook for their children? Licenses and inspections required for all households that have a kitchen?

Those are not strawman arguments. They are logical conclusions based on present actions.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: mobiusmale

originally posted by: Navieko
Unless she was actually making false/misleading claims regarding the product she's selling, good on her for not folding to the stupid laws that say she has to have a freaking permit to sell food. It's right up there with the other ridiculous bureaucratic/socialist laws that say we can't use certain plants, etc.

If people get sick eating her food, then guess what? They'll stop buying her food. Stop treating people like babies and gtf out of our lives.

What's next, SWAT Teams are going to raid Momma's kitchen at dinner time, to make sure that the roast is being served at the Government-mandated ideal temperature?

Is Grandma going to get busted for not properly sanitizing her kitchen counters?

Whats next is soon they wont let us even cook food in our own homes anymore without classes and a permit. They will say its for our own good and we have to buy precooked food at certain government establishments until we can prove we know how to cook. Im calling it now.

a reply to: mobiusmale
Is her recipe "The Grapes of Wrath"?

a reply to: mobiusmale

Should have given them away and accepted donations...

a reply to: TheRedneck

Do you know for sure that she would have to pay the exact same as restaurants? I am wondering if the fees paid are on a sliding scale, based on how many people would be purchasing your food and how often you would be selling it. Selling something a couple times a year would be much different than selling food all day, every day to hundreds of thousands of people. The risks are much greater with a large restaurant, therefore more regulation and monitoring is needed, hence a larger license fee.

a reply to: kaylaluv

I am assuming based on personal experience with permits, that the costs would far exceed the 'profit' involved. There is no mention of a sliding scale, and such an arrangement is certainly not a foregone conclusion.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: PraetorianAZ
Whats next is soon they wont let us even cook food in our own homes anymore without classes and a permit. They will say its for our own good and we have to buy precooked food at certain government establishments until we can prove we know how to cook. Im calling it now.

This is NOT the next thing to happen. This is the kind of ignorance I deal with daily. If you want to chow down on raw chicken that is your right. It is not your right to serve poison to others.

As I already said, should you like to protest government regulation of food and water, feel free to go drink the water in the gutter outside your house. That'll show us fascist health inspectors. Rest assured we'll still be there to do a foodbourne illness investigation to find out why you got sick and even if you die. That's just one of the many things we do.

Hell we should stop testing for HIV in donor blood too. If people don't want HIV they shouldn't get blood transfusions.

Just because you don't know somebody that died from foodbourne illness doesn't change the fact that it happens every day. You're very fortunate to operate under the protection that people like me work to ensure is in place. Every day, without regard for social class or standing, I make sure what you eat and drink is safe.

Thanks for making me seem like a Nazi though. The worst part of my job is that people, the same people we strive to protect, denigrate what we do. I sometimes wonder why we bother.

originally posted by: Annee
What moron doesn't know food is regulated and you need a license to sell food?

But, hey! Let's make excuses for breaking laws and ignorance of law.

Wow you sit high on that horse huh?

How many times have you fed your kids friends? Were you licensed to do that? Why is that ok but as soon as someone gives you 5 bucks you face jail time?

a reply to: kaylaluv

It seems to be a hopeless argument. The anti gub-ment people want a free for all. They conflate federal regulation with the local regulations that are in place to protect them.

Don't bother forcing the local taco truck to get a license. We'll just absorb the 10's of thousands of dollars a year in ER fees in our tax dollars.

We can also just allow septic pumpers to discharge their waste on land right next to water sources. Don't want gub-ment to interfere with their business.

These are the same ass%/es that call me up to complain about what adjacent property owners are doing that they don't like. Than they bitch when the neighbor isn't doing anything against health codes.