The owners of two popular, honor-system food shops in Ellsworth are at odds over a potential food sovereignty ordinance that could allow small-scale food producers to sell directly to consumers, bypassing some state licensing and inspections requirements.
Ellsworth is weighing the adoption of an ordinance that could strip some administrative hurdles for small, local food producers to operate in the city. The move, which would apply to foods produced for home consumption or sold at some community events, could loosen certain strict state conditions like installing a commercial grade kitchen.
As of now, residents can only sell homemade food prepared with shelf-stable items, like baked goods and jams.
If passed, Ellsworth would be one of more than a hundred Maine municipalities with similar ordinances in place. The expansion of the state’s 2017 Food Sovereignty Act allows municipalities to adopt such ordinances, which has already been passed in many Maine communities and others in Hancock County such as Blue Hill, Bucksport and Trenton, among others.
Two already-established Ellsworth food producers, Brenda Ledezma of Momo’s Cheesecakes and Amy Henderson of Lincoln’s Farmstand, don’t quite agree with one another on the idea.
“I think it’s a great idea because not everybody can afford a commercial kitchen,” Ledezma said Friday. “We were lucky, we had a building off the side of our house that we could go into, but not everyone has that. I don’t see a reason why a person couldn’t cook at home and sell to other places and people. I think it’s a great idea.”
But Henderson, a registered dietician and former restaurateur, was far more concerned about the safety risks, like food-borne illnesses, that could arise from relaxed regulations.
The potential ordinance, which is now being researched by city staff, was proposed by local residents Dawn and Rob Hudson, former U.S. Department of Agriculture employees, who run a roadside farm table with free, homegrown vegetables.
The couple, familiar with the hardships brought on by food insecurity from their time with the federal government, want to expand their farmstand to include healthy, organic pre-prepared meals — priced affordably or free when needed.
But in Ellsworth, doing so would cost considerable investment, Dawn Hudson told the City Council.
“What we learned is disappointing: to offer anything that’s not shelf stable, we would need a state licensed commercial-grade kitchen,” Dawn Hudson said. “We would need to either renovate our home to add a separate kitchen because it can’t be our home kitchen, it has to be completely separate for the commercial kitchen license. Or, purchase a food trailer. Either of which would cost tens of thousands of dollars. That expense would make it impractical for us to provide the kind of high quality, affordable food we hoped to offer.”
Henderson pointed to other options. Those who want to cook commercially-regulated meals can rent spaces in community buildings or restaurants, she said.
Ledezma, who runs Momo’s from a self-serve garage on her Main Street property, thinks the ordinance could make it more accessible for people to sell food items from their homes without the financial burden of building a commercial kitchen.
Ledezma spent roughly $5,000 on new sinks and plumbing for her commercial kitchen, she said. She’s limited to bakery items, however, and cannot sell meat or seafood, Ledezma said.
If adopted, the ordinance would not eliminate all state conditions, and meat and poultry items would still be subject to state and federal regulations, according to a city memo.
Henderson, who has operated her Surry Road farmstand for roughly six years and rents a commercial kitchen space at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Ellsworth, is fine with people selling bakery items from their home kitchen. She draws the line at meals.
“It opens up the whole gamut of what you can make without supervision,” Henderson said Friday. “Finding a commercial kitchen was challenging, so it was a barrier to produce meals for a while. [But] I think those barriers are there for a reason — that is a food safety thing.
Henderson — who bakes pies and desserts, foods that aren’t regulated by commercial standards, from her home kitchen — agreed that less regulations could help residents supplement their income by selling food from their home. But the risk to public safety outweighs the pros, she said.
Ledezma also said that if ordinance strips the need for a commercial kitchen, any home kitchen would still need inspections to ensure food isn’t in close contact with animals or other contaminants. Commercial licenses require annual state kitchen inspections.
“As a commercial producer, I’m ethically required to resource products that are regulated,” Henderson added. “It just comes down to food safety. [Someone] down the road who’s making cheese lasagna, even if it’s cheese lasagna — it’s just as dangerous as a meat lasagna if it is sitting on the counter longer than it’s supposed to.”