The newest issue to consider is Facebook food safety. With more aspiring home cooks selling their products on private Facebook groups, they manage to dodge the very important food safety laws. These pages can sell wares from eggs and hangi to chowder and baked goods.
As an issue faced in New Zealand, under the New Zealand jurisdiction, the Food Hygiene Regulation says that a business cannot use a domestic kitchen to produce food. However, with a revised Food Act this year, it is said that food will be able to produced at a home kitchen for sale purposes if the food safety risks have shown to be managed.
However not everyone is happy with this change in Food Act. Madethatway founder Becky Williams has spent about NZ$50,000, so that she can create a proper commercial kitchen in her parents’ home so she can properly sell her gluten free food. She believes that cutting these corners will be detrimental to the safety of consumers. She acknowledges that the proper way is expensive but it is also the safest way.
Currently, more than 10,000 people use private Facebook groups to search for good deals on homemade meals. While there was nothing prohibiting people from using Facebook to sell their wares the vendors needed to be licensed, hold a food safety certificate and either cook in a commercial kitchen or have an exemption from the Ministry or the council.
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