Church of England Bans Jam and Marmalade from Fetes
October 7, 2012 5 Comments
Why? Because of new food hygiene rules.
They have been a staple of church fetes for centuries, and a vital source of parish funds, but jams and marmalades have now been deemed too dangerous for sale.
The Church of England has written to parishes warning them that conserves should not be sold in jars that have been previously used because of new food-hygiene regulations.
“You can re-use jam jars at home, and you can use them for private gifts to friends; what you are not allowed to do is to make jam, put it in re-used jam jars, then either sell it or even give it away at a public event,” warned the circular from the Churches’ Legislation Advisory Service.
It added: “This looks like a spoof, but it’s not. We contacted the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and were told that this is, in fact, the case.”
About Fr Stephen Smuts
Why do I suspect this regulation stems from the EU?
Why do I suspect the same thing?
The EU is atheistic and antichrist. No surprise that the Church of England, like so many other state churches, is willing to bend over for it! Down with atheism and its bastard ideologies!
One should always beware of stories like this in the anti-EU press. If one looks a little deeper, what one will find is that there is EU legislation applicable to those who by way of business import, process, or manufacture foodstuffs which is sold in the EU. It is perfectly ordinary and necessary legislation. Then there is non-statutory guidance produced by the UK Food Standatds Agency. That is referred to in the Article. Finally there is an interdenominational consultancy called “The Churches’ Advisory Service” which provides guidance to churches on legislative issues. Some of its Pulications can be found here: Churches’ Legislaitive Advisory Service Publications
Assuming you are not interested in issues relating to chancel repairs, may I suggest you scroll down and look at the CLAS Checklist for an “occasional event” – 10 pages or so of do’s and don’ts – mainly written from the viewpoint of a liability insurer – but still common sense.
The EU web portal has a useful little page: EU Myths and the answer to to this particular myth is given:
“EU Regulations on the hygiene of foodstuffs only concern food businesses. The occasional handling, preparation, storage and serving of food by private persons at events such as church, school or village fairs are not covered by the scope of the Regulation. Therefore agricultural shows are free to go on having traditional cake exhibitions and competitions.”
So the common sense answer to the issue of jams or cakes or other food produced for the occasional event by volunteers is that it is not produced by way of business.
But the organisers of the event would be well advised to have to ensure their event insurance cover covers liability for food poisoning.
On Radio 4 today I head someone from the Food Standards Agency point out that these regulations have been around for some years and while they technically apply to glass containers, the fact that glass is one of the most inert substances ever discovered means that in practical terms the regulations are not relevant. He also observed that to date there have been no legal actions against any church, WI, scout group or granny biker clan relating to the sale of preserves in reused glass jars. There was a CLAS spokesman on the same program, who said that they got their information from another advisory body (can’t remember which one). The FSA spokesman suggested that while it is always a good thing to be mindful of the risk of contamination when preparing food, in this case the guidance from both advisory bodies might have been somewhat alarmist.