I can't believe this!!
This is happening way too much in this country, government regualtions putting good solid businesses out of work.
The food board has made policies that are meant for Loblaws and expect small time bakers and Church bake sales to follow them....
You'd think the Tories would step in on this one!!!! I know I've asked them too!!
RENFREW -- A decision by a local family bakery to shut down this Saturday rather than implement up to $100,000 in upgrades ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has the whole town frosted.
According to a CFIA Fair Labelling Practices inspection report signed by retail food officer Kazimierz Wszol, the Renfrew Home Bakery's multitude of products lack "mandatory labelling information."
"A label on the principal display panel must have a common name, net weight declaration in metric units of measure, and the name and address of your store." In addition, a nutrition facts table will soon be mandatory, Wszol advised.
Bakery co-owner Pam Power said she was told all of the bakery's recipes will have to be professionally certified to CFIA satisfaction. That could cost as much as $800 per recipe. Pam and her husband Rick use up to 300 recipes. When they added those costs to the price tag for new labelling equipment and other improvements, they came up with $100,000.
'HOMESTYLE'
The Powers were even told they couldn't advertise the traditional term "home-made" because their products aren't made at home. They could, however, call them "homestyle."
Pam said the store has never had a complaint about packaging, description of contents, weights or quality. A log is kept of all ingredients and customers are informed of them upon request; weights aren't uniform because products are individually made by hand, causing minor discrepancies which customers never mention.
Pam said customers have been coming in all week to purchase souvenirs and to tell her and husband Rick how sad they are to see them go.
Long-time customers such as Connie Roffey are incensed.
"What right does the government have to tell us what to eat?" Roffey asked. "Shall we only eat what comes in a can or a box from the freezer loaded with preservatives?"
NO PLAN TO CLOSE
While the bakery has been up for sale for three years, the Powers had no intention of closing shop and were training a young employee for a possible takeover.
But the sudden appearance of the CFIA inspector to tell them they were in contravention of a 35-year-old law was the last straw. Pam said it became clear they couldn't do the work necessary to meet a Jan. 1 compliance deadline while also dealing with the Christmas baking rush, so they decided to pull the plug.
"I don't want to turn over money we saved for retirement and to put the kids through school to satisfy more government regulations," Rick said, adding that he and Pam work 18-hour days in the bakery.
Area MP Cheryl Gallant, MPP John Yakabuski and Renfrew Mayor Sandi Heins have all intervened and hope something can be done to save the bakery which has been operating for 35 years on Argyle St.
Heins said that while rules are necessary, they should be applied to small businesses in a realistic way. Belleville-based CFIA retail food inspector John Singleton couldn't explain why Renfrew Home Bakery would suddenly be visited except that the agency is gradually, based on manpower availability, bringing small businesses to the same level of labelling and packaging compliance as larger businesses, and that no exceptions can be made.
This is happening way too much in this country, government regualtions putting good solid businesses out of work.
The food board has made policies that are meant for Loblaws and expect small time bakers and Church bake sales to follow them....
You'd think the Tories would step in on this one!!!! I know I've asked them too!!
RENFREW -- A decision by a local family bakery to shut down this Saturday rather than implement up to $100,000 in upgrades ordered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has the whole town frosted.
According to a CFIA Fair Labelling Practices inspection report signed by retail food officer Kazimierz Wszol, the Renfrew Home Bakery's multitude of products lack "mandatory labelling information."
"A label on the principal display panel must have a common name, net weight declaration in metric units of measure, and the name and address of your store." In addition, a nutrition facts table will soon be mandatory, Wszol advised.
Bakery co-owner Pam Power said she was told all of the bakery's recipes will have to be professionally certified to CFIA satisfaction. That could cost as much as $800 per recipe. Pam and her husband Rick use up to 300 recipes. When they added those costs to the price tag for new labelling equipment and other improvements, they came up with $100,000.
'HOMESTYLE'
The Powers were even told they couldn't advertise the traditional term "home-made" because their products aren't made at home. They could, however, call them "homestyle."
Pam said the store has never had a complaint about packaging, description of contents, weights or quality. A log is kept of all ingredients and customers are informed of them upon request; weights aren't uniform because products are individually made by hand, causing minor discrepancies which customers never mention.
Pam said customers have been coming in all week to purchase souvenirs and to tell her and husband Rick how sad they are to see them go.
Long-time customers such as Connie Roffey are incensed.
"What right does the government have to tell us what to eat?" Roffey asked. "Shall we only eat what comes in a can or a box from the freezer loaded with preservatives?"
NO PLAN TO CLOSE
While the bakery has been up for sale for three years, the Powers had no intention of closing shop and were training a young employee for a possible takeover.
But the sudden appearance of the CFIA inspector to tell them they were in contravention of a 35-year-old law was the last straw. Pam said it became clear they couldn't do the work necessary to meet a Jan. 1 compliance deadline while also dealing with the Christmas baking rush, so they decided to pull the plug.
"I don't want to turn over money we saved for retirement and to put the kids through school to satisfy more government regulations," Rick said, adding that he and Pam work 18-hour days in the bakery.
Area MP Cheryl Gallant, MPP John Yakabuski and Renfrew Mayor Sandi Heins have all intervened and hope something can be done to save the bakery which has been operating for 35 years on Argyle St.
Heins said that while rules are necessary, they should be applied to small businesses in a realistic way. Belleville-based CFIA retail food inspector John Singleton couldn't explain why Renfrew Home Bakery would suddenly be visited except that the agency is gradually, based on manpower availability, bringing small businesses to the same level of labelling and packaging compliance as larger businesses, and that no exceptions can be made.
