Posted on 03/15/2009 10:27:50 AM PDT by Glenn
ROCHESTER TWP. — Louis Slima looked over the apple, cherry and blueberry pies lining the dessert table at St. Cecilia’s Friday fish fry, trying to pick the best one.
The trouble was, Slima, 60, of New Sewickley Township, wanted homemade raisin pie, which for years has been one of his favorites at the event.
“This is the only time of year that I get them, during the Lenten season,” Slima said.
Not anymore. On Feb. 27, a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspector stopped for an annual inspection at St. Cecilia’s kitchen in Rochester Township. The kitchen was spotless. But across the hall, the inspector caught sight of something troubling: women slicing pies, preparing to serve them to the public.
The inspector asked whether the pies had been baked in the church kitchen. They weren’t.
Chris L. Ryder, spokesman for the department, said the church was informed that since the pies didn’t come from an inspected, licensed kitchen, they couldn’t be served, according to Pennsylvania food code. Church-baked or store-bought pies are OK.
“Not only pies, but things that have been jarred at home or self-butchered meat, that type of thing,” Ryder said.
Any church, fair vendor or fire hall with a temporary food license serving the public on more than three occasions must be inspected each year. The agriculture department works with the state health department to perform inspections.
St. Cecilia’s is among many churches that host fish fries during Lent, a great fundraiser.
The Rev. Mike Greb said that for years, church women, many retired, have baked and donated pies for St. Cecilia’s dinners. Everything from coconut creme and apple strudel to pecan and lemon meringue pies poured in, and were their way of contributing. Greb said he sees both sides and understands the state is following procedure, but he also understands why the women are feeling as if the state overreacted.
“These women are master bakers and cooks … now their kitchens are suddenly suspect. Suddenly it’s considered dangerous.”
Ryder said that if the inspector hadn’t happened to see the women cutting the pies, the department wouldn’t have raised the question.
During St. Cecilia’s checkup, the inspector also took issue with a tray of covered pirogi left on a counter overnight.
Marlene Kislock, head of the kitchen, said the cooked pirogi were left out to cool and forgotten. They were later thrown out, she said.
St. Cecilia’s is the only venue recently warned, but Ryder said there were 16 instances last year in which temporary licensees received warnings.
For Slima, who ended up taking home a slice of blueberry pie, it was the homemade raisin pie he really wanted, whether it was carried or dragged in on the floor, he said. “A cup of coffee and raisin pie is just, whoa,” he said. “I miss that now.”
Lent will never be the same.
We’re from the government and we’re here to help you.
The “Department of Food” is an inevitability if the political class is to achieve total dominance over the population.
I’ve been to more than my share of put luck dinners. Many times I didn’t serve myself from a particular dish simply because I had already visited the home of whoever prepared the dish.
Just imagine what can be accomplished with 250,000 more bureaucrats! I can’t wait for Obama’s stimulus plan to kick in, can you? /s/
The inmates are now running the asylum
>> We’re from the government and we’re here to help you.
You beat me to it! Damn Gummn’t a$$holes.
GMTA! (Great minds...)
“Many times I didn’t serve myself from a particular dish simply because I had already visited the home of whoever prepared the dish.”
LOL!!! There was a family at my church in Dallas who insisted on bringing food from their VERY UNSANITARY kitchen. One year at a Christmas Party they brought a bag of salad... a ROACH crawled out... the hostest saw it and dropped the whole mess on the floor - so it HAD to be trashed! UGH!!! We DID know where the good food came from!
Lent will never be the same.
That's because Lent is a Christian celebration and not one for "Zer0" or his pals and family.
Food Police - Gardening ping
I would not buy a pie or any home prepared food from somebody I didn’t know. For all I know their “children”, meaning pets, have free run of the kitchen. I’ve seen it. No thank you.
On the other hand it should be up to the consumer, not some nanny government agency.
.
In my state, Michigan, wild game dinners are common fundraisers at sportsman's clubs.
Fish and game cooked by members, served to the public.
Money collected is considered donations because wild game can't be bought or sold.
> Marlene Kislock, head of the kitchen, said the cooked pirogi were left out to cool and forgotten. They were later thrown out, she said.
Crikey! What a shameful waste! In my household there’s nothing much better than a plate of cold leftover pirogi for a midnite snack. Even if they were a day old...
Jolly bureaucrats! Why couldn’t the women just have a waiver form signed by the buyers of the pies, then everyone ought to be happy, no?
> I would not buy a pie or any home prepared food from somebody I didn’t know. For all I know their “children”, meaning pets, have free run of the kitchen. I’ve seen it. No thank you.
I understand the sentiment, but... would you buy a pie or food from say a diner that you’d never visited before?
Of course you would. How is that different?
Well..since the pies couldn’t be served because of the overzealous food inspector, perhaps the guests could express their opinions by hitting the inspector with about 25 pies!
There’s a certain justice in that.
The small distinction is that diners are inspected and I doubt that many of them have pets running loose in the kitchen.
I miss the pirogis I used to buy in Brooklyn...could you possibly give me your pirogi recipe?
Thanks,
Ed
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