“They might choose to license temporary events, which the state does not do,” Smith said. “They may choose not to allow homesteads. Some of that is because they are making that choice for food safety-related reasons. It could have to do with zoning — there could be many reasons why they choose to have different regulations.”
Manchester Alderman Crissy Kantor dubbed the situation a “geography of fairness problem.”
“If you can pickles or jams in Hooksett or Auburn, you’re an entrepreneur — you do it right over the border or 3 miles away in Manchester, you’re a rule breaker,” Kantor said. “Is the air in Manchester somehow more dangerous for pickles and jams? I don’t think so. We’re told this is about food safety, but that implies the rest of the state is running some kind of culinary wild, wild west.”
State Rep. Catherine Sofikitis, D-Nashua, said the state should do everything in its power “to stand with people who want to have this kind of food available to the public.”
“You know, people are going hungry, there’s going to be more supply issues and I think that we need to do everything as a community in this state to encourage farm-to-table food,” Sofikitis said.
Nashua Deputy Health Officer Michael McGuinness said the Gate City does not allow for homestead foods to be served to the public. McGuiness testified against the bill, saying it doesn’t allow for local control to ensure the facility has the “appropriate equipment and use of space” for the sanitary and safe production of food for distribution.
State Rep. Barbara Comtois, R-Barnstead, asked McGuiness if he thinks it’s fair to allow certain residents to follow state law as outlined on the state website, and Nashua residents may “think that they’re following the law because they’re following state law but now you’re saying, ‘No, you have to follow Nashua law.’”
“Do you think it’s fair that people have to go and research all that, that there should be one set of standards for most of the people in New Hampshire, and then Nashua gets to set a whole separate set of standards?” Comtois asked. “Do you think that is fair?”
“I think it’s confusing and annoying for many,” McGuiness said.
State Rep. Kevin Scully, R-Nashua, asked McGuiness if the fact that only two people in Nashua — a city with 7% of the state’s population living in it — are trying to produce items under the homestead law is an indication the ordinances in the Gate City “may be so onerous that they’re actually discouraging the starting of private little businesses?”
“It’s entirely possible,” McGuiness said. “I have a suspicion that a lot more goes on that we don’t know about.”
Dining and Cooking