Texas Health Authorities vs. Sisters’ Lemonade Stand
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Should these kids have to adhere to vending rules?
The latest threat to Texas public health is the lemonade stand of two elementary school girls from Overton—at least according to Department of State Health Services (DSHS) food establishment regulations.
Local law enforcement shut down the 7- and 8-year-old sisters’ illicit lemonade operation, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported, citing their need for a Rusk County health permit.
Instead, the girls will fund their Father’s Day water park trip exploiting a loophole letting them give lemonade away for donations, though that won’t stop DSHS tightening its administrative actions.
“It’s time to regain some common sense in our food system,” Judith McGeary, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance executive director, said in a statement. “It does not make our food supply safer to have the agency keep adding more and more regulations that keep kids from traditional activities and drive small-scale, local producers out of business.”
Proposed DSHS regulations would require the ground underneath the lemonade stand be graded for proper drainage, the lemonade preparation area be enclosed with walls or screens and a way to heat water on site, according to the local food advocacy group.
Texas’ legislature passed the Cottage Food Law to allow certain nonhazardous foods made in home kitchens to be sold without being subject to DSHS actions, but foods that must be kept cold like lemonade aren’t covered. And the new DSHS proposals would cut into cottage foods, according to the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance.
Overton’s city government waived the $150 fee for the sisters’ lemonade stand to be permitted but insisted department officials inspect things.
"I think this was just a happenstance thing and not something our police do everyday," City Manager Charles Cunningham told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "I'm 72 years old, and when I was a kid, no one gave something like this a thought, but over time, they are placing restrictions on everything."
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