Bill would allow restaurants to serve uninspected poultry

By Terri Hallenbeck
Burlington Free Press Staff Writer
March 23, 2007

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/NEWS02/703230308/1007/NEWS05/

MONTPELIER -- State law doesn't allow Hadley Gaylord to sell his chickens to the American Flatbread restaurant across the road from his farm in Waitsfield. Legislation that won preliminary approval in the House on Thursday would change that.

The change, part of a larger bill designed to help Vermont farmers, would allow farms with fewer than 1,000 birds to sell them to Vermont restaurants without inspection. Restaurants would be required to warn consumers that there is uninspected poultry on the menu and provide information about where it originated.

Farmers like Gaylord say it's a perfectly safe and economical way to sell fresh food, as it's cost-prohibitive for small farms to have their poultry inspected. State officials say they worry that sending uninspected poultry into restaurants poses a health risk.

Sharon Moffatt, acting state health commissioner, said she wouldn't eat uninspected poultry served in a restaurant. It poses increased exposure to bacteria, including salmonella, she said.

Inspection ensures that birds are killed the right way and clear of fecal matter, Moffatt said.

Consumers may buy uninspected poultry directly from farms, Moffatt said, but that allows the consumer to see the operation in person. At a restaurant, the consumer doesn't have that personal knowledge, she said.

Rep. Carol Hosford, D-Waitsfield, contended otherwise. A farmer can't afford not to provide a clean product, she said. "If he made a mistake early on, that would be the end of his ability to sell to restaurants."

Hosford said it's ridiculous that Gaylord can't sell his chickens to a restaurant that's within throwing distance. "The chickens cannot cross the road," she said.

Rep. Dexter Randall, P-Troy, said he has been raising turkeys for 20 years. He can sell directly to consumers, but he's had to turn down requests from restaurants. He argued that small local farms are cleaner than large operations. "The pride they have in the product they're producing is far greater than anything that is commercially grown," he said.

Gaylord said consumers want food from small, local farms. "I think a lot of it has to do with people simply wanting a connection with somebody who's growing a product that isn't raised in a way that those big places do their business," he said. "They like the story that comes with it."

Anson Tebbetts, deputy secretary of Agriculture, said plans to start a mobile slaughterhouse would make it easier and more affordable for farmers to have their poultry inspected, making the change in law unnecessary. "We have an alternative," he said.

Amy Shollenberger, director of Rural Vermont, which is advocating for the legislation, said the mobile units will be helpful but won't meet all the demand. "It's not either/or," she said.

An effort on the House floor Thursday to take out the uninspected poultry provision was defeated 65-22. The overall bill then won approval, 119-0.

The rest of the bill allows for mobile slaughterhouses and calls for studies that look at boosting dairy pricing, lowering farms' workers' compensation costs and increasing the state's purchase of farm-based renewable energy.

"The bill makes the statement that small farms are important to the state, that the state needs to support its own farmers. This bill says it in a very clear and solid way," Shollenberger said.

Contact Terri Hallenbeck at 229-4126 or thallenb@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com