By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. Pat Quinn attended Agriculture Day at the Illinois State Fair to sign into law three ag-related bills, including Senate Bill 840 – which establishes guidelines for private citizens who wish to sell baked goods and other safe food products made at home, at farmers’ markets and other community events.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. David Koehler (D-Peoria), requires makers of homemade jams, jellies, breads and other non-hazardous food products to undertake and complete the state’s Food Service Sanitation Management certification program before their products can be legally sold to the public.
“This allows people better access to create value-added products for farmers’ market sales. If you are a farmer with fruit trees or strawberries, you can make jams and jellies to sell. You will need a food service license, but you don’t have to own a commercial kitchen,” said Koehler.

“This will help enhance the income for smaller growers. It allows people a lot more flexibility to become entrepreneurs in the agriculture area.”
The bill also requires all products to be accompanied by a label informing the buyer the product was not inspected by any state food agency, explained Koehler, and that state health inspectors retain the right to inspect any home kitchens providing food for sale to the public. Foods disallowed for home kitchen preparation for sale to the public include those that contain meat, uncooked eggs or uncooked dairy or need to be stored at controlled temperatures.

“Even with these health-based restrictions in place, we’ve given local farmers new opportunities and opened the door to new vendors,” Koehler said.
The bill has the support of the Illinois Farmers Market Network (IFMN), according to its coordinator, Patricia Stieren. IFMN is supportive of the bill in part because of “inconsistencies” in enforcement of regulations by local health departments from county to county, that will be resolved, Stieren said.
Koehler said that concern was a major catalyst in his decision to sponsor SB 840. “Hopefully the bill will help resolve that issue,” he said. “It sets down regulations that all health departments now have to abide by.

“As someone who participates in a lot of farmers’ markets – I own a bakery and produce organic breads for farm markets – I know that each county had its own interpretation of what to do. Some have very stringent fines and requirements and some don’t. There is a lot of work to do to get some uniformity in how farmers’ markets are (regulated).”

Addressing uniformity in the areas of fines, regulations and record-keeping was the impetus behind SB 1852, which was also signed by Quinn during the ceremony at the fair. The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. David Luechtefeld (R-Okawville), creates a task force to advise and assist the Illinois Department of Public Health in developing statewide administrative regulations for farmers’ markets.

A third piece of legislation Quinn signed requires the state to craft a plan to increase ag-related tourism in Illinois.