Just two weeks after the Times pointed the spotlight on the Greenpoint Food Market, a kind of weekly DIY bazaar for homemade goodies in a church in Brooklyn, the Dept. of Health told the organizer, Joann Kim, that they would be enforcing food handling rules. Meaning, all of the 50 vendors have take food handling courses, get special permits, and make all food in costly commercial kitchens. Basically, they have to go from bake sale to legit (like the Brooklyn Flea). Because of the new requirements, Kim is shutting the operation down for now. She canceled the next event on June 26 and said she'll relaunch if vendors jump through the hoops. However many vendors say the requirements are too costly.
As BP points out, the DOH crack down echos recent moves in 2007 when they regulated the Red Hook Ballfields vendors and just last October the city banned home-baked goods at public school fundraisers.
· Market crash! City scrutiny scuttles Greenpoint food vendor gathering [BP]
[photo credit]