Senate Bill 1004 would exempt restaurant gardens, farmers markets from certain health department rules.
An Arizona state senator wants to prune health regulations on gardens for local produce retailers, restaurants and entrepreneurs.
Senate Bill 1004 would exempt whole fruits and vegetables from rules regarding food processing, storage, handling, service and transportation if the produce was grown in a home garden, a food establishment garden or offered at a farmers market.
Republican state Sen. David Farnsworth of Mesa, one of the bill’s sponsors, wants fewer government regulations and more opportunities for small, independent businesses and entrepreneurs. The bill has bipartisan support; Democratic state Sen. Steve Farley of Tucson is a co-sponsor.
Farnsworth says he has received positive feedback about the proposal, though he knows some people might question any loosening of rules. “People are too fearful and assign the government too much responsibility to protect us from the cradle to the grave,” he says.
The bill would make Arizona friendlier to the production and sale of food, he argues.
“It would give a lot of people the opportunity to start something or even supplement their income,” Farnsworth says. “It would also open the door to entrepreneurs.”
According to Farnsworth, there’s some uncertainty among local food retailers about county health department codes regulating the production and sale of fruits and vegetables.
And that creates a tendency for consumers and businesses to be dependent on “big manufacturers and name-brand things and not from local growers, because there’s a big question mark in the public’s mind as to whether it’s legal or not,” he says.
Will Humble, who served as director of state health services from 2009-2015 under the previous governor, says health codes for food retailers are decentralized, leaving it up to counties to create their own food safety standards.
Humble, who now works for the University of Arizona’s Center for Population Science and Discovery, says the idea behind Senate Bill 1004, from a public health perspective, is to provide incentives and access for people to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
“That’s important because the public health crisis of our time is obesity, which is a result of a combination of a lack of physical activity and poor nutrition,” he says. “We need to find a way of changing the way people think about their food. To me, I think it’s a good thing.”
