Man’s Law vs. God’s Law
It has come under discussion that doing good could be against scripture. Specifically, San Diego County does not allow people to give home made food to the public.
Can I sell food I make at home?
No. All food sold or given away to the public must be prepared and stored at a commercial food establishment with a valid public health permit.
Romans 13:1-7 says “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment…”
Therefore, are we in sin because we willinging violate the local laws established by the God appointed authorities? At the same time, are we to submit to tyrants and evil-doers? Were those who helped free slaves, sinning? What about those who resisted the Nazis?
According to the California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law, Division 104 Environmental Health, Part 7 Retail Food, Section 114015 Returned Food/ Food Prepared in Private Homes, Paragraph 4
(4) Nonperishable, prepackaged food maybe given away, sold, or handled from a private home. For puposes of this paragraph only: (A) “nonperishable food” means a food that is not a potentially hazardous food, and that does not show signs of spoiling, becoming rancid, or developing objectionable odors during storage at ambient temperatures; and (B) no food that has exceeded the labeled shelf life date recommended by the manufacturer shall be deemed to be “nonperishable”.
More “facts”…
114015. Returned Food - Food Prepared in Private Homes
(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), a private home shall not be used for the purpose of giving away, selling, or handling food at retail, as defined in Section 113875.113875. Retail
“Retail” means the storing, preparing, serving, manufacturing, packaging, transporting, salvaging, or otherwise handling food for dispensing or sale directly to the consumer.114435. Donations of Food to Charity
Any food facility may donate, free of charge, food to a food bank or to any other nonprofit charitable organization for distribution to persons free of charge.114440. Definition of Nonprofit Charitable Organization
For the purposes of this article, “nonprofit charitable organization” means any organization that was organized and is operating for charitable purposes and meets the requirements of Section 214 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
It could be argued that since we are not “dispensing to the consumer” we are not violating any laws. But is consumer defined as the person eating the food? If so, then we could not feed our families from our own home.
The other issue is, if we are violating the law, are we justified? It’s good to feed the homeless but we don’t have to make burritos to feed them. We could buy pre-packaged food to hand out, but we can make more burritos than we can buy for the same money. But who are we serving then, us or God?
Are Church and private potlucks and parties banned from serving food as well? If I have a barbecue and invite people from down the street to eat could I too be running afoul of the law?
Years ago I once lived near the city of Hemet in Riverside county and the city had planted dozens of orange trees to line the sidewalks, at taxpayer expense I might add. At first people would often collect the fruit as they were passing by. But after a while the city decided to pass a law banning the picking of the fruit on the threat of a fine. After the law passed I recall seeing smashed and rotting oranges all over the sidewalks. But I guess it is more important for the government to assert it’s authority and keep people from eating free food then it is to keep the city clean.
If the food is not being served for profit and people are not regularly getting ill from the food that is being served then the government should keeps it’s hand off.
T. Rios