Home-cooking hustle folds after Algoma Public Health inspection

A three-year-old private Facebook group has announced it will no longer sell Filipino or Korean food prepared in local home kitchens, after its activities were investigated by Algoma Public Health.

The 1,400-member 'Bayanihan in Sault' members-only Facebook group had been regularly offering Asian delicacies, freshly prepared at private residences across the city.

The dishes usually had to be picked up at an address that was communicated to members by private messages only after they had placed an order.

Algoma Public Health (APH) doesn't allow food to be sold from private residences unless there's been an APH inspection and a permit of approval has been issued.

APH received a complaint about the secretive Facebook group two weeks ago and visited a private home on Atwater Street in the last week.

On Friday, the Facebook group advised its members it will no longer offer home-cooked food or allow online selling.

"It's sad, and we don't know the intention of the complainant who reported to APH," the group said in a Tagalog-language post.

Among Filipinos, 'bayanihan' is a word used to describe a  proud spirit of cooperation and civic unity.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines bayanihan as a "traditional system of mutual assistance in which the members of a community work together to accomplish a difficult task."

"Bayanihan is an ancient island custom, symbolic of cooperative group work," states another definition cited by the same dictionary.

"When I did the bayanihan more than three years ago, it was only exclusive to our small Filipino community and the intention was to help each other in a foreign country," said the announcement posted on Friday by the Facebook group. 

"In small ways we trust one another so we can help our family, newcomers and students to make ends meet."

But beyond offers of philanthropic assistance, in recent months the Sault's bayanihan group has also attracted a dog's breakfast of cash hustles targeting the city's growing Filipino community.

There were pitches for currency exchange, rooms for rent, furniture, an independent ride-share service, tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour performance in Toronto, and someone offering to pick up and forward balikbayan boxes – the corrugated containers used by overseas Filipinos to send gifts expressing appreciation to family members back in the Philippines.

And ads for food.

Dozens of offerings every month selling locally made, home-cooked Filipino dishes such as palabok, barbecued pork, ilocano igado, pork chop lauriat, sisig and cream cheese ensaymada.

There was even Korean-style fermented kimchi for sale.

At least one food vendor selling on the local bayanihan page posted a SafeCheck Advanced Food Safety certificate.

But as of this weekend, the home-cooked meals are no more.

"Now, time is changing as well as the needs of our growing Filipino community," said the Friday announcement from the local Facebook group.

"Now we have to obey the city regulations and that's the proper way. However, bayanihan will never disappear. I will still approve giveaways, those who are selling second-hand and those who want to put up a place for rent or anything that can help the Filipino community, but no more business or online selling and home-cooked food."

Algoma Public Health says anyone cooking from a home kitchen requires at least two things:

• a food safety inspection report of the premises 
• a safe food handler training certificate

A SooToday review of Algoma Public Health inspection reports found no evidence the Atwater Street address had been inspected prior to last week.

Many kinds of food may not be prepared or processed in private home kitchens.

These include: chop suey, dairy products, sprouted seeds, fermented foods, fish or shellfish, and meat or meat products.

The following remarks about home-based kitchens are excerpted from the Algoma Public Health website:

If you are selling food out of your home you are required to have an inspection from Algoma Public Health and a permit of approval.

Buying high-risk foods like curries, meat dishes, meat pies, lasagnas, and other pastas from Facebook auction sites could lead to food poisoning.

Home chefs do not meet the same food safety requirements as an inspected restaurant. In addition to home-sold food being unsafe, it is also illegal to sell uninspected food.

Always buy food from an inspected source. All restaurants have records of their previous inspections.

Algoma Public Health will be following up with unregulated food sales as they become aware of them.

In some cases a home can be altered to allow for the sale of food to the public, however, an inspection of the site is still required.

In addition, home kitchens must meet zoning requirements for their municipality and should have business insurance.