Health inspectors say no more sweet samples at CNE honey booth
Last Updated: Friday, August 29, 2008 | 8:29 AM ET
CBC News
A food booth at the Canadian National Exhibition is causing concern for Toronto health authorities — not because there's any problem with the food, but because of its location.
The city's health inspector ordered the booth to stop giving out free samples.
Dan Douma runs the controversial booth, where he sells Szabo Queen's finest honey.
"Part of the booth is educational," said Douma. "One of the things we do when we give out the samples is we tell people about how we get the different varieties of honey, and it's also just very difficult to describe the flavour of something like honey. The best way is to let people taste it for themselves."
But health inspectors won't let Douma hand out any more free samples.
Danny Kartzalis of Toronto Public Health says he's worried about people petting animals at the nearby farm exhibit, then touching and eating food.
"Our main goal here is ... to minimize any risk of illness. We do realize that there have been a number of different outbreaks associated with this form of setting," he said.
Kartzalis says he's just following standard procedure.
Many people at the CNE agree with the policy, saying food safety is at the forefront of their minds, especially after the Maple Leaf meat recall.
But beekeepers like Douma say it's a little overzealous, especially since honey is antibacterial.
"We even tried sort of playing that angle," Douma told CBC News. But the health inspector wasn't impressed. "He said we weren't allowed to serve food, so we decided to describe our honey as an antibacterial mouthwash ... He didn't seem too amused."
Douma says the elimination of free samples has hurt business and he has written a letter to the board of health asking it to reconsider.
