It’s a tradition as American as apple pie: the community bake sale, one of the simplest and tastiest ways to raise cash for a good cause. In an increasingly stressed-out, overbooked, too-busy-to-cook society, bake sales still conjure up warm and fuzzy memories of Mom’s kitchen-and provide a delicious opportunity to sample some homemade treats.
“This being the ’90s, not a lot of moms bake anymore, so it’s wonderful to be able to buy something homemade,” said Susan Kaufmann, chairman of a recent bake sale that raised $5,000 for the Hinsdale Community House. “So many people at our sale told us they were buying pies or cakes to take home to their family.”
But now, in a world in which trick-or-treaters are leery of taking homemade popcorn balls from strangers, in which some schools have banned home-baked birthday cakes and in which municipal governments are consumed with fears of legal liability, it may seem inevitable that at least one local official has brought the issue to a boil.
Bob Mathis, Health Department director for Oak Park, has declared home-baked goodies off-limits at village-sponsored events. Instead, he urges volunteers to sell commercially prepared foods made in kitchens that have been inspected by public health professionals.
As word of the prohibition has spread in the west suburb, Mathis has been the target of what he described as “a flood” of angry calls, many from people who, he says, mistakenly think the village has banned bake sales altogether:
“People have been cursing me out, calling me a Nazi and worse and telling me I’m giving Oak Park a bad name,” said the beleaguered Mathis. “I’m only upholding the Illinois food service and sanitation code, which prohibits the sale of home-prepared foods. I am just doing what every health department should be doing.”
Mathis maintained that, contrary to public perception, his department has not declared war on bake sales in general. “Groups have been selling homemade baked goods in church basements and schools for thousands of years and nobody from the village Health Department has ever contacted them,” Mathis said. “This is a big hullabaloo over nothing.”
But even the suggestion of curbing the sale of homemade comestibles outrages many people. “Next they’ll be going after kids’ Kool-Aid stands,” said Dot Sheehan, a bake sale volunteer at St. Raymond Catholic Church in Mt. Prospect.
Store-bought stuff, Oak Park bake sale proponents argue, doesn’t promote neighborliness and just isn’t the same as homemade.
“You’ve heard of a thousand points of light?” asked Jordan Rifis, a local attorney who was dismayed when he and fellow volunteers at Unity Temple were told to substitute commercially baked cakes at their fundraiser in conjunction with a village festival. “Bob Mathis just put out one of those points.”
According to Shirley Bohm of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Mathis is right about the law. However, Bohm said, in the case of bake sales, cakewalks and other “temporary food service,” state food codes also allow a municipality to waive certain requirements as long as no potentially hazardous foods (such as custard pies, which are particularly prone to spoilage) are involved. Oak Park, for example, allows certain home-baked goods to be sold at a seasonal farmers’ market.
“The rules are written to allow local health departments some latitude,” added Bohm. “It’s a gray area. We would hope that all local health departments enforce the rules in the same way, but in fact, how they interpret them and apply them to bake sales varies from case to case.”
No health officials contacted for this story had ever heard of a case of food poisoning or other health problems directly linked to homemade bake-sale treats.
More Top Picks Best Led Desk Lamps With High Lumens
Most municipal and county governments lean toward a liberal interpretation of the law, either ignoring bake sales completely or using them as an opportunity to educate the public about food safety.
“We get a lot of calls from the public asking if they need a permit to hold a bake sale,” said Dave Barowsky of the DuPage County Health Department’s Environmental Health Division. “They don’t, but when we talk to them we discourage them from preparing cream-filled pastries and tell them that items should be individually portioned and wrapped.”
“Bake sales are technically illegal in Chicago, but from a health perspective they are a very low priority for us,” said Tim Hadac, a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Health. “That’s not to say that we aren’t concerned about food safety, but homemade cookies present a relatively low risk compared to large food vending operations serving chicken, fish and other foods with potential for problems.”
However, Bob Howard, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said that there is “some degree” of legitimate concern about the safety of homemade baked goods because roughly half of the food contamination that occurs in the United States can be traced to food prepared in the home.
Concern about health risks and liability issues possibly posed by lovingly prepared treats is not limited to bake sales.
Patricia Zemba, principal at Ethel Mary Courtenay School in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood, said that because of health concerns students are not permitted to bring food from home for class parties.
“Everything brought in now has to be commercially prepared,” Zemba said. “It’s a shame, in a way, because we used to get some wonderful ethnic dishes.”
Many suburban schools, however, continue to permit home-baked treats. Harry Griffith, superintendent of Lake Forest Elementary School District 67, said that parents often provide homemade goodies for school celebrations.
For many schools, churches, soccer teams and scout troops, selling home-baked treats is one of the best ways to raise much-needed funds.
“The cost is low and the profit margin is high, and it’s something everyone can get involved in,” said Ron Kanzulak, principal of Serena Hills Elementary School in south suburban Chicago Heights.
At Alcuin Montessori School in River Forest, students spent Thursday afternoon making cookies to sell at a bake sale. Previous fundraising attempts, including showing a movie and selling Christmas ornaments, had not been successful, explained Colin Jordan, 12, of Riverside. Now, the children were going the bake sale route under the watchful eye of middle school coordinator John Barone.
Barone, who used to work for the Centers for Disease Control, said that he could understand the concern about homemade baked goods.
“There are a lot of things that could go wrong under certain circumstances,” Barone said. “But we’re not using eggs, and we’re using powdered milk instead of regular milk. And we make sure the kids wash their hands and pull their hair back.”
Meanwhile, back in Oak Park, members of the Oak Park Village Board have yet to become involved in the big bake sale brouhaha. “We’ve been preoccupied with more weighty matters,” said village trustee Bernard Abraham, who also serves as board of health liaison.