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Groups may be hit with sausage sizzle fee

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Wed, 01 Feb 2012 9:40a.m.

A school would have to sell 40 extra sausages to cover the council costs

A school would have to sell 40 extra sausages to cover the council costs

Not-for-profit groups in Dunedin could soon be hit with a levy if they want to hold sausage sizzles.

Dunedin City Council is looking to charge schools, clubs and other not-for-profit organisations $16 to register their sausage sizzles, as a way to meet the cost of policing food safety standards.

However, Green Island School principal Steve Hayward says the extra charge is unjustified and the health risk from pre-cooked sausages is minimal.

"I've probably sold more than 15,000 [sausages] in the last eight years and never had one complaint about sickness. I just see this being over-compliance again," Mr Hayward told Radio New Zealand.

He said the school would have to sell 40 extra sausages to cover the council costs.

The money raised from sausage sizzles is used to buy books for the school library and to send pupils away on camps.

The final council report recommending the changes will be released tomorrow.

It will be discussed by a council committee next week.

NZN

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Comments

02 Feb 2012 10:44a.m.

Steps wrote:


"Dunedin City Council is looking to charge schools,.... as a way to meet the cost of policing food safety standards."

Anyone had a food inspection at a charity sizzle?
And what are the current cost to the council for these?
If anything?
And how many sizzles would be in a yr in Dunedin, who many inspections? At $16 per sizzle..how does this relate to the current cost, if any?
Surely these are the questions that should be asked of the council.
Do the council inspectors work on the weekends when most of these sports type fundraisers take place...?



01 Feb 2012 05:52p.m.

cyril wrote:

@lulu Where did you come from. I have never heard of anyone getting food poisioning from a sausage sizzle. I come from a small community and my wife has done dozens of sausage sizzles to raise funds for the local school,kindy,pool and guides. Many of these sizzles wouldnt sell more than 40 and rarely over a hundred sausages, this rubbish will destroy any profit these events raise. It may not be much but every bit helps. This has very little to do with public safety.

01 Feb 2012 04:18p.m.

Onree wrote:

I've been fearing this. I believe we will now be plagued with 'hit and run' sausage attacks, where de-registered vans sporting tinted windows will drive into crowded areas, with occupants hurling semi-warmed pre-cooked sausages into the gathering horde, taking any donations they can through a ingenious funnel device, which would be capable of sucking in coins, wallets, engagement ring stones and untied shoes in a mad bid to raise money for a primary school trip to Science Alive.

01 Feb 2012 03:15p.m.

Ruz wrote:

There is bugger all difference between having a fry up at a school fair and throwing a few on the barbie in your back yard. I can't see any difference between the potential health risks under either scenario. On the other hand the DCC needs to generate as much money as it can to pay for the new stadium, a potential white elephant if ever there was one.

01 Feb 2012 02:10p.m.

lulu wrote:

If you deal in food, for fundraising or for commercial reasons, it's your lawful duty to comply with food regulations. I don't want to be the ONE person served at a sausage sizzle to get food poisoning. I want to know that the charity or school holding the sausage sizzle cares enough to be compliant. It's not a good issue to bandy about- food poisoning has some terrible consequences. If schools can't afford to pay the compliance fee- they shouldn't be holding the sausage sizzle in the first place.

01 Feb 2012 01:58p.m.

Richard wrote:

Unfortunately this is the tip of the iceberg all joking aside if the new Food bill, replacing the food act 1981, become law, and this is looking very likely, (see http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/) sausages sizzles, farmers markers, food stalls, bring and buy food tables, small producer gate sales and the like will become a thing of the past unless they follow stringent and expensive food regulation programmes,are registered and have a permit. The Food Bill 160-2 will seriously impede initiatives like community gardens, food co-ops, heritage seed banks, farmers markets, bake sales, roadside fruit & vegetable stalls, and food fun rasing events.
All the Dunedin Council are doing is putting in place a cost recovery for the up and coming law change –The system and inspectors ( food police) will need to be paid for .
A petition against this needs 50,000 and currently has 3,9600 http://www.petitiononline.co.nz/

01 Feb 2012 10:28a.m.

don wrote:

good on you , Dunedin you could go further, and insist that Boy Scouts and the like appoint an FSO (Food Safety Officer) who would be responsible for this area - and he would be charged with submitting a sample of the proposed wares to the FSVD (Food Safety Verification Department) for approval (along with the appropriate fees , of course). Since this is going to be a very busy part of council operations, I suggest a turnaround of around 21 working days would be reasonable. I suspect the salary of the Manager of the FSVD would need to be in line with normal local body guidelines, ie no more than $135,000 pa(double if the local body is a SuperCity, because.. well, its bigger, innit)