good grief!!!

That is a prime example of why I do NOT want to get into the "value added" spectrum of marketing,

Our nation refuses to regulate the banking industry, yet wants to over regulate the farming industry.

That is unbelievable!!!

Last year in November we had a group plan a park cleanup and were told that we would need a permit to serve chili and soup for the participants.
As each participant arrived they were asked to stir the pot before they got started working. When the inspector arrived as we knew he would everyone there had participated in making the soup and we were able to just smile and sent him away.
.

Imagine someone coming to your dinner for dozens of people and telling you you have to pour bleach on your food and throw it away! That's government for you.

What a nightmare! But this is the way the system is right now.

There is one thing worse....people who think that rules are rules and should be followed.

I'd like to believe this was the exception, except I've seen too many similar stories. I've run into the same insanity regarding building codes and inspectors.
 

I think the icky chick works for a department that is massively overfunded.  If their funds were cut by, say, a factor of four, then they would only have time to hassle the 25% worst offenders than they are currently hassling.

Gut instinct says that the problem was there were no GMO foods served and that is bad form in the minds of the chemical agri/business industry.  Lobbying and campaign contributions don't all go to the big shots. 

I suspect there is a local back story here that we don't know about - previous disagreements?. As far as I can tell, the local newspapers are not on this story.

That doesn't excuse what happened, the regulators who instigated this are clearly lacking an important common sense linkage. Rules whose intent is to ensure that public food transactions don't endanger purchasers should not be applied to private events. But maybe the fact that there was a charge for the dinner made it a public event under the applicable rules.

Harvest dinners celebrating local food are becoming more common, and most of them do charge. A cautionary tale...

I think the Bledsoes and their customers acted very well in this trying situation - the health department folks not so much. It sounds as if changes will be afoot, and that is a good thing.

There is always a back story. If you are a critical thinker, you can see how any story in the media is slanted one way or another. But, from what I can see, the stories about what's happening with our good fresh food being attacked is largely ignored. The stories that do show up are usually about how bad vitamins are for you.

"But, from what I can see, the stories about what's happening with our good fresh food being attacked is largely ignored."

Oh yeah, the mainstream media attitude is corporate-oriented. Hey, the real experts all work for food and/or pharmaceutical companies, when they're not taking a sabbatical working for the gov. So you should just close your eyes, open wide, and swallow. But Mark Bittman of the NYT is starting to highlight these issues, and several videos of similar events to this one have gone viral, so I think a real public discussion is on the horizon. Unfortunately, you can't turn a juggernaut on a dime.