The Raopud City Journal Editorial Board

THE ISSUE: Regulation of farmers markets.

OUR VIEW: State health inspectors should make rules for local food vendors easy to find and to follow, benefitting consumers and our economy.

The juxtaposition of two food-related events this month in Rapid City caught our attention: a Local Foods Summit on July 12 and a surprise state health inspection at the Black Hills Farmers Market on July 16.

Dakota Rural Action and others promoted the local foods movement in the Black Hills at an event that featured Deborah Madison, a nationally-known cookbook author and guru to locavores - people who want to eat seasonal, healthful and locally grown foods whenever possible instead of foods shipped from far away that contain a much bigger carbon footprint.

Days later, a state health inspector visited the local farmer's market that sets up on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at Founders Park on West Omaha to educate vendors there on laws governing the sale of prepared foods. But some vendors and customers found the surprise visit confusing, intimidating and troublesome.

Regulations to protect the public's food safety are necessary, of course, even at small community-run farmers markets. Tomato-based foods, particularly canned products with the threat of botulism that improper canning techniques pose, require compliance with certifications designed to protect public health.

But those regulations should not be an undue burden on small vendors that do more to scare off customers than to promote an important and growing segment of the local food economy.

Ironically, the reason many consumers flock to farrners markets is because they worry about the safety and security of national and international food sources. Recent health scares involving spinach, sprouts, tomatoes, peanuts and more are proof that those fears are well founded.

Or, as Black Hills Farmers Market director Leonard Novak says, "Everybody who comes knows this stuff is made at home. That's why they're coming here - and why they keep coming back."

The Black Hills Farmers Market has struggled over the years to find the right spot to grow in Rapid City. We're not sure that Founders Park is necessarily it, either. But we are sure that wherever a local foods movement manages to plant itself and blossom, the state heath department should water it with support, respect and cooperation.

That includes providing farmers markets and their vendors with easy-to-find and easy-to-follow rules and regulations about food preparation and sales.