Ban bake sale fundraisers?

[Lynda/WA]

Some areas are banning bake sale fundraisers. The reasoning is that the items are being baked in homes that don't meet legal standards for cooking. And the items may not be handled by people with the proper food handlers liscences.

What do you think? A ban to protect people or too far?

[Jeff]

I think its right up there with putting a warning label on a cup of coffee.

[TXmom]

I think when you buy items from a bake sale you decide for yourself if you want to take the chance of eating something when you don't know where it came from.

I do know that Wal-Mart won't let you buy cupcake containers from their bakery for this very reason - some schools don't allow home baked goods, and if you put it in a commercial container then it's hard to tell where it came from. Other bakeries like Albertsons will sell them to you though. I like to make big pizza cookies sometimes and I used to get clean, empty boxes from Dominos to put them in - just makes it cuter. I wonder how long before I can't do that anymore, either?

Our school has resorted to only one fundraiser. It's called the Write-A-Check Campaign. Instead of having the kids sell stuff, the parents just make a donation to the PTO at the beginning of the year. Of course we still have book fairs and lots of community partner programs (with the grocery stores and other area businesses, Campbell's soup, etc.).