And if either of those were the rationale that NYC used for this policy, I might be more understanding. But they did it to ensure that everything sold at a bake sale adhered to certain fairly arbitrary nutritional standards, and it's impossible to verify the nutrition info of a homemade baked good. Which is all well and good, except that I personally believe that a homemade item made with real ingredients beats this any day:
Quote:
Whole corn, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: corn, sunflower, and/or soybean Oil), salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, fructose, sodium diacetate, soy sauce solids (soybean, wheat, salt), onion powder, corn maltodextrin, hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed corn protein, garlic powder, torula yeast, malic acid, extractives of paprika, spices, caramel color, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, dextrose, and natural flavor.
(mmmm...disodium inosinate and guanylate, PLUS hydrolyzed proteins and MSG? Delicious!)
Anyone with nut allergies should, IMO, know better than to purchase bake-sale goods, because of potential cross-contamination (which also exists in some factory-made goods).
And anyone worried about a hair/foreign object should avoid bake sales as well, and ALL processed food in addition (honestly, hairs almost never bother me...I've seen enough research on what is allowable in factory goods to not think they're any better...for example, the following contamination level is allowed in a commercial chocolate bar:
Quote:
CHOCOLATE
• Defect: Insect and rodent filth
• Action level: An average of 60 or more insect fragments and one or more rodent hairs per 100 grams
• Example: A typical chocolate bar is about 60 grams, or 2 ounces. It could have as many as 36 insect fragments and about half a rodent hair and still be sold in supermarkets.
)