Food Not Bombs gets served
Sarah Salmonson UNM Daily Lobo
Issue date: 6/8/09 Section: News
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Judge Clay Campbell, district two, granted the New Mexico Environment Department's request for a preliminary injunction against Food Not Bombs on June 1, prohibiting the not-for-profit organization from serving food until they obtain a permit.
According to NMED's request for the injunction, Food Specialist Johnathan Gerhardt was on campus Feb. 13 and found that Food Not Bombs was serving food to the public without a permit. As of March 11, Food Not Bombs had racked up at least $3,500 in fines after receiving seven Notices of Violation at $500 each.
Despite the injunction, group members said they will continue to serve food every Wednesday and Friday in front of the UNM Bookstore. This could result in contempt of court charges for Food Not Bombs members.
Sasha Rock, a member of the group, said Food Not Bombs is seeking legal representation and will continue to serve food every Monday and Wednesday at 11 a.m. in front of the UNM Bookstore.
"Food Not Bombs will continue to serve, regardless of the consequences," she said.
Members of Albuquerque's Food Not Bombs have been serving free vegetarian food to the homeless, students and passersby in front of the UNM Bookstore for five years, Rock said. To her knowledge, no one has ever gotten sick from the food they've been given.
"We believe that we have a right to serve free food to people," she said. "We believe that it's healthy and safe as well, even though we don't have a permit."
Carlos Romero, director of NMED's Environmental Health Division, said his department's goals are to get Food Not Bombs to comply with sanitation, equipment and maintenance standards.
"They're serving the homeless. They're serving people that can't afford meals in other ways," he said. "We want to be able to provide protection for people that take them up on the offer for food. That's all we want."
If Food Not Bombs were to fill out the application, Romero said the permit process would be expedited.
"If they would come in today and talk to us and work through everything, everything
(the violations, the court injunction) would come to a stop," he said.
Rock said NMED has offered to waive the $200 permit fee for Food Not Bombs because the group is not-for-profit, but she said the costs required for maintaining a kitchen in compliance with NMED standards would be more than the group's budget allows.
"It wouldn't cost us any money to file for the permit," she said. "But it would cost us money to meet the requirements, like getting a commercial kitchen, which is an enormous amount of money, and we don't deal with any money. We get, like, $5 a week from donations to buy more plastic bowls."
The New Mexico Environment Department is responsible for enforcing the Food Service Sanitation Act across the state, which requires individuals and organizations to obtain permits before operating any food service establishment.
The Food Service Sanitation Act also requires that NMED inspect establishments at least once every 12 months for compliance.
The injunction request outlined the potential hazard of allowing Food Not Bombs to continue serving food unchecked.
"NMED and the general public will suffer irreparable injury unless the preliminary injunction is granted," NMED said in the request. "(The threat to) the general public outweighs any damage the preliminary injunction may cause to the defendants."
"If they would come in today and talk to us and work through everything, everything
(the violations, the court injunction) would come to a stop," he said.
Rock said NMED has offered to waive the $200 permit fee for Food Not Bombs because the group is not-for-profit, but she said the costs required for maintaining a kitchen in compliance with NMED standards would be more than the group's budget allows.
"It wouldn't cost us any money to file for the permit," she said. "But it would cost us money to meet the requirements, like getting a commercial kitchen, which is an enormous amount of money, and we don't deal with any money. We get, like, $5 a week from donations to buy more plastic bowls."
The New Mexico Environment Department is responsible for enforcing the Food Service Sanitation Act across the state, which requires individuals and organizations to obtain permits before operating any food service establishment.
The Food Service Sanitation Act also requires that NMED inspect establishments at least once every 12 months for compliance.
The injunction request outlined the potential hazard of allowing Food Not Bombs to continue serving food unchecked.
"NMED and the general public will suffer irreparable injury unless the preliminary injunction is granted," NMED said in the request. "(The threat to) the general public outweighs any damage the preliminary injunction may cause to the defendants."
