Today’s edition of the Jackedrabbit Tweaks brings us some more rules for the party. Remember in the past, how you might be handed a grilled cheese sandwich by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, or enjoy some French toast airlifted in on a vulture capitalist’s private plane? Have you ever been in a camp, and been offered some water from a jug, a cup of coffee, or some ice from an RV’s ice maker?
Well, those things are still possible – as long as the money is paid in advance, and the paperwork is in order. Jawohl, mein kommandant!
If you plan on handing out non-alcoholic drinks or ice to anyone, you’ll need a permit. If you plan on cooking for more than 125 people in your camp, or even one person who is not in your camp, you’ll need a permit. If any of your food is prepared off the Playa, it needs to be done in a permitted establishment – you absolutely cannot do any food preparation at home. You will also need to explain how you will be controlling the temperature of the food on its long journey to the remote Playa.
To get a permit, you’ll have to pay $50 (check or money order only, no credit cards), and provide the gubmint with the entire menu you will be offering (including beverages), and what times you will be serving it. Yes, even for ice. You will also need a plan for managing waste water (hint: you can’t dump it on the Playa, or down the port-a-potties), and all other forms of waste. Any water you use for washing or rinsing has to be changed out every 2 hours.
The government inspectors will come to test how sanitary your conditions are, and you will need to provide the testing strips for them.
You will have to apply in writing by August 15, or in person at Carson City by August 22. Then you will need to go to Playa Info at Center Camp to collect your permit, before setting up any of your food serving area. From JRS:
they need to be received at Ellen Kunz’s office in Winnemucca no later than one week before the event – August 15, 2014.
Don’t wait until the last minute. It would be a shame to have to cancel your plans, or even risk being closed at the event. The mailing address is NSHD – PHCS 475 West Haskell Street Suite 38, Winnemucca, NV 89445.
In Person: No later than THURSDAY AUGUST 22. 4150 Technology Way Suite 100, Carson City, NV. Phone: (775) 687-7550 or 475 West Haskell Street Suite 38 Winnemucca, NV. Phone (775) 623-6588.
On the application, the event coordinator is ‘Burning Man‘. Leave the location blank, unless you know what street and intersection you be at during the event. After mailing the application and $50 USD payment, you must come and pick up your permit at Playa Info in Center Camp from Sunday August 24 through Saturday August 30 (specific hours to be determined and announced)
No sushi, no cold cuts. No home made ice creams, cookies, or soups. No water or juice dispensers. You wanna give someone a coffee? It better be black.
If the food is hot, it has to be above 135º, and if it’s cold, below 41°. Utensils, cups, coolers and any other storage containers must be at least 6″ off the ground. Any buckets need to be changed every 2 hours. Food handlers need to be adequately clothed.
Here’s what you CAN serve without a permit:
- Alcoholic beverages (to people 21 and over)
- Foods that are commercially prepackaged and served unopened in single serve size packaging not requiring refrigeration. Examples of these foods include unopened packages of candy, single serve sized bags of chips, pretzels, snack bars, cookies, nuts, cans of soda, bottled water
- Whole uncut fruit
- Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate prepared and served without any milk or dairy; using only powdered non-dairy creamer or ultra-pasteurized dairy creamer in individual servings
- Commercially prepared acidic beverages such as orange juice or lemonade that are served from the original container without the addition of ice or other foods
- Commercially prepared, prepackaged and unopened individual ice cream bars or containers
- Cotton candy
- Popcorn
If you’re looking for uncut fruit, try Comfort and Joy!
Here are some items that MUST have a permit:
Foods that require time/temperature control for safety, such as all meats and animal products - Dairy products
- Any food not individually wrapped or portioned that is handled by others.
- Any cut fruits or vegetables served in pieces or juiced.
- Coffee and teas if you are offering milk, dairy or soy as part of your service
And here are some absolute no-no’s:
Do not scoop ice with bare hands or glasses or cups and do not allow your camp mates to, either.- Foods from unapproved sources. Hunted meat or game animals, non-commercially caught fish, and gathered foods such as wild mushrooms may not be served. (You may only serve food obtained from permitted food establishments such as grocery stores and restaurants.)
- Previously prepared homemade foods including home canned foods. No foods for public consumption may be prepared in a private home. Foods must be prepared on-site or be prepared in a permitted commercial establishment.
- Unpasteurized milk or milk products or unpasteurized juices.
- raw or undercooked animal products unless prior approval from NDPBH is received and a consumer advisory is in place. Live or frozen shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels and scallops) may not be served raw or under cooked under any circumstances.
- If you wish to use shellfish as an ingredient it must be pre-cooked by the manufacturer.
No undercooked foods containing eggs- Any food that has undergone reduced oxygen packaging, such as vacuum sealing or sous-vide preparations.
- food service volunteers may not eat, smoke or care for small children while they are working in the camp kitchen.
- Beverage consumption by food handlers is only allowed from a closed container.
- No cloth towels may be used to dry hands. They harbor and spread germs.
- Minimize the amount of food preparation in your camp. Examples include using pre-formed hamburger patties and pre-cut and pre-washed vegetables. [of course, you can’t form the patties or cut and wash the vegetables at home. You will have to get access to a licensed establishment for prep]
- Store and keep raw animal foods separate from ready-to-eat foods.
- Store different species of raw animal products separately. If stored in the same cooler, use separate, sealed containers and store properly by placing raw chicken which has the highest required cooking temperature on the bottom
You will need to provide the following:
- menu of all items including beverages
- serving times
- where did you purchase the food
- where was the food prepared
- how was the temperature of the food controlled
- list all equipment used to hold, prepare, or serve food, including serving utensils, cups, coolers, grills, “etc.”
handwashing station- stem thermometer
- sanitizer (bleach)
- 3 waste water buckets
- serving utensils
- tables (food prep)
- soap (dishwashing, hand)
- cooling unit(s)
- gloves
- paper towels (hand drying)
- 3 dishwashing basins
- wiping bucket (for sanitizing surfaces)
- spray bottle and paper towels
- SANITIZER TEST STRIPS (NDPBH WILL NOT PROVIDE THESE)
If all those rules don’t put you off, you can find the 4-page permit application here, and the self-inspection checklist here.
2014 Burning Man as a culture icon is dead. As much as we might not like it, Burning Man is slowing becoming less a community event, more a corporate/destination party event. And now most Burners can’t even get in for lack of tickets.
The BOrg does not want Burners. If they did they could easily use past ticket sales email addresses to reach us. As you say, it is a corporate event, with virgins thrown in for effect. Eating cake is no fun without peasants to watch in envy.
As mentioned none of those rules are really new, I think some of them came down in 2010, or 2011..
All of the health dept people I’ve encountered were fuckin awesome. Great burners. out there early before the event setting up their own crap, and working to help keep people safe.
They’ve went out their way to make sure I had what I needed, gifted stuff, said hi when I saw them again around town…. Unless they have some new blood, I would say that the Nevada Health Dept crew is exactly the kind of people we want out there..
They are out there keeping us safe from assholes who don’t give a fuck.
they do a valuable job and just like the Cops I am glad they are there when they are needed.
this isnt ‘OMG MORE RULES’ as much as ‘basic health/safety/sanitation’ ..which is certainly something we need looked after in an environment when thousands of people might be going a week without washing their fuckin hands properly.
The question is: were there substantive food safety problems in the past? Otherwise, they were just as good at keeping polar bears our of BRC, for no additional charge!
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Most of the rubbish regulations are new, in despite of what the few in the BMOrg social media crew desire of you to believe. Sharing burn barrel bacon, or peanut butter and jams, with the neighbours, is now verbotten. Solely pay the government ministers from Carson City, and Winnemucca, the cash they desire, permit them to abuse you with their numerous rubbish regulations, and permit Larry and Marian, whom no longer care about protecting the awesome Burner community from the government ministries, become minted with their numerous millions.
In addendum, do not call the inspectors bloody arses upon ordering you to cease sharing bacon, you will be ticketed, or arrested, for Disorderly Conduct, which is, at present, illegal upon the playa. Do not even call the awesome Black Rock City Rangers a name such as this, upon them politely querying of you to cease sharing bacon, Larry and Marian now require of them to report this illegal Disorderly Conduct to the police.
And, you were under the belief of Burning Man being an event of the counter culture, that ventured to the playa to be removed from rubbish government regulations, to permit people to be disorderly, to permit people to be whomever, and do whatever, they desired?
good point. It’s hard to argue that we’re casting off the shackles of society to enjoy a new-found freedom, when the density of LEOs to population is more than any other city in America, and the ratio of sniffer dogs to people seeking entry is higher than any border in the world. And this despite the crime rate being pretty small for a city of 70,000 – we think, because these figures are now secret since the deal between BMOrg, Pershing and BLM cops.
The BLM Closure Order rules prohibits disorderly conduct. Is DPW of the knowledge that they may be ticketed, or arrested, for ‘using a gesture’ that might ‘incite an immediate breach of the peace’, such as flipping the bird? Are the blokes with megaphones of the knowledge that they may be ticketed, or arrested, for recklessly causing public nuisance?
D. Disorderly Conduct
1. Disorderly conduct is prohibited.
2. Definition: Disorderly conduct means that an individual, with the intent of recklessly causing public alarm, nuisance, jeopardy, or violence; or recklessly creating a risk thereof:
(a) Engages in fighting or violent behavior.
(b) Uses language, an utterance or gesture, or engages in a display or act that is physically threatening or menacing, or done in a manner that is likely to inflict injury or incite an immediate breach of the peace.
(c) Obstructs, resists, or attempts to elude a law enforcement officer, or fails to follow their orders or directions.
I note that it does not say “lawful” order. So if the BLM officer orders you to perform oral sex on him, and you fail to follow his order, you can be arrested. Fun!
Ha.
In addendum, a mate in the BRC Rangers stated I was incorrect in the belief of ‘Do not even call the awesome Black Rock City Rangers a name such as this … Larry and Marian now require of them to report this illegal Disorderly Conduct to the police.’ The BRC Rangers never did so, though it was priorly queried of them, they solely report abuse and assaults upon others. The BRC Rangers are awesome.
Now, perchance, if any person might prove any number or statement within the Great BMOrg Cash Out post to be incorrect, of which, none others have done so.
So handing out slices of watermelon to my “neighbors” in line during the exodus is verboten? Coffee as well? I was looking for ways to make the exodus a little more fun.
whole watermelons only!
Having worked in the Rampart ER for the past 2 years, I can say that I’ve only seen one or two cases of food related illnesses in patients. Either people are following the rules, or people are smart enough to figure out when food is appropriate for consumption on their own. The rules certainly seem overwhelming and overly picky, but I bet are not enforced to the letter.
Yeah, seriously. Like Hamster said, this is NOT a new thing, nor a big deal (unless you’ve had food poisoning on Playa, in which case, you might think it’s a REALLY BIG DEAL, but in the other direction from the position of this post…). Even the camp Zuckerberg stayed at probably had a health department permit. Ain’t nothing but a thing.
And honestly, your whole, “Have you ever been in a camp, and been offered some water from a jug, a cup of coffee, or some ice from an RV’s ice maker?” doomsday scenario at the beginning? Honestly, most of those situations would not require a health permit at all, despite your dire opening.
There’s plenty of drama to be had in this world and that. No need to create more where none exists.
There is nothing in the post that claims anything is new; regardless, the age of the rules doesn’t have an effect on them. Maybe it’s not a big deal to you – for everyone else, ignore the rules at your peril. It says quite clearly: no coffee with milk, even soy milk; bottled water only; ice is food.
You’re lying to readers of this blog, and clearly didn’t even bother reading the Nevada Board of Public Health documents that we linked to. Why? Do you think Burning Man would be better if everyone just flouted the rules like you? What are you trying to achieve? What point are you really trying to make here? We shouldn’t post rules? We shouldn’t try to describe scenarios that are against the rules?
I read the documents — I’m not questioning your reporting, I’m just saying that if someone wanders into my small camp of 20 people and I offer them a cup of coffee with some milk in it, the health department is not going to care. If we were serving coffee with milk to 200 people a day and not keeping that milk cold, they should and would care…and require a permit.
I’m not lying to readers of any blog, and neither are you, but my point is that this isn’t a drama issue at the level you’re making it. I know it’s your job to rabble rouse, and that’s cool. But I’m calling it like I see it.
In light of the past crack-downs by LE, to the point of DPW workers threatening to strike last year, why would you expect continued past forbearance of the health laws? Choosing not to use their millions to preserve the spirit of the Burn, the BOrg has given the green light to local LE milking the Burners with fines. They even OK’s the Rangers to be LE narcs. The trend line is there. What might have been skipped by LE last year might be fined this year. After all, if you are LE and pulled a BRC shift, are you going to brag about how few citations you wrote? And even more so if you asked for the shift, to prove you were doing your job.
The only valid reason to up enforcement of laws is when there is a risk to public health and safety. Unless this has been shown, forbearance for a temporary city is what the BOrg SHOULD fight for with the millions they have collected from us. (And forbearance is something the could negotiate if they shopped the BM venue, instead of making BRC a PERMANENT temporary city.)
from the point of view of the authorities, what else is going on all year in Winnemucca that they need to “regulate” (read: extract revenue from)? If they perform well at this (ie write lots of citations), the pressure is off when the cantaloupe festival comes round.
This process is nothing new, my camp has been doing it at least since 2009 when I joined. The permit is really easy to fill out and have in place, and health inspectors do come by to make sure you aren’t totally fucking it up. Makes sense to try and not spread mass food poisoning across the playa, and I appreciate that someone is making sure (loosely at least) that healthy food prep practices are known about and hopefully followed. Getting food poisoning on the playa sounds like a really bad nightmare…
Don’t really see a problem. If you have enough virgins who don’t know all this – and will be there only to take – what difference does it make? And if LE comes by to shut down all that free food, it just makes BRC a safer place. (Just don’t tell the Huff!)
If they changed the venue every year, and got waivers from local LE who want the one-time event, that would spoil all the fun! Better to be a fixture that they can count on every year for regulations and fees.
BTW, I am baking my cookies, and you can’t have any.