Taking bureaucracy too far endangers meal program

The Ohio Department of Agriculture is apparently striving to prove the cynical adage, no good deed goes unpunished.
For more than a decade, St. Joseph Health Center and Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren have been preparing food for Mobile Meals in Trumbull County. It would seem to be a marriage made in heaven.
The hospitals have nutritionists, cooks and kitchens. They can buy food in bulk and prepare nutritious meals economically and efficiently. They've also been willing to provide meals for the homebound as a community service. While Mobile Meals pays for the service, the hospitals say they're taking a loss on the sales.
So what could possibly be wrong with this arrangement?
Well, the state Department of Agriculture says that because the meals leave the hospital premises, the hospitals need to obtain a license through the department's meat inspection division.
The meals are delivered weekdays by volunteers 210 clients.
The issue was raised more than a decade ago, but after considering the circumstances a former state agriculture director made the common sense decision to permit the arrangement.
A second look
Now the department has decided to revisit the issue. The hospitals are already operating under the necessary regulatory burdens that any hospital must meet. If they decide that they don't want to take on any additional oversight from the agriculture department, the Mobile Meals program could be endangered.
It's encouraging to hear that the agriculture department doesn't want to see that happen.
"In order for any facility to sell food to a distributor, they have to be licensed. We are working with them to make sure this happens," said LeeAnne Mizer, a Department of Agriculture spokeswoman.
"The operation is not going to be shut down. There has been no issue with food safety," she noted.
That is not surprising, given the amount of oversight that exists in a health facility's kitchen. The existence of that oversight and the record of safe food preparation the hospitals have, begs the question as to why the hospitals should have to jump through any additional regulatory hoops to provide a community service.
If the Department of Agriculture no longer feels comfortable giving the hospitals a waiver, it may be time for the legislature to step in and revise the law under which the department is operating.
We are certainly not advocating a system that would demand anything less than the highest standards of safety for Mobile Meals clients, but if the hospital kitchens are preparing food that is good enough for their patients, surely they can be trusted to help feed the homebound.