NH Seal of Quality

[maple maniac65]

At the regional meeting this year in Lancaster NH, I learned that there was only about 25 sugar houses in NH participating in this program. I do not understand this because for $5.00 a year a sugar maker can get a stamp a approval on their sugarhouse. What better way to show the public that what they are buying from you is a safe product. The criteria for the program is having a concrete floor, a source of hot water in the sugarhouse, lead free equipment and an inspection form the NH Dept of Ag.

[tuckermtn]

bummer- got three of the four, but no hot water in the sugarhouse (untill I put that hood on...)

[hard maple]

My customers get to view the operation and see for themselves.

[Russell Lampron]

Eric do you have a canner in your sugarhouse? When I was inspected, and before I got my hood, I told Janis that I heated water in that for cleaning. She told me that that was acceptable. She liked the idea that I could see how hot the water was with the thermometer.

Bodie I'm one of those that meets the requirements but don't participate in the program. It's not the money it's the extra record keeping and paperwork that I don't have time for. I am working in that direction though and will participate when I get my act together.

[maple maniac65]

The record keeping is a big part of it. It does add more time but it also can help you. Liability insurance seems to be a must these days in the food industry. A sugarmaker must protect his family first.


Having a sugarmaker even though from another state tell me that the NH Seal of Quality is Horsepuckey bothers me personally. As Vice President of NH Maple I would want all NH sugar makers stand up and tell the world we are proud of our product. If and when a federal inspection is mandated my sugarhouse is open to them always. My 13 old son has his own evaporator and will be inspected next year.

[NH Maplemaker]

Bodie, What does the paper work in tail ? I know that John told me that all syrup had to be dated or coded. But what else is required ? Jim L.

[maple maniac65]

Requirements

Inspection by a NH Dept of Ag person

Lead free evaporator

cement floor

source of hot water for clean up

all bottles of syrup are coded

once a year inspection

The main thing is the syrup be graded properly and labeled correctly and the density be correct.

Have I missed anything?

[NH Maplemaker]

Ya, all the extra paper work someone mentioned!! Jim L.

[Russell Lampron]

Jim I just looked at the seal of quality rule book that they gave to me and it doesn't say so but when I was inspected I was told that when I sold syrup with the seal on it I had to record who I sold it to. That is the reason for the date code on the container. If there is ever a problem you will know what batch it was so that the other customers that bought from that batch can be contacted and alerted to the problem.

The only grades of syrup that you can put the seal on are Grade A Light, Medium and Dark Amber. This year it would have been easy because I only made 10 gallons of Grade A syrup. Last year it would have been a lot harder when I made 85 gallons of Grade A syrup.

[NH Maplemaker]

I cant see myself doing all that paper work every time I sell a pint of syrup!! I also can't believe that everyone that come though your door for syrup is going to want to give you all that kind of personal information!! When they can go down the street and buy syrup with out a hassle ! If this is true,it could make buying syrup as hard as buying a hand gun !LOL JIm L

[maple maniac65]

I think there is some confusion here.

I only record what I bottle.

The date, the size, and the grade.

This information is for your own use and protection. So if something DID happen, you would know what batch it was. As far as who you sell to. That is private information. What size and how many of what you sell is only given to the USDA on a one on one situation. I do not even give them that info on a yearly basis.

[NH Maplemaker]

Bodie, thank you for clearing that up! I'm very interested in the program, But I wasn't interested in that amount of record keeping!! Jim L.