Business Briefs Food Product Businesses Part IV - State Regulations The state of Mississippi has regulations governing food service sanitation for the purpose of protecting the public health. What does this mean? It means that anyone offering food to the public for sale or otherwise must be in compliance with these regulations. Surprising to many this includes baked items such as cakes, pies, cookies, fried pies; short order items such as sausage and biscuits, hamburgers; food prepared by caterers; prepared food sold at garden produce stands; and other regularly prepared food items, just to name a few. Contact your local environmentalist listed below for complete information. In most cases, approval in Mississippi to manufacture a food product in a home kitchen will not be granted. Notice the "in most cases," because there have been exceptions in situations where compliance with regulations can be achieved in a home environment. The first step is to call the local environmentalist and discuss your plans. The environmentalist will help you by providing information and guidelines of everything that must be done before you can apply for a food service permit. There is a fee for a food service permit based on a food risk sliding fee scale (range is between $35 - $125). The following is a list of the state of Mississippi public health districts and supervising environmentalists: District I --- Coahoma, Desoto, Grenada, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica, Yalobusha Contact --- Roger Whittington 240 Tower Drive Batesville, MS 38606 Phone: 662-563-5603 District II --- Alcorn, Benton, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union Contact --- Jesse Shields 532 S. Church P.O. Box 199 Tupelo, MS 38802 Phone: 662-841-9015 District III --- Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Holmes, Humphreys, Leflore, Montgomery, Sunflower, Washington Contact --- Edward Course 701 Yalobusha Street Greenwood, MS 38930 Phone: 662-453-4563 District IV --- Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Lowndes, Monroe, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Webster, Winston Contact --- Susan Howell 732 Whitfield Street Starkville, MS 39759 Phone: 662-323-7313 District V --- Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds, Issaquena, Madison, Rankin, Sharkey, Simpson, Warren, Yazoo Contact --- Homer Smith 5963 1-55N P.O. Box 1700 Jackson, MS 39215 Phone: 601-987-7864 District VI --- Clarke, Jasper, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Scott, Smith Contact --- Charlie Busler 3128 Eighth Street Meridian, MS 39301 Phone: 601-482-3171 District VII --- Adams, Amite, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Pike, Walthall, Wilkinson Contact --- Bruce Rawls 205 N. Front Street McComb, MS 39648 Phone: 601-684-9411 District VIII --- Covington, Forrest, Greene, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Marion, Perry, Wayne Contact --- Joe Hasty 602 Adeline Street Hattiesburg, MS 39401 Phone: 601-544-6766 District IX --- George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone Contact --- Pansy Maddox 15151 Community Road Gulfport, MS 39505 Phone: 228-831-5151

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