A law which prevents the sale of desserts baked in a private home has caused outrage that has reached as high as the house of parliament.
As reported, a group of mothers hoping to sell muffins for charity were asked to cease operations, as it violates the law. The mothers, who live in Akureyri, had previously sold about a thousand muffins – raising some 400,000 ISK for the maternity ward of a local hospital.
When they started planning the same this year, however, they were informed that apparently, in Iceland it is illegal to sell cookies, cakes or jam from unregulated kitchens.
The director of the Eyjafjörður Women’s Association has responded to the ban, telling Pressan that they find the ban bizarre. “We’re still not giving up,” Sigurveig Bergsteinsdóttir said, “we will continue all the same to bake a good society. We have baked for decades and have never heard of anyone dying or getting sick from eating our cakes.”
Health authorities have pointed out that the ban is simply in line with European regulations that Iceland is obliged to follow. This, in turn, sparked the outrage of conservative MP Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson, who addressed parliament on the matter, saying, “Why is the EU getting involved in cake baking in Iceland? This, to me, is a sign that the EU is lost. What’s next, a health inspector in every home?”
The matter is still unresolved, but there are so far no indications that the prohibition is leading to an underground buying and selling of home-baked goods.
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