I finally visited that town square market everyone raves about...

Headed down to the Old Mill Street market last weekend, the one people keep posting about on the neighborhood group. I noticed something kind of worrying after about an hour there. There's this one vendor selling homemade candles and soaps, super popular, long lines. But I stood close enough to see her refilling the same jars from a big unlabeled bucket she kept under the table. No ingredient list at all. She told a customer it was "all natural lavender" but I caught the bucket said "fragrance oil" on a faded sticker. Meanwhile the city's public market guidelines say all homemade goods need full ingredient labels posted. I get that small sellers don't have big budgets but this feels like a safety issue waiting to happen, especially for people with allergies. Has anyone else spotted this kind of thing at your local markets and what did you do about it?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicem2923d ago

That's sketchy and definitely worth reporting to the market organizers.

abby_kim5523d ago

You know that lavender candle trend is everywhere right now, half the people I know bought one last month. I get why you're worried but honestly I've seen way worse at these markets before. There was a guy selling "artisan honey" last summer and I watched him pour it straight from a giant plastic jug he bought at Costco, no label needed because he just said it was local. The thing is, most people buying that candle probably arent checking the ingredients anyway and the ones with serious allergies usually ask first. Plus those market guidelines you mentioned, do they actually enforce them or are they just suggestions? I mean the city barely checks if the food trucks have working sinks half the time. Maybe flag it with the organizers but I wouldnt lose sleep over it, chances are nothing bad is gonna happen and the seller is just trying to save a few bucks on packaging.