An ‘unintended negative consequence’: Revamped FDA guidelines force Ambler community fridge to close

The community fridge outside of the Weavers Way Co-op in Ambler opened in May 2021 and was an immediate hit in the community, speaking to a need for food exacerbated by the pandemic.

Anyone could pop by and grab whatever they needed, no questions asked. Residents who wanted to help struggling neighbors during the pandemic could just add an extra carton of eggs to their shopping carts and drop it off to the fridge, seeing little interruption to their day. Weavers Way employees would then clean and help discard any items in the orange and purple fridge located outside the grocery store past their “best-by” date.

Yet the convenience that made the community fridge so popular also posed trouble for the co-op during its recent annual local inspection. In order to pass the county health inspection, Weavers Way, a member-owned grocery store, announced last month that it was forced to shut down its fridge. Updated U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines for food storage and staffing are behind the change, said Montgomery County health officials.

“I think that the health department is doing good, important work in inspecting grocery stores, like that has to happen,” said Jon Roesser, general manager of Weavers Way Co-op Association. “This is just like an unintended negative consequence.”

The idea for a community fridge in Ambler came from a group of students at Germantown Academy during the pandemic. With the help of teachers, the students fundraised for the purchase of a regular kitchen-style refrigerator, and even built a structure to protect the fridge from the elements, said Roesser.

The fridge stood outside the co-op and was accessible every day, 24/7. Built into the wooden shelter surrounding the refrigerator were shelves for pantry items, and the fridge took donations of everything from fresh produce to meat and seafood.

Until last month, the fridge remained connected to the co-op, and Weavers Way even provided some donations.

The FDA does not regulate restaurants or grocery stores, it leaves that up to each state. Still, the federal agency offers model language in its food code that it updates every four years, though the pandemic made it so the 2017 guidelines were not tweaked until 2022. Previously, there was no clear FDA language regarding food donations, said Pam Lawn, director of Environmental Field Services at the Montgomery County Office of Public Health. The FDA’s new updates changed that.

According to health officials and the updated food code, because the Weavers Way community fridge was connected to the grocery store, the fridge needed to be supervised by an employee at all times, like any licensed food facility. All food preparation must be up to code, meaning that the fridge could no longer accept home-cooked donations from strangers.

“[The donations have] got to come from an approved source, and it’s got to be stored properly,” said Lawn. “Because if it’s not stored properly, people can get sick, or food can be tampered with if it’s in a refrigerator that’s not monitored or managed 24/7.”

While convenient, from a public health standpoint, there is some risk to having a fridge unattended outside. Lawn said those risks include losing power or the possibility of rodents tampering with the food. Community fridges sometimes receive donations of home-cooked meals, and it’s impossible to know if their preparation followed food safety guidelines.

Food advocates.

Emily M. Broad Leib, director of the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard University, said grocers often fear they’re operating outside the rules when making donations to organizations feeding the hungry. For example, to sell meat in a grocery store, the package must be accurately labeled with its weight. But, Broad Leib said, sometimes the label is inaccurate and can’t be sold. She said even though it’s fine to eat, it was unclear whether the meat could be donated.

When the FDA announced in February updates to its guidelines around donations, it said the new code reduced barriers to donating food by reducing confusion, acknowledging that food waste is the “single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills” and that much of it could go to families in need.

“While the food code never prohibited such donation practices, this update will make it more explicitly clear that such practices are acceptable,” the agency said.

But the language added to the food code regarding donations was minimal, said Broad Leib, adding that she was disheartened those tweaks created a hurdle for Weavers Way fridge.

“This was a good start, but it would be good to have more detail,” she said. “No one wants to get in trouble with their health inspector.”

Not quite, as there is still some gray area for the fridges to operate.

The reason the Weavers Way community fridge came under scrutiny is because the co-op is licensed by the Montgomery County Office of Public Health, which regulates food facilities inside and out, strictly adhering to FDA guidelines.

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The county does not license food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, or community fridges. The stand-alone fridges are not subject to health inspections and are, therefore, not likely to be shut down.

In fighting food insecurity, county officials find themselves in a tough spot. Montgomery County spokesperson Megan Alt said officials are supportive of community efforts to address food insecurity, and they plan to look at the issue in a “strategic and effective way with the funding” they have available.

In August, the county created a new role of “food policy program coordinator” in an effort to create a more sustainable food ecosystem.

Yet, regulations are still important for community health, officials said.

“People have good intentions and we totally understand that and that is great, but we have to ensure the safety of the food because we don’t want anybody to get sick,” said Lawn.

Still, Broad Leib said many health departments are using their discretion when regulating community fridges, and treating the donations tied to food establishments as separate entities.

Roesser said Weavers Way is committed to helping stock the fridge wherever it goes. There has been discussion of placing it outside a nearby church, he said, though that hasn’t been finalized.

In the meantime, the co-op is encouraging people interested in donating food to do so at the Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard about half a mile away. The co-op is also giving out $10 vouchers for groceries in its store to anyone in need, no questions asked.

It’s not ideal, said Roesser, given that Weavers Way isn’t 24/7 and requires someone to ask the customer service desk for a voucher.

“But at least for now, what we’re doing is saying, ‘If you’re hungry, just come on in and we’ll give you a voucher and you can purchase whatever you want,’” he said.