ASHCROFT — The home-baked goods sat tantalizingly in a corner at the Ashcroft Seniors Centre.

Jannette Renz fired up the oven and brought out the flour at 2 a.m. Wednesday, a skill she learned at nine years old in an Indian residential school when she baked for 450 kids.

Her offerings – massive cinnamon buns overflowing in a lined bamboo basket as well as muffins bursting with cranberries and blueberries – were tempting. So tempting, in fact, that MLA Harry Lali helped himself before leaving. So did Andy Anderson and John Ranta, the mayors of Ashcroft and Cache Creek.

Tempting? Definitely.

Illegal? Maybe.

More than 100 seniors from the two communities filled the hall to demand Interior Health Authority inspectors get out of their kitchens and out of their lives.

“We don’t want your approval,” shouted Ashcroft resident Bill Drinkwater. “We want you to disappear.”

Seniors as well as community leaders castigated Interior Health for what they said was bureaucracy run amok, forcing them to file permits for bake sales, install a commercial dishwasher in a seniors’ centre and file a list of ingredients for cookies, cakes and jams sold to raise money for charity.

“It’s unnecessary,” thundered Lali, seated at a head table of politicians and Interior Health inspectors. “It’s the heavy hand of government.”

Lali compared the rules to a provincial ban on farmers selling beef that is not federally inspected, something he said was pushed by the big food industry.

“There’s got to be a lobby behind it…. It’s an attack on our culture, the small town way of life.”

Mayor Anderson told the seniors his council has asked the Health Ministry to rein in IHA inspectors.

“They (bake sales) grew our hospitals, churches and community places – from the kind hearts of people in this room.”

The reply from Interior Health?

It’s all a big misunderstanding.

Joyce Christianson, a team leader in health protection for IHA, endured heckling, groans and yelling as she defended staff actions and also tried to clear up what she said were misunderstandings.

“No hot dog stand was closed. No bake sale I know of was closed down. I don’t know where that’s coming from. We don’t want to shut down lemonade stands.”

While provincial rules appear to require permits and restaurant-style food safety practices for everything consumed outside the family home, Christianson said inspectors have discretion and use it sensibly.

Rules are complex. But as Christianson explained, the key is the word “public.” Renz’s home-baked goods eaten by seniors – who were more than willing to take the risk – after the nearly two-hour meeting were not illegal.

The seniors’ centre was holding a meeting for its members and invited guests. It’s a private function and inspectors aren’t worried about low-risk baked goods – although baking with raw eggs does seem to cause inspectors to worry.

But as soon as goods are sold publicly, at a farmers’ market or shopping mall, that requires permits and standards. And it may include sending a list to IHA of ingredients – otherwise called a recipe by many seniors who jealously guard their recipes.

“We don’t want a recipe,” insisted Christianson, to groans and muttering among the crowd. “The guidelines ask for a list of ingredients.”

Christianson attempted to defuse concerns with a message that private functions are private. Public sales need to be regulated, but inspectors are willing to go slow and work with groups over time to improve food-handling standards.

Health concerns include salmonella from raw eggs and other potentially harmful pathogens that may not be killed if food is not properly stored or cooked. Canned meat and salmon is considered high risk and potentially deadly if not done right.

Despite Christianson’s message, many seniors at the meeting remain convinced nothing changed and they are being targeted.

Local resident Dale Johnson, who travelled to Victoria to meet with Ministry of Health staff over the issue, said rules need to be changed or communities like Ashcroft face the whims of inspectors.

He said a local health inspector told his wife, a school principal, that the school’s parent advisory committee needed a permit for a spaghetti fund-raising dinner. But a senior official in Kamloops told him he considers it a private function with no permit required.

“We’re not going to send an application and recipes to Interior Health 30 days before an event,” Johnson said.

There were no clearcut winners at the end of the meeting, but most people went away with their appetites satisfied by good old home baking.