On Wednesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the first hurdle for implementing Micro-Enterprise Home Kitchen. The approval is part of a temporary program to bring Micro-Enterprise Home Kitchens, or “MEHKOs” to San Diego County.
While only the first part has been passed, the second part of the ordinance will be dealt with on January 26th. If the board voted in favor of the ordinance, MEHKOs will be allowed just 30 days later. Bringing MEHKOs to San Diego was first proposed by Supervisors Nora Vargas and Joel Anderson. Vargas and Anderson both say that MEHKOs bring a number of benefits such as positive economic impacts for small-scale operations and creating supplemental income for individuals and families, especially for those who were heavily impacted by the COVID pandemic. Both Vargas and Anderson believe that MEHKOs will allow more economic opportunity for everyone, “We have an opportunity to uplift non-traditional entrepreneurs” said Vargas. Anderson said about the program, “On every level, I just believe this is a terrific program”. Supervisor Jime Desmond said that while local governments had concerns about operations, he said that a temporary program will allow a lot of those questions to be answered.
One concern of MEHKOs is food safety, but Supervisor Anderson said that food must be sold on the day it is made. The law was passed by the state back in 2018 which allowed counties to authorize MEHKOs, “Of the more than 140 MEHKOs currently operating in the state of California, there have been no known incidences of food-borne illness, nor any issues around the disposal of food waste” said Anderson’s office.
Photo Cred: San Diego U-T
