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“We’ve swapped out the Dragon fruit for Durian. Let’s see if they notice.”
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Oh yeah. Nothing wrong on that end if you’re selling a fresh refrigerated product from a store front. But once you start packaging, labelling and shipping. There’s regulations, rules and licensing.
She appears to have none. Which means the base safety shit isn’t happening.
The commentary appears to be that her labelling isn’t up to the rules. But that’s not the half of it. The labelling would have to be up to par if she was doing anything right.
It’s just that presence of dragon fruit here is largely about that neon pink, the fact that it’s bland is probably half the point. There doesn’t appear to be anything special or even gross here besides the color.
But that also means you could easily and cheaply have it produced properly, on contract. And have all the labelling and shelf stability needed. That she doesn’t. Is both stupid and gross.
Me? I’m stickin’ with purple drank.
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The part of a dragon fruit you eat isn’t pink though… I guess you could powder the peel and use it as food coloring? From the ingredients described, it just sounds like sweetened sriracha with food coloring added. Probably a tasty condiment, but the color would just be a gimmick.
I’m listening.
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I thought it was going to be a protein paste that was diluted to a sauce like consistency. I am not sure if that is dirty or disgusting.
My Tía ran a cafeteria in a big office building, and one day I came to visit on my way somewhere nearby. They were making salsa rosada, like a vat of it. Apparently they did that every day, and used it all up.
Offering me an early lunch, she was confused when I said I’d stick to rice, beans and some platano maduro, and… uh… no salsa rosada for me, porfavorygracias. 
I’ll say this for it, though, it remained at a safe temperature throughout it’s existence and was not a food poisoning hazard, just kinda gross.
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Yeah the salsa rosada is fairly shelf stable if used up regularly and quickly enough, ideally you’d want to use it up within the day you make it unless its always kept refrigerated. I hate mayo myself but the combination works well for certain food stuffs
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It’s just butter cream, pick any style I think. Colored with dragon fruit powder. Have no clue how much, she effectively uses it like weak powdered food pigments/coloring.
She also experimented with coloring macarons with it, apparently jacked up the recipe and they didn’t quite bake right.
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I would think it would come down to the local health department rather than the FDA. I know Illinois (which then kicks it down to the local health department) has some restrictions on what can be made in a home kitchen and then sold.
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Yah good point. Maybe it depends somewhat on how wide distribution is? I’m not really sure how the laws work for making something in one place (where the factory would be locally inspected) but then shipped nationwide. I was thinking about the commenter who noted this sauce is a dairy product with no expiry date. I think expiry dates on food are state-level though, so that’s another set of variables.
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In most states any food you sell has to be made in a certified food prep kitchen. That comes with certain health code requirements with regards to inspection, licensing, and equipment.
That can be done in a home kitchen. A lot of people doing catering or private chef work go through the process.
Some of that got loosened, in sensible ways, during Covid. To allow people to start food business, or out of work restaurant workers to do pop ups and stuff. There’s kind of a lack of accessible prep kitchens in the US. It’s expensive to build one out and finding and booking one is a pain in most places. Even major cities.
Once you start packaging and distributing something beyond the selling it like take out level though. It’s no longer an issue of local health departments.
Labelling and product names need to be registered with at least the state. You need to follow FDA/USDA guidelines on safety. There’s different licensing, a certified prep kitchen may no longer be enough. You might need a licensed and inspected production facility. You have to test to establish nutrition facts, there are safety checks. A lot of it is administered by the state, but there’s Federal agencies to deal with.
And this especially kicks in any time you ship anything across state lines. Which she is certainly doing. I work in the alcohol business, and in my home town a lot of people have various food businesses. Even a restaurant selling a packaged version of their house salad dressing as a packaged sealed product, needs all the appropriate labelling. And can’t really produce it in house with existing space and equipment. Whole different set of concerns.
That might not mean much in terms of a shelf stable product. Depending on how and where this is being made, in a pasteurized and sealed bottle dairy is fine on the shelf. Especially given it’s not a main ingredient. The ingredient labels I can find list it second to last. “Best by” or expiration dates aren’t required for this, I think. Even though we see them frequently. Think the again the standard bottle of Ranch Dressing.
It looks like, from a quick search. She has stickers/labels with proper nutrition information, ingredients lists and other required stuff. Who knows how valid any of that is, or where this stuff is getting made. If it came out of an appropriate production environment it would have had to have had all that stuff to start with.
In most states you can’t even register the name of a product or get a label approved with out submitting that info.
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