With so many stories of the shaming of breastfeeding mums doing the rounds, we are not surprised by this latest one.
A mum in Nova Scotia was left horrified this week when a food safety inspector told her she could not breastfeed her baby at her food stall over fears of ‘contamination from bodily fluids’.
According to CBS, small business owner Tanessa Holt was emailed by a food inspector who informed her that she could only nurse her seven-month-old baby at her shop stall if there was another member of staff available to handle and serve the food.
Holt’s business, FoodNoise, sells dry goods including granola, dry soup mix and oatmeal at local farmers’ markets.
In the email received by Holt, the food authority representative wrote: “I have no problem with you breastfeeding at the booth, as long as there is another person at the booth with you, who can serve food to the customers.”
The inspector outlined their concerns over food contamination from bodily fluids, stating (rather astonishingly) that if she breastfeeds at her stall she cannot handle food for the rest of the day.
“I would not allow you to breastfeed and then serve customers throughout the day. The food safety concern is contamination of food through possible throw-up and or faeces coming from the baby,” they added.
With Holt and her husband the sole employees and owners of FoodNoise, naturally they were concerned at the prospect of having to employ another member of staff at their business. As a result, Holt has had no other option but to shut down her stall.
After being contact by CBC for comment, a representative from the Department of Agriculture said that they were trying to contact the inspector to get all of the details of the incident.
Despite the outcry of breastfeeding mums against such treatment, this is an issue that, sadly, does not seem to be going away.
