These two women believe that competent authorities should take into account that small producers do not seek to become an industry and do not have the same risks. Small artisanal producers don’t need the same investments, especially in infrastructures as they do not produce in big quantities.  The solution is, for these two women, that there should be a basic general legislation for everyone, big or small producer, but there should also be a specific legislation for small artisanal products as these particular products have their own characteristics.

“We are allergic to life, afraid of microbes and applaud anything chemical” says the small producer from Oiartzun, at the foot of Peñas de Aia a mountain in Guipuzcoa.
There are other additional voices, for example from a woman that produces morcillas (black puddings) from Las Encartaciones, region from Bizkaia. It is possible to buy her product in farmers markets all over the Basque Country. This morcilla does not have health registration, however, it is well known and appreciated by gastronomes and awarded by the jury of gastronomic contests. She does not use machinery and her morcilla is kneaded  with her own hands using artisanal funnels. She produces small amounts and she does not aspire to grow in production. As a small artisanal producer she claims that her investments should be small as they can not be the same league as those needed by an industrial scale meat producer. She believes that the institutions should recognise the value of artisanal products, handmade and elaborated and with no additives and preservatives, and fight to stop them disappearing.

The owners of this farm, a young couple from Bilbao, decided one day, to change their way of life and move to the countryside to become small artisanal producers. They wanted to give priority to the quality of the product and decided to control the elaboration and production of this product from start to finish. They also wanted to sell it directly to restaurants and shops, without any intermediaries. They do it this way because they cannot and will not compete in price with the big distribution chains. They have their own slaughterhouse and they comply with the legislation for the slaughtering of poultry and the elaboration of the product. Their goal is to comply fully with the legislation. They went to France to learn the trade and they met people willing to show them their farms and workshops… and their “savoire faire”. This added value makes a difference.

However they have found obstacles, daily. They receive unfair competition from competitors who don’t comply fully with current legislation. This is a real disadvantage. For example the European standards concerning animal welfare, forbid the opening of new duck foie gras farms in that use small individual cages for the ducks from 2006 onwards. It also says that they should disappear completely by 2010. However the unfairly competing producers think there is a “hidden” moratorium on this legislation until 2015. This is not convenient for the small artisanal producers as their costs of production are higher, as the time it takes to feed every duck is 10 times longer than by feeding ducks breed in small individual cages. The upside is that when this legislation is correctly enforced, duck product prices will increase and artisanal products will be more competitive. A similar situation occurred recently with the eggs.

The owners of the La Llueza claim that current Ministry of Health legislation for the elaboration and commercialisation of artisanal products is complex, very demanding and can be improved. But when we deal with food and people’s health it is never easy to create appropriate legislation. Farming without the appropriate installations and buildings, and without complying with the legal and economical aspects of the law, allow some producers to have better prices and earn more money but if at the same time it is an illegal activity, it is of no use to anybody.

The owners of the La Llueza say that often in the supposedly “artisanal” markets many producers resell industrial low-cost products without any sanitary or economic control. That is why those producers that work with higher quality and higher prices look like thieves. Besides, they can not reduce sales prices because they are selling direct, as contrary to popular belief direct sales do not mean less costs. Small producer’s have lower profit margins and they are more vulnerable to incur losses than large industrial producers. This couple from La Llueza thinks that every producer should comply with the legislation, regardless how absurd and unfair the laws might be, as laws should be the same for everyone. But, they also want to push for changes in legislation to adapt it to fit the current situation of the small producer, better

The bodies responsible for food safety are more rigorous with some products than others, depending on the risk related to the product. For example, all products of animal origin (meat, milk and eggs among others), must be approved by a sanitary inspector, meanwhile other products such as squid fished with a rod and line  can be sold without any sanitary authorisation, as they are considered as low risk.

For the small artisanal farmer, it is difficult to comply with the regulation, as they lack the necessary infrastructure to measure and show compliance. The law says that, in order to be able to sell your product to the market, it is necessary to comply with the law, whether or not you are a medium sized or a small farmer. But there are certain exceptions with some vegetables and fish. Zero risk does not exist in the food industry and therefore the administration demands to the small artisanal farmers self-control regarding their products. Perhaps a solution might be that the small producer, unable to comply with the legal aspects of the regulation, could demonstrate that their products perfectly healthy and in good sanitary condition. Some of the small producers don’t join cooperatives, whose products are regulated, because they are looking to differentiate themselves, from the rest of the market. But the added value that this approach gives to the product creates its own problems. So some farmers, in order to comply with the legal sanitary regulations, are forced to change their traditional way of making things for more modern methods that comply better with the regulations. There are countries, such as France, where there are more advanced and developed laws, even for products like the foie gras pate, which is not a raw ingredient but has had some amount of transformation: it is a product protected with more flexible regulations.