The Ohio Department of Agriculture fined a Canton bakery $9,400 on August 27 for muffin labels the state said understated calorie counts by roughly 3 percent, a gap inspectors flagged during a routine cottage-food audit.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture's Division of Food Safety issued the citation against Maple Street Bakery in Canton, Ohio, after an August 19 inspection. Inspector Carla Denhoff filed the report flagging seven muffin varieties for nutrition labeling discrepancies. The fine was finalized August 27, according to the division's public enforcement log.
The department's log lists 41 similar citations issued statewide since January, totaling $187,000 in fines against small food producers. Maple Street's penalty, at $9,400, ranks as the third-largest of the year. The bakery grosses roughly $210,000 annually, according to its owner's estimate given to a local reporter.
"I make muffins in a converted garage. I don't have a lab."— Denise Ostrander, owner, Maple Street Bakery
The muffin that started it
Denise Ostrander, who has run Maple Street Bakery out of a converted garage in Canton, Ohio since 2019, was cited over her blueberry oat muffin, listed at 290 calories when a state lab test measured 299. The nine-calorie gap accounted for $2,100 of the total fine, according to the itemized penalty sheet the department sent her.
The remaining $7,300 came from a separate line item: the department charged her for the cost of shipping four muffins to a certified lab in Columbus for calorie testing, at $1,825 per shipment, four times, because the first three results were disputed by her own recount using a kitchen scale and a nutrition calculator app.
Ohio's cottage-food law lets home bakers sell without a commercial kitchen license, but nutrition-label accuracy rules still apply once annual sales cross $20,000. The rule has existed since 2016 and rarely triggers fines this size.
Ostrander appeals the bill
Ostrander filed an appeal with the department's administrative review board on September 1, arguing the lab-shipping charges shouldn't apply since she never requested the retests. Her attorney, Mark Feldstein of Canton, said the department is billing her for its own verification process. A department spokesperson said the fine reflects standard enforcement protocol.
The review board has 30 days to respond under state law, putting a decision around October 1. Ostrander has stopped selling the blueberry oat muffin while the appeal is pending. Her other six flagged varieties remain on the shelf with corrected labels rounding calories up.
The muffins are back. The nine calories are gone.
Man ARRESTED Wearing Full Suit Of Armor
Only In America
Police in Boise, Idaho arrested a 34-year-old man on August 30 after he was found walking down Capitol Boulevard wearing a full suit of medieval armor, carrying what officers described as a two-foot replica sword.
According to the Boise Police Department's incident report, officers stopped the man after receiving three separate 911 calls describing a knight walking near the Idaho Statehouse around 9:40 p.m. He is accused of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, police said.
The report notes the sword was later determined to be a costume prop with a blunted, non-metal blade, but the man was still booked into Ada County Jail because the armor's gauntlets qualified as "a bladed accessory" under a technicality in the county's weapons ordinance, according to the arresting officer's notes.