Harvard Students Produce Study About the Cottage Food Industry

A new research paper, titled Cottage Food Laws in the United States, by Alli Condra, has been published by the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard University. The goal of the paper was to create a comprehensive overview of the cottage food industry, including what is allowed in different states, how to create a cottage food law, and some other general information about the industry. The paper provides good arguments for justifying cottage food laws and reducing their limitations in the future. Even though it was published in August 2013, the information is current as of May 2013.

We have read through the paper and tried to integrate that knowledge into this site, wherever there were differences. We noticed that in some cases, the info on forrager.com is more accurate than the paper. This is partially because this site is more specific than the paper could be. Even still, it provides certain info that forrager.com does not yet, like general information about the industry or analysis on the future of cottage foods.