Hi there,

Another year, and another round of cottage food bills!

Although these days, the term "cottage food" doesn't tell the full story, with so many "food freedom" and "micro-restaurant" (or "MEHKO") bills thrown into the mix.

But terminology aside, these are all bills that allow someone to sell homemade food in one way or another.

To date, 14 states are trying to improve their laws. In fact, two have already succeeded!

After a rough start in 2022, things are looking very promising this year!

To see the full overview, check out the 2023 Bills map page.

Below is the most relevant info (along with my own thoughts) about all of the new bills.


Passed Bills

Two of the very best cottage food states have already passed bills to further improve things.

Once again, Wyoming has made their great law even better, by expanding indirect sale capabilities and also allowing sales of dairy products.

Utah passed a unique bill that makes it easier for minors (18 & under) to sell cottage food products.


Failed Bills

One of the very worst cottage food states has already failed to pass their bill. Yet again, Mississippi's bill set the record for both 1) fastest to fail and 2) least ambitious. They were trying for a simple sales limit increase. I don't know what's going on in that legislature, but it is strange indeed.

Cottage Food Bills In Progress

Of the remaining 11 states, we're seeing a LOT of them attempting to create brand new food freedom and micro-restaurant laws. But let's start with the more traditional cottage food bills first.

The big story here is Texas. In true "Don't Mess With Texas" form, the state is not messing around! They have a whopping 5 cottage food bills, which I think literally sets a record for most cottage food bills by a state in a year.

Basically they have their big bill, SB 829, which would massively improve their cottage food law by allowing indirect sales, increasing the sales limit, allowing perishable baked goods, and removing the home address requirement.

SB 829 is also the first bill I've ever seen that specifies that a government employee must be fired if they knowingly break the law by requiring someone to get a permit to sell cottage foods. It's kind of sad that they literally need to create a penalty within the law to penalize those who are supposed to enforce the law!

And then on top of SB 829, they also essentially have 4 "backup bills" (a term that I just made up). Each of those bills only improves one aspect of their cottage food law. Basically, if SB 829 fails or gets significantly gutted, they still have a chance to improve parts of their law with the backup bills.

So that's Texas. The other cottage food bills are pretty simple: Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Washington are trying to increase their sales limit.


Food Freedom Bills In Progress

Four states are trying to pass a new food freedom law this year.

Last year, Iowa broke new ground by finding a new loophole for selling items with red meat (basically, the producer can use red meat processed by a local butcher or grocery store).

And now this year, we're seeing most of the food freedom bills try to hop on that bandwagon.

Georgia, which hasn't improved its cottage food law since its inception over a decade ago, is trying to create one of the best laws in the nation. As currently written, it is unique in trying to allow indirect sales of perishable foods without requiring the producer to get a kitchen inspection.

Arizona is once again trying to pass a food freedom bill that would be a massive overhaul to their current cottage food law. Their bill basically takes the best parts of Wyoming and Iowa and combines them into one.

Hawaii doesn't even have an official cottage food law, but does have rules that allow people to sell nonperishable foods. While their food freedom bill would overall be a huge improvement, it would likely make things harder on those selling under their current rules.

And finally, Oklahoma is the really unique one. They already have an amazing quasi-food freedom law that allows producers to sell perishable foods. Their new food freedom bill doesn't have the new meat loophole, so the only benefit I can see is that it would allow small farms to sell certain items produced from animals that they raise.


Micro-Restaurant Bills In Progress

Micro-restaurant bills are even more popular this year, with 6 states giving it a shot!

Most of these bills look pretty similar. They basically allow someone to run a restaurant from their home, and limit how many meals they can sell.

Though to be honest, given last year's flops in this category, I didn't spend too long scouring these (very lengthy) bills. I'll scrutinize them more if they pass.

But a few notes:

• Washington & New York clearly hope that the third time's the charm
• Georgia is trying again as well
• New Hampshire's bill seems fundamentally flawed. It would literally wipe out their general cottage food law and replace it with a hyper-specific micro-restaurant law. Unless I'm reading it wrong.
• South Carolina's bill uniquely requires customers to consume the food in the producer's home. Basically, the producer can't offer "take out" of their meals. Instead of limiting how many meals they can produce, it limits the number of people that can eat in their home at a time, and also limits how much they can charge for a meal.

Summary

And that's a wrap! Wow, that was a long email.

And yet, I'm sure it could have been even longer, since there's probably more bills out there that we missed. Please let me know if there are any more bills that we need to add!

To get the map view and the latest summary of this year's bills, check out the bills page:

Click here to see the 2023 Cottage Food Bills


Until next week,
David