Hi there,
First off,
congrats to Illinois! Their governor signed their
new bill this month, so it's officially in the books, and their new law will go into effect at the beginning of next year.
Also congrats to New Hampshire! Their new bill went into effect this month, and is now part of their state's cottage food law.
New Hampshire has long had a "poor" ranking on
Forrager's map, but
they are now listed as having a "great" cottage food law.
Their bill this year was actually very simple: it allows producers to sell acidified foods (pickles, salsas, etc). So
why the big jump in their status?It's because
their health department has made some behind-the-scenes changes in recent years, which I wasn't aware of.
I've always had two law pages for New Hampshire: a main page for unlicensed operations, and a second page for those getting a Homestead License.
Being unlicensed in New Hampshire was very restrictive (hence the "poor" ranking), but
getting a Homestead License wasn't great either. To get a license, producers had to pay a high application fee and submit dozens of pages of manufacturing steps, ingredient sources, sales locations, etc etc.
It was basically the complexity of a commercial operation, but with the limitations of a cottage food business. It wasn't a very good option for entrepreneurs, and that's why I separated it into its own law page.
But when I re-researched their law this week, to my surprise,
NH's health department has made it much simpler (and less expensive) to get a license.
Their law is now similar to
California's two-class system, and it's nice because
producers have the option of starting their business very quickly & easily (albeit with more restrictions), or going to the effort/expense of getting a license if they want more flexibility.
So I've merged both options into
New Hampshire's law page, and that's why
they are now ranked on Forrager as having one of the best cottage food laws in the country!Forraging ahead,
David