Hi there,
Congrats Alaska!Their governor recently signed their
new food freedom bill, HB 251, and it's already in effect, meaning that Alaskans can start using their new law immediately.
Alaska just went from having one of the more restrictive cottage food laws (it was tied* for having the lowest sales limit of $25k) to now having
one of the best laws in the country!Under their new law,
producers can now sell almost any type of food, including most perishable foods and certain items containing meat.
Their law
also allows producers to sell nonperishable foods via retail stores, which is something their previous law didn't allow.
And they can do all of this
without needing any license from the health department, kitchen inspection, food safety training, etc.
Though if I'm being nitpicky,
there is one aspect of their new law that is worse than the old one. Their new law requires producers to list their home address on product labels, and their old law provided an exemption for that. However, Alaskans might be able to continue using the old law (it's still on the books) if they don't want to list their home address on labels.
All in all,
it's a fantastic new law, and sets a high standard for other states to aspire to!Forraging ahead,
David
*
Michigan, which I once considered a pioneer in the cottage food industry (over a decade ago), now has
the unfortunate distinction of having the lowest sales limit in the nation (only $25,000/year). They keep proposing bills to try to change that, and hopefully 2025 will be the year that one passes!