Lauren Cortesi

The short answer is, most likely, yes. You would not be using Virginia’s cottage food law. Here is the longer answer: http://forrager.com/faq/#nonprofit
Let me know if you need more info.

From what I’ve heard, Miami doesn’t allow any types of homemade food to be sold. Miami-Dade County has banned the cottage food law. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

I’m not entirely sure, but this would probably be allowed. You should check with your health dept.

You need to check with your ag dept to see if you can sell homemade vanilla extract (I don’t think you can). If you can’t, then you’ll just need to give them away if you don’t want to break the law.

Yes, you can do it with a commercial license. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Yes, you must follow all of the requirements on this page, which includes getting registered with the ag dept. How long you run your business for is insignificant. You do not need to get your kitchen inspected, but I’m not sure what other local requirements you will have to follow. http://forrager.com/faq/#starting

Your products can’t have any type of meat in them.

If you’re just using a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract in a cookie recipe, then you don’t need to worry about it. But if it’s a significant amount of alcohol, then you need to talk to your health dept to learn about what permits are necessary.

You won’t be able to use the cottage food law and make your ice pops at home. You should probably double check to make sure that that Berkeley business is actually legal. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

The limit isn’t actively regulated, but a health or ag dept could shut down an operation if it was clear that they were making too much. I’d say it’s more self-regulated, in that people know if they make more than $15K then they’re doing something illegal. That limitation is baked right into Florida’s law, so an amendment to the law would need to…[Read more]

That’s correct.

You wouldn’t be using this cottage food law for that kind of business. I’m not sure what you need, but your health dept should know.

It should be true, but there are some counties with weird ordinances. You can check with your local ag dept, but usually you don’t need a license from them to sell produce. You may need a business license or something else from other depts in your county, though.