Michelle Freese

Jess, I understand your concerns and I know it’s frustrating. You can imagine how all of the small local bakeries felt when the cottage food law got passed… what was the point of them going thru all the setup effort a year or two ago?

In addition to the CFOs that are bending the cottage food law, there are many many more that are ignoring the…[Read more]

Well in that case, my latter comments stand. She should be able to help you because she’s family, and you should be able to be her employee. If I’m mistaken about this, I’d like to know. But sometimes health depts are mistaken too.

I’m located in Agoura Hills and delivering to all of LA and Ventura Counties. Nice to meet you Bridget!

My product is homemade desserts- pies and cookies for now, but I sell some custom orders of scones and muffins as well. I’m not sure that Etsy is the right place for me, as no matter how much you stress on each listing and the home page that…[Read more]

Krystle, am I understanding correctly that you want to make your CFO products at your mom’s shop? That wouldn’t be allowed. You can only make products for your CFO from your own home. In fact, the entire production process, including packaging and labeling, should be contained to your home and shouldn’t happen in your mom’s shop. Then you would…[Read more]

The health dept is correct. You are a CFO, and your mom would have to be a food processing establishment. Since a CFO can’t be a food processing establishment (by definition in the law), you can’t both be in the same business. It is possible to do what you want to, but you need to create two separate businesses — one for you and one for your mom.…[Read more]

Holly, I don’t think you’ll make much progress until you contact the health dept directly. It doesn’t appear that this will get added to the approved food list anytime soon.

You need a commercial license: http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Hi Justine,
I was wondering if you’ve made any progress getting licensed to sell fermented products. I’ve found it’s very hard to get any info in CA.

You can see the CDPH’s clarification in question 9 of their FAQs. The last sentence in that question, about selling outside your county, is no longer true for direct sales, which can now be made anywhere within the state.

Sorry, I’m really only familiar with the laws for items produced from home… food trucks have a completely different set of laws. I’d recommend you talk with the health dept to determine the easiest path for you to take (which probably wouldn’t involve the cottage food law, since you already have a food truck).

Generally speaking, any type of food that needs to be refrigerated is not allowed. Homemade mayo and garlic/oil mixtures are not allowed, and you would need to use a commercial kitchen to produce them. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

First of all, thank you for the response, very helpful.

What about a type of aioli with only garlic and oil as ingredients (no dairy)? Is there any place I can call to get more details on what is allowed and what is not?

Thank you again!