Simplelifebakery.com

Vanessa, the food safety certificate that Sonia was referring to is probably a food manager certificate. However, CFOs in Florida aren’t required to get food safety training. If you’d like basic training, you can look up a food handler training course.

You don’t need a license from the ag dept, but you may need other licenses to start your business. You will have to check with local officials for the process of starting a business in your area. http://forrager.com/faq/#starting

Samantha, you may need licensing and you need to reach out to your county. You probably don’t need insurance unless a sales venue requires it.
http://forrager.com/faq/#starting
http://forrager.com/faq/#insurance

In Florida, cottage foods cannot require refrigeration, so ice creams aren’t allowed (even non-dairy ones). I also would not expect the ag dept to allow non-dairy creamers. In both cases, the water activity level (aW) of the product would be high and probably potentially hazardous (cottage foods are non-PHFs).

The USDA says that you can still use the word to identify “organic sugar” or other organic products on your ingredients list only, as long as you do the following:

Prevent commingling with non-organic products and contact with prohibited substances.
Meet the USDA organic labeling requirements.
Maintain records for at least three years that…[Read more]

That label wouldn’t be legal. You might be able to use the word “organic” in your ingredients list, if you meet certain requirements. Here’s an overview about organic labeling: http://forrager.com/faq/#organic

The map links to the law page for NY: http://forrager.com/law/new-york/

That page gives a fairly detailed overview of the law and should answer many of your questions. You cannot start an online business from your home kitchen, and if you wanted to start a CFO, you would need to get registered by the ag dept. To start an online food business,…[Read more]

Unless you are buying and reselling commercially made a pre-packaged fondant toppers, I don’t think this would be allowed. I’m pretty sure you need to use a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Yes, you would need to use a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

You cannot do that type of business from home. Instead, you need to use a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

You can buy premade items and use them, as long as those items would be allowed if you made them. For instance, if Colorado doesn’t allow frostings that contain dairy, then you couldn’t use a commercially-produced frosting that contains dairy, even if it doesn’t require refrigeration. At least that is my understanding… perhaps the health dept…[Read more]

Your state of Colorado is the only one that has this product-based sales limit.

From my understanding, it’s actually pretty broad, and I think that, at the very least, different flavors of cake would be considered different products. I also think that a chocolate cake and a chocolate cupcake would be considered separate products, but I’m not sure…[Read more]