David Crabill
@david
active 3 days, 3 hours agoForum Replies Created
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First of all, since this is happening in a church, the cottage food laws aren’t applicable.
Honestly, I’m not sure what the rules are for a church. I know that many large churches are regularly inspected by the health dept. I don’t think you can serve hot food without some type of permit, and you should talk to the health dept for more info.
Sorry, I don’t know either. I would think that it would be allowed, but I can’t verify that. You will need to call your health dept for the answer.
Usually there are no ag dept licenses for selling your own produce, but when it comes to selling others’ produce, I simply don’t know. You should call your ag dept for more info.
Actually, the law does specify that a local health dept can’t regulate you, so they are not allowed to conduct an inspection without a customer complaint. They also shouldn’t be able to prevent you from advertising on Facebook, though the law does prohibit you from selling online.
There is some strange wording in the law about exempt areas in the state, citing places with over or under a certain population size — that part is honestly very confusing to me and I don’t know what it’s purpose is. It’s possible that that section is allowing Camden City to legally disregard the law.
You should be able to sell over county lines, but you do need to confirm that you have all the licenses necessary to sell there.
Making a nonperishable item, like a baked good, should be allowed under an exemption, but making hotdogs is probably not allowed. You don’t have to worry about the cottage food law, since this is for a nonprofit, but you should still call your ag dept to determine what is allowed under the exemption for donated food. http://forrager.com/faq/#nonprofit
From what I’ve heard, it’s supposed to be at your home, and pickup only. For what it’s worth, many many CFOs run businesses from their homes across the country, and I’ve never heard of there being a problem. Custom cake makers, especially, have to do things from home because they can’t sell at places like farmers markets. Usually, although the sale takes place at the home, your interaction with the customer will happen beforehand, either online or over the phone.
Although problems on Craigslist are exceedingly rare (and of course, widely publicized on the news), I would argue that problems with cottage food sales are much rarer, and possibly nonexistent. Unlike Craigslist, many of the people buying cottage food items are not looking for something cheap. If you price your product fairly, you will not be able to compete in price with your local supermarket. Therefore, I think CFOs generally deal a sector of society that’s very safe.
As long as your products contain at least 75% of your own honey, you can directly sell your honey from your home, at farmers markets, farm auctions, or government festivals within Ohio. All sales must be made in-person, and no license from the ag dept is needed. For fewer restrictions, you should contact the ag dept about becoming licensed as a honey processor.
Since this is beyond the scope of the cottage food laws, I’m simply not familiar with the rules for this. You should contact your health dept for more info.
Although you can’t sell in other states, you may be able to offer free samples at an event in another state. You need to communicate with the ag depts in both states to make sure this is possible. If you’re not going to be selling or giving out food at these events, then you can definitely participate.
It would only work as a commercial kitchen if it’s consistently inspected by the health dept. However, as a CFO, you are not allowed to use a commercial kitchen (or any kitchen other than your home kitchen) for your business.
