David Crabill
@david
active 9 hours, 22 minutes agoForum Replies Created
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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).
Angel, have you read the info on this page: http://forrager.com/law/florida/
I think that will answer most of your questions, and here’s some more info about getting started: http://forrager.com/faq/#startingYou will need to make sure that the goods you make do not require refrigeration, and all of your sales will have to be in-person. Let me know if you have other questions after checking out those links.
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
Although cottage food operations cannot sell items that require refrigeration, I believe that almost any gluten item that would be allowed under the law would also be allowed if produced gluten-free. Gluten-free items may not have as long of a shelf life and refrigerating them may help preserve them, but they probably wouldn’t become potentially hazardous if left unrefrigerated. If they simply become moldy, then they aren’t hazardous, despite being undesirable. Cottage food products can be refrigerated, but they just cannot require refrigeration, like meats do. A lot of CFOs across the country do sell gluten-free baked goods.
You cannot ship to other states.
I hope that helps, and let me know if you have more questions.
I don’t believe food swaps fall under any regulation, since there is no money trading hands and people aren’t engaging in commerce. California has some extremely strict rules, but I know that food swaps happen in the Bay Area all the time and I haven’t heard of one getting shut down. I assume it would be less strict in MD.
However, the food swaps I’ve heard of are purely volunteer events, and it sounds like you’re trying to collect money from people to setup there, so you’d essentially be a market, I think. If you are collecting money from people for the space, then you’d probably need to talk to some dept, and there may be a license for you to get.
You would not be able to use the cottage food law. You would have to get a commercial license and rent a commercial kitchen.
You should be able to, but there are strict standards to abide by. What I’ve heard from the ag dept is overviewed in the limitations section: http://forrager.com/law/pennsylvania/#limitations
No — you can only sell at your home, markets, roadside stands, and via delivery to event venues.
Hummus wouldn’t be allowed since it requires refrigeration. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial
