David Crabill

I’m not sure if you need some sort of certification for gluten free labeling, though I do know that there are certain quantities that you need to stay under. By making this health claim, you need to place a nutrition facts panel on your label, which is an extra expense and process.

Labeling a product as organic can be very complicated and expensive, and I don’t know of any exemption: http://forrager.com/faq/#organic

Thanks for the response and that’s good to know, though it is possible to make salsa in a way that is non-potentially hazardous. It sounds like the dept is generally staying away from salsas at this time, which are known (along with other canned vegetables) to be one of the most risky cottage foods.

I really don’t know, as this is a sourcing issue that health depts in CA seem to be very particular about, especially since you’re sending an ag-based product across state lines into CA. If you followed the appropriate regulations to legally get your raw wheat it into CA (may not be possible), then your sons would have to check with the environmental health dept to see if sourcing their wheat from you would be allowed. I think it’s pretty unlikely to be allowed unless you have the licenses to sell wheat outside of Michigan.

John, you may be able to can the salsa under Wyoming’s cottage food law, assuming that your salsa has a pH of 4.6 or below. You would need to check with the ag dept (Dean – 307-777-6587 or Linda – 307-777-6592) to see if they would allow salsa in general, or if your product needs to be tested. You wouldn’t be able to sell the salsa uncanned.

You wouldn’t need to abide by any other state laws, but there may be local laws that you need to follow, such as getting a business license or another local permit. Check with your planning division to see if there are any other restrictions. Good luck!

You don’t need a license from the health or ag depts, but your county still might require other licenses/permits, like a business license. And even if they don’t, the farmers market itself may require certain permits. Farmers markets also have the ability to turn you away because you’re homebased, even though you’re a legal business. So it could be as easy as you described, but you also might have to jump through a few hoops before you start selling, and you may not be able to sell at some locations without a commercial license.