David Crabill
@david
active 21 hours, 59 minutes agoForum Replies Created
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You do not need to get registered… you just need to understand the rules and you can start immediately. I don’t know if there’s any way to “prove” that you are a cottage food operation, other than that you may need to get a business license from your county — at least that would show that you are a business.
No, I don’t think 4 days is long enough… I think that would fall under the category of a potentially hazardous food, and it would not be considered a cottage food. Maybe switching to evaporated milk would work, because generally cream-filled items are not allowed as cottage foods.
Michele, the product must change hands within Ohio. It is unlikely that you will be able to take advantage of any out-of-state sales.
For the law that goes into effect on November 1st, no, you do not need a food handlers class.
It looks like you’d be okay if your dogs did not have access to your kitchen. You may be able to do this by putting up a gate on the door or something. I don’t think it matters whether the items are potentially hazardous or not… either way, it could affect a customer if they are allergic to dogs.
Here are some links to online and in-person courses: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/foodestablishments/handler.shtm#training
Marie, probably not. Ohio allows a lot of different types of food, but I believe Wisconsin is the only state that specifically allows applesauce. You should check with the Ag Department for the final word on this, but don’t hold your breath!
Diane, thanks for the heads up! I always like hearing from locals that have more accurate information. Could you be more specific about what is wrong with the Georgia page?
Sonja, one of the reasons cottage food laws were created was to help entrepreneurs test out their business idea without going through the whole process of becoming a commercial food processor.
You should know that cottage foods cannot be temperature controlled, and therefore prepared soup would not fall under the cottage food law. If you still wanted to test out your idea, you could do this by making dry soup mixes and selling those instead.
The general idea behind the sale limitation of $15,000 is that once you get to that point, you’re ready to get licensed as a commercial food processor.
Nita, you are not required to get insurance, but many cottage food businesses do get some to protect themselves, just in case anything goes wrong. In Florida, you’re not allowed to do indirect sales like selling to a store so they can resell your products.
