David Crabill
@david
active 19 hours, 50 minutes agoForum Replies Created
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Annette, all of the info I know is on the Nevada page. Unfortunately, the government agencies haven’t put much info online yet. You should call the health department in your county and see if they know about the law yet. They are the ones that need to get you registered.
You need to be meeting the buyer, face-to-face, and transferring the product and money in-person. As long as you’re doing that, you’re good! So yes, you can take an order agreement by email as long as you meet them.
Mary Jane, maybe I can help clarify from what I think is happening. It’s actually all good!
HB 1094 has already passed and will go into effect in November, as you know. The other bill, SB 920, has not yet been passed, as far as I know. But the reason it’s also being considered is because it doesn’t have some of the limitations that HB 1094 does. I don’t think it would replace HB 1094: it would just be another option for a producer.
SB 920 would not have the $20,000 sales limit and would allow producers to sell many other types of food. So if HB 1094 didn’t apply to someone, they could use SB 920 instead, which is more expensive due to the lack of sales limitations and the health inspection requirement.
Angelica, yes, they should be allowed.
Yes, you are absolutely reading that right in terms of your state’s requirements. You should check with your city or county though (probably the planning division)… they may have some requirements. For instance, you might have to get a standard business license, which is usually easy and inexpensive.
Erin, as you deduced, this would be classified as an indirect sale. I understand your desire to support the business, but the intention of the law is that the end-consumer would meet the producer. I’d imagine that this wouldn’t be the case with your gift boxes. Best of luck!
It depends on the type of sale. If it’s for your personal profit, then yes, technically you’d need be registered. However, as a one-time thing at such a spontaneous event, it really wouldn’t make sense for you to go through that process. I would think you’d be fine just selling under the table.
Generally speaking, pet treats have special requirements and are not allowed in the cottage food industry. Technically, a state could allow them, but I haven’t seen one that has yet. Often the phrase “food for human consumption” is in the law language. You could try checking with your ag or health dept though and see what they say.
Generally speaking, no. You must make the products in your home kitchen only — i.e. the kitchen in the place where you live. A separate building wouldn’t work because you don’t live in that building. This would be true for almost any state. You should call your ag dept to clarify, but I’m pretty sure that’s what they’ll say. Pennsylvania’s more generous with their cottage food laws than most states though, so maybe you’ll get lucky. Of course, you’re welcome to build a separate building and always keep your pets there ;)
Kathleen, you’re right… it is strange that sales are allowed at farmers markets and not from home, and yet, a number of states have restrictions like this. Fortunately most allow sales from home too.
From what I’ve seen, it takes just one person to activate a cottage food law, or an amendment, in a state. Usually it involves finding a representative from Congress and then working with them to propose a bill in the next session.
You’re in a better position than most… Illinois’ had their law since the beginning of last year, so assuming that all has gone well, it would be reasonable to propose an amendment now. At least you don’t have to start from scratch like you do with your cakes! You have the advantage of being able to see who proposed the initial bill — contacting them would be a good first step. Also get in touch with the Illinois Stewardship Alliance… they are your friends.
A word of caution… don’t be surprised if you get a bit of pushback in Illinois. They are one of the only states (Texas is the only other one I know of) that actually had a county use a loophole in the law to avoid implementing it. This was because the head of their health department didn’t agree with the law. Fortunately that backfired on them and they probably got more registrations than if they had never received the negative publicity by trying to disallow it. Anyway, the point is that there will be opposition to an amendment, but it’s not something other states haven’t dealt with and worked through.
You also might try checking out Texas: they have faced a lot of opposition and just passed a great amendment to their severely limited law. Ironically enough, their problem was that they could ONLY sell at home! Funny. But Kelly Masters has been the main driving force behind the progress of that law… if you reach out to her on Texas’ Facebook page or website, she’ll probably respond and could give you some good advice.
